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New Zealand Department of Labour Mediators based in Auckland recently undertook a “Mediation Observation” project.  Over 200 personal grievance mediations were observed, and results analysed to identify behaviours that led to increased or decreased chances of agreement being reached or otherwise affected the progress of discussions.

Key findings included that the better prepared parties were, and the more they engaged in the process, the greater the likelihood of settlement. This may seem obvious. A more surprising finding was that parties often expended significant resources in areas that made no discernable difference to outcomes.

The challenge and opportunity for us as mediators is to identify and encourage the behaviours that build engagement, while avoiding behaviours that are destructive of the process, or which add to the cost of dispute resolution without proportionate benefit to the parties.

David Fleming, and Wendy Kazianis from the Department of Labour Auckland office will outline the observations by way of background and then encourage participants in our workshop to discuss, describe and synthesise ideas on client preparation.

Using your collective wisdom they will draw up a simple set of guidelines for client preparation to be made available to all conference participants.

The Department of Labour in New Zealand focuses on parties in conflict arising out of employment relationships.  Mediation is provided free of charge to parties in dispute, and is the primary institutional support for dispute resolution.  Participation is usually by consent, but parties to employment litigation who have not attended mediation will generally be ordered to attend.

Podcast: Listen to Wendy and David talk about this session (9 mins) >>