Mediation is a process that has been designed uniquely to make a lawsuit cheaper, less burdensome and more expedient for the individuals or parties involved. It is also defined as a structured and interactive process where a neutral party assists the conflicting individuals and parties resolve their conflict using special negotiation and communication techniques. All the parties that are involved in the mediation are usually encouraged to participate actively in this conflict resolution process.
What are the Main Characteristics of Mediation?
What is mediation and what are the main characteristics of mediation?
1.The mediation procedure is non-binding process controlled by the conflicting party
Mediation can be used to resolve conflicts between two or more parties or individuals. However, any party or individual to mediation can never
be forced to agree to an outcome they are not content with. Unlike when you use other conflict resolution methods like arbitration, where the arbitrator makes the decisions, when it comes to mediation the mediation does not make any decisions. Simply, the mediator does not have any rights to make a decision for the parties or individuals involved. The main role of the mediator is to assist the parties to come up with a suitable solution to their dispute. Therefore, the parties involved are in control of the mediation procedure. They can decide to submit their dispute to mediation or even abandon the whole process if that’s their choice.
2, The procedure is confidential
This is one of the reasons why most people love using this as a method of resolving their conflicts. People today do not want to disclose all their information to everyone out there since it affects their lives more than you could imagine. Fortunately, during the mediation procedures, only the parties involved and the mediator or mediation lawyer are allowed to be in the sessions. This is quite different from the court sessions where everyone can attend them and everything is discussed openly. Also, the mediators and mediation lawyers do not disclose any information about the mediation proceedings. Therefore, any information about your conflict will always remain confidential since this is one of the characteristics of mediation.
3. The procedure in interest-based
When you are solving a conflict using arbitration or litigation, the outcome of your case will be determined by all the facts of your disputes and the laws applied. However, when it comes to mediation, its interest based nature does not do all this. Instead, the parties are guided by their matters of interest and are free to select an outcome that is suitable for them. When the involved parties refer to all their interests, they engage in dialogue so that they can come up with a possible settlement.
How to Select a Mediator
Whenever you are involved in a conflict and you decide to use mediation to settle the dispute, you should look for the best mediator to help you come up with a suitable solution. However, you have to ensure that you select the right mediator from the many that you come across. To select the right mediator, you need to do the following things;
- Know what your needs are so that you can select a mediator that meets your needs
- Ask for referrals and recommendations from your friends, co-workers or even personal lawyers
- Research on different websites about the great mediators you can hire
- Check the reviews and ratings of different mediators and compare them to find the best mediator
- Talk to the references provided in the websites to more about the mediators you find
- Check for licensing and all the necessary credentials
- Find out how qualified and experienced the mediators you find are so that you can select the, mediator with the highest qualification and experience levels