Leadership in Mediation

This week I interviewed an attorney from one of NZ's national law firms for the Mediation vBlog Project and I will be posting the edited clip there soon.

The theme of our conversation was leadership in mediation - how do mediators demonstrate leadership, what's expected of us in this area and do we, when we are 'just mediators', have any 'overt authority' at all?

In the midst of all that, we strayed into my favourite area of conversation when talking with a repeat user - 'how do you choose your mediator, what's your process, what criteria do you use?'

The response was enlightening -

".... if I have a strong case, I may not want a mediator who is known to be tenacious. If you are a 'never gives up' kind of mediator, I may feel you will get the other side - who I think has the weaker case - over the line too easily, with a better deal than they should get. In these circumstances I may choose a mediator who will not carry the weaker party as much, not be so problem solving, thereby making them work harder for resolution themselves and probably getting a result that reflects more my view of the respective merits..."