Understanding Mediation

About This Workshop:

Understanding mediation begins not in a textbook, but in the room. This half-day module opens with participants doing, not listening — three separate guided mediation exercises in which every participant takes a turn as mediator and works through a live dispute scenario before a single principle has been formally introduced. The goal is not perfection. It is baseline: to surface your instincts, reveal your assumptions, and give you something concrete to measure theory against.

After the break, the session shifts to review. Guided by faculty, participants revisit what just happened — examining the principles of mediation that were at play, the roles of the different parties around the table, and the range of styles a mediator can adopt. The review does not simply validate what worked. It also takes on a harder question: is mediation actually the superior mode of dispute resolution? Participants are invited to engage critically, drawing on their own experience from the morning to test the claims made on mediation’s behalf.

By the end of the session, participants leave with something more durable than a list of principles. They leave with a felt sense of what mediation demands — and a framework for continuing to develop.

What You’ll Learn:

• Experience Mediation from the Inside: Step into the mediator’s role across three guided exercises before any theory is introduced — building an intuitive baseline and surfacing your natural instincts under real conditions
• Understand the Principles of Mediation: Examine the core values and philosophy that define mediation as a discipline, grounded in what you observed and felt during the exercises
• Know the Players: Identify the roles and responsibilities of the different parties in a mediation — mediator, parties, counsel, and support persons — and how their dynamics shape the process
• Navigate Mediation Styles: Explore the main styles of mediation, understand how each operates, and develop a sense of when each is most appropriate
• Position Mediation in Context: Engage critically with the question of whether mediation is truly the superior dispute resolution mechanism — and under what circumstances it is, or isn’t
• Reflect on Your Baseline: Use the post-exercise review to identify what your instincts got right, what the theory reframes, and what you would do differently next time

Who Should Attend:

• Legal professionals seeking to understand the principles and practice of mediation
• Human resource practitioners and professionals involved in workplace dispute resolution
• Corporate leaders and executives interested in negotiation and conflict resolution frameworks
• Mediators, arbitrators, and dispute resolution practitioners seeking to refresh or deepen their theoretical foundations
• Educators, counsellors, and social workers seeking structured frameworks for conflict resolution