Transformative mediation and third-party intervention: Ten hallmarks of a transformative approach to practice

Understanding transformative mediation in practice through 10 hallmarks:

1. “The opening statement says it all”: Describing the mediator’s role and objectives in terms based on empowerment and recognition
2. “It’s ultimately the parties’ choice”: Leaving responsibility for outcomes with the parties
3. “The parties know best”: Consciously refusing to be judgmental about the parties’ views and decisions
4. “The parties have what it takes”: Taking an optimistic view of parties’ competence and motives
5. “There are facts in the feelings”: Allowing and being responsive to parties’ expression of emotions
6. “Clarity emerges from confusion”: Allowing for and exploring parties’ uncertainty:
   1. “she has come to believe that she is probably doing well during a mediation when “she is not sure what the dispute is about after an hour or so into a session.”” (Folger and Bush, 1996, p. 272)
7. “The action is ‘in the room’”: Renaming focused on the here and now of the conflict interaction
   1. attending to the discussion in the room, rather than “backing up” a broader view of the problem
8. “Discussing the past has value to the present”: Being responsive to parties’ statements about past events
9. “Conflict can be a long-term affair”: Viewing an intervention as one point in a larger sequence of conflict interaction
   1. i.e. mediators do not view their stepping into a stream of interaction as resolution of the entire conflict
10. “Small steps count”: Feeling a sense of success when empowerment and recognition occur, even in small degrees