Empowerment is largely assumed through principles such as:
- Self-determination, Voluntary participation, Informed decision-making, Party control over outcomes, and Parties make their own decisions.
- Mediation Processes incorporate: ethical conduct of the Mediator, assurances that there are no conflicts of interest, confidentiality, impartiality of the Mediator.
- The overall tone of mediation standards include efforts to: avoid harm, bias, coercion, and deception.
- Mediation will maximize the value of joint discussions.
- Mediation will provide improved solution quality.
The Mediation process will incorporate the systematic exploration of options thereby reducing suboptimal settlements, and increase the decision accuracy and or effectiveness. The key is that the parties make the decisions in Mediation. The parties know their circumstances better than anyone else. They can determine the best outcomes for their situation.
Mediators will work to improve the quality of solutions reached. Since the process is fair, neutral, voluntary, and ethical — the outcome will be more satisfactory.
Mediators actively help parties solve problems better.
Mediation Standards of Practice define success as:
- A fair, voluntary, ethical process.
- The best achievable resolution of the dispute involves empowerment, where the parties are free to decide.
- Mediation standards are process-protective to ensure consistency and adherence to a sound approach.
- Mediation is a process that increases the likelihood of well-informed, durable, workable agreements based on the decisions of the parties.
Mediators will support parties in clarifying priorities, trade-offs, and constraints relevant to resolution. Mediators will help the parties articulate interests, risk tolerance, timing preferences, non-monetary needs, and deal-breakers—then compare options against them.
Where compatible with parties’ goals and ethics, mediators will support parties in identifying potential mutual gains.
Mediators support agreement durability by helping parties address execution details and foreseeable friction points. Mediators will encourage specificity in agreements, milestones, communication protocols, decision rules for future disputes, and monitoring/renegotiation triggers.
The Mediator will prompt parties to consider alternatives, risks, and consequences. They can draft clear term sheets and checklists, and create follow-up calendars, milestone tracking, and “what-if” contingencies.
A qualified Mediator is a member of a professional organization of Mediators and remains accountable to the professional code of conduct and ethics, including confidentiality.
Empowerment means supporting parties’ capacity to understand, choose, and make decisions.
The Mediator will optimize the empowerment of the parties by supporting processes that increase decision clarity, option quality, and agreement durability—without directing outcomes.
In summary, a Mediator will conduct mediation in a manner that supports (a) participant empowerment and (b) problem-solving optimization, consistent with party self-determination and mediator impartiality.
