Business Leadership 13: Trait as a Facilitating Mediator

This continues our series on roles & traits of business leaders that improve your business

Even small-businesses encounter disagreement, differing viewpoints, contention and even fights. In addition, business owners frequently mediate problems with clients, suppliers, and government or regulatory agencies. As a result, successful business leaders must possess the trait of a facilitating mediator. 

Facilitators “Make Things Easier”

Janice M. Fleischer and Zena D. Zumeta state in their article Preventing Conflict through Facilitation “So, what is facilitation? According to Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, "facilitate" means "to make easier."

That is what facilitators do: We make it easier for people to accomplish whatever goal their meeting may have been called for. More specifically, we help people think in terms of interests, not positions. According to common definitions, by statute or otherwise, "facilitation" is: The use of a third party neutral to help multi-party work groups accomplish the content of their work by providing process leadership and process expertise.” 

You will notice the emphasis on the concepts of “making it easier”, “neutral”, and providing “process leadership and process expertise”. Facilitating leaders

• Prevent situations from escalating
• Focus on helping groups or opposing sides listen to one another
• Help people walk towards common solutions rather than digging their feet
• Establish processes for people to express themselves without retaliation
• Create environments where the parties involved find successful win-win solutions

Traits of a Good Mediator

Where facilitating involves helping the group find a solution, mediators listen to both sides and then decide. Jeff Merrick reviewed five articles outlining What Makes a Good Mediator? He identified the following:

• “Humanity encompasses the ability to ‘respect the parties, listen carefully, and identify and relate to the deeper emotions that underlie spoken words.’
• Hard working includes devoting time, persevering, or relentless during mediation
• Trusted means being acceptable to both parties, demonstrating neutrality, honesty, reliability, and impartiality.
• Intelligent involves grasping issues and dynamics quickly and problem solvers with substantive knowledge of the issues
• Professional encompasses preparation, controlled feelings, dignity, works to expand and practice skills ”

Thursday we review the trait of providing the moral and ethical compass to the business