Research on Familiarity with Mediation and Facilitation
Do you work in a business with fewer than 250 employees in Northern Virginia? I invite you to take my current survey, Research on Familiarity with Mediation and Facilitation.
I’ve found that people who work in the legal system are usually familiar with mediation, but most people are not certain what it is. Or, they think it’s something that can be used to resolve amicable divorces, and not much else. However mediation can be used to resolve many workplace issues, and for a lower cost than alternative solutions like hiring a business coach, firing an employee, or ignoring the conflict.
Facilitation presents a somewhat different problem: People who know what it is, but haven’t experienced really great facilitation or are extra budget-conscious, believe it’s not truly necessary for their own meetings or planning processes. The word facilitation simply means the process of making something easier. Meeting facilitation has many forms. Most professional facilitators, like myself, limit themselves to the process of the meeting or sequence of meetings - and of course why couldn’t Sue in Accounting or Bob in HR do just that?*
The survey will take 15-20 minutes, and is three pages long. The first few questions focus on information about your workplace, and the next two pages dig into what you may know or have experienced in relation to mediation and facilitation. If any questions or statements in the survey leave you feeling curious, please reach out to gina@chantillymediator.com or 703-951-6647.
And, if you are a practitioner in the field and want to share research, please also reach out to gina@chantillymediator.com or 703-951-6647.
*No offense to Sue or Bob - perhaps they are both excellent facilitators stuck in other roles. Part of the answer as to why Sue and Bob should not facilitate internal meetings is that, presumably, they should participate in those meetings. The meeting facilitator should never be one of the people whose voice is important in making the decision. Like with mediation, neutrality is key.
