Mediation, Your Way:
Understanding the Options
By Julie Hrdlicka, Transformative Mediator, Conflict Revolution
When conflict leaves us stuck, how do we get support to move forward? Mediation is one option to consider. The three main forms, facilitative, evaluative, and transformative, each have their own ideas about conflict, people, and what success looks like. Understanding your options can be helpful in choosing a mediation practice and mediator that best suits you. Below is a comparison of the three.
Most people don’t realize they have a choice when it comes to mediation. Mediation comes in different forms, and knowing your options ahead of time can make the whole process feel a bit clearer and less overwhelming. After all, just like in other areas of life, your needs, values, and resources, like time and money, really matter. Facilitative, evaluative, and transformative approaches each see conflict, relationships, the role of the mediator, and the goals of mediation differently. Facilitative focuses on problem-solving, evaluative emphasizes efficiency and settlement, and transformative supports shifts in how people see and relate to themselves and each other. Understanding these perspectives can make it easier to choose the approach that best fits you.
References
Facilitative Mediation
- Boulle, L. (2005). Mediation: Skills and Techniques. LexisNexis Butterworths.
- Bush, R. A. B., & Folger, J. P. (2005). The Promise of Mediation: The Transformative Approach to Conflict. Jossey-Bass.
Evaluative Mediation
- Boulle, L. (2005). Mediation: Skills and Techniques. LexisNexis Butterworths.
- Riskin, L. L. (2002). Understanding Mediators’ Orientations, Strategies, and Techniques: A Grid for the Perplexed. Harvard Negotiation Law Review, 7(1), 1–47.
- Riskin, L. L., & Westbrook, J. (2006). Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management: Integrating Theory and Practice. Aspen Publishers.
Transformative Mediation
- Bush, R. A. B., & Folger, J. P. (1994). The Promise of Mediation: Responding to Conflict Through Empowerment and Recognition. Jossey-Bass.
- Folger, J. P., Bush, R. A. B., & Della Noce, D. J. (2018). Transformative Mediation: A Sourcebook. Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation.
Additional Notes
- The definition of transformative mediation as a “crisis in human interaction” comes from Bush & Folger (1994), Chapters 1–2, highlighting how conflict destabilizes self and social interactions and the potential for empowerment and recognition shifts.