When a person gets lost in an unknown territory, the first thing they need is not a solution… but a mapExactly the same thing happens in mediation.
Before intervening, we need understand deeply and act as emotional facilitators what is happening between the parties. And for this, the map of the conflict is an essential tool.
What is a conflict map?
It is a visual and conceptual representation that allows the mediator to have a clear and strategic vision of the conflict.
Helps answer fundamental questions:
- Who are the people involved and how are they related?
- What has motivated the conflict and how do you perceive it?
- What do the parties really want?
- What are they afraid of losing?
- What external or internal factors influence the dynamics?
This tool not only allows sort the scattered information, but also identify what is missing, concretize the vague and discover paths forward.
Why is it a key tool in mediation?
Because without a clear map…
- The professional runs the risk of being carried away by incomplete narratives
- You can overlook the essential and stay on the surface
- The intervention can be reactive, not strategic
With a well-constructed map:
- Hidden relationships, tensions, alliances or conflicts are visualized
- A coherent line of action can be structured
- Mutual understanding and rapprochement between the parties is promoted
How to build a map for the mediation process
Through key questions that guide the exploration and clarify the variables of the conflict:
- Who is involved and what is their connection?
- What concerns you deeply?
- What do you want to achieve… and why?
- What obstacles do you perceive?
- What emotions are present?
The way these elements are represented—through visual symbols—facilitates a comprehensive and agile understanding of the conflict environment.
It is a resource diagnostic, strategic and transformative.
In the International Mediation School…We train professionals capable of intervening with knowledge, structure, and a critical eye. The conflict map is one of the first tools we teach because it allows us to see beyond the narrative. Because no conflict is resolved effectively if we don't understand. where we stand.
