I address here the mediator who wonders about the impeccability of his position and, in the process, I hope to bring the mediating perspective closer to anyone who is interested in what underlies the neutrality and impartiality of the mediator.
“How do you maintain the neutrality that characterizes your professional practice?”, I have been asked on more than one occasion. And the truth is, the issue is absolutely key because the neutrality constitutes one of the principles of mediation, but, even so, many questions arise about how to exercise it from the introspective of our profession.
Mediation procedure
Let's see, first of all, some of the points on which the institutional consensus is based around a mediating leadership characterized by the maintenance of a firmly impartial position: Law 5/2012 of July 6, in its seventh article, expressly makes reference to the Equality of the parties and impartiality of the mediators.
Specifically, he points out that the mediation procedure It must guarantee that the parties intervene with full equality of opportunity, maintaining a balance between their positions and respect for the points of view expressed by them, without the mediator being able to act to the detriment or interest of any of them.
The following article, the eighth, refers, for its part, to the neutrality of the mediator, highlighting that the mediation actions will be carried out in a way that allows the parties in conflict to reach an agreement on their own.
The neutrality and impartiality of the mediator
On the other hand, the European Code of Conduct for Mediators mentions the independence and neutrality of our professionals as something essential to emphasize, both before starting the task and during.
Expressly, the obligation of the mediator to disclose any circumstance that may affect their independence or represent a conflict of interests, circumstances of this type being considered any personal or business relationship with one of the parties, any financial or other interest, direct or indirect, in the result of the mediation.
Besides, the impartiality of the mediator It is indicated by the fact that this must act with respect to the parties, at all times, committing to serve both in the same way within the framework of the mediation process.
This makes it clear how we, mediators, must act in accordance with the principles of neutrality and impartiality, but What tools do we have to guarantee, before ourselves, said impartiality in our inner selves?
Staying on the surface and paying attention only to what the law or codes of conduct tell us can be like driving a car and running out of GPS at the beginning of a complex and unknown journey, knowing only the name of the town we have to reach. .
In promote dialogue without taking sides in favor of any of the parties, redirecting conflictive situations towards cooperation, from respect and understanding towards mutual and particular circumstances, lies part of the preventive and resolving value of mediation, but How can we guarantee an impeccable exercise of impartiality through the wealth of information that the parties - along with their conscious or unconscious attempts to convince - convey to us?
Strategies to reach a balance
As mediators, throughout the process, we must take care that the story of one of the parties does not prevail over the other. To balance such an exchange we use different techniques and strategies that we express, mainly, through our questions and reformulations.
sayings strategies They imply the ability to analyze and synthesize the contextual component, both of the circumstances surrounding the conflict in question, and of the positions, interests and needs of the opposing parties.
All of this in order to intervene from perspectives that are broad and complex enough to enable an objective, serene, creative and consensus-oriented reinterpretation of the conflict.
Such perspectives can be explained in terms of what, among others, Don E. Beck relates to “memes of value”, Kenneth Wilber with stages of development of consciousness appealing to second-degree thought structures, constructs such as Richard Barret's levels of consciousness, stages of development of the self such as those proposed by Loevinger or classic hierarchies such as Maslow's needs or that of Kohlberg's moral development.
From these and other theoretical models we can infer worldview structures such as Motivational Attractors or others that range from the simple to the most complex and that the mediation professional applies to distance himself from his egocentric positioning and to self-manage his mediation intervention.
Postures adopted
For us mediators, keep in mind that the positions taken by the opposing parties are transitory and are part of each person's evolutionary process, it already contributes to the role of external observer and, therefore, impartiality.
We are here to help you contemplate what is happening from a broader and more inclusive perspective of the idea of permanent change.
In it, we also find foundation for our absence of judgment and our impartiality regarding the positions and interests of the people with whom we work. Truly, it is absurd to position oneself and anchor oneself in what is transitory. There is the key. Everything is in permanent motion and it is not possible to conceptualize the conflict in the opposite way.
The emotional and cognitive mechanisms that emerge due to the conflict situation explain the emergence of anchorages, cognitive distortions and self-justifications in the parties involved, it is something normal, but we, as mediators, have the task of remaining firm in the idea of their transience and reminding them. subtly to the opposing parties through our interventions.
Motivational Attractors
Precisely to guide our questions and reformulations we can use tools such as Motivational Attractors which also serve to facilitate the impartiality of our mediation practice.
The six Motivational Attractors, each of which transcends and integrates the previous one in complexity, represent a specific way of conceiving -the opposing parties- the conflict according to a set of values and beliefs that have a strong relationship of coherence between themselves.
They offer the mediator a guideline on which to guide his questions and reformulations while serving to help the parties involved understand and contextualize the position and motives of the opponent.
This is very valuable because, undeniably, it is easier to have respect and tolerance when there is authentic understanding of the motives and circumstances of the other.
It is a deep analysis that enables an understanding that goes beyond labels, prejudices and internal psychological blocks.
Keeping in mind that, as mediators, we aim to build bridges to facilitate this type of understanding between the parties, greatly helps to maintain impartiality while Do not confuse neutrality with indifference.
