Future-proofing Companies with Mediation
Future Proofing Your Business with the Skills and Tools of Mediation
BY JANE GUNN
Amidst economic collapse, climate change, and global tensions, businesses must embrace mediation skills to manage conflict and thrive in disruptive times, says Jane Gunn from IPOS Mediation. Leaders need to incorporate mediation techniques such as facilitation, emotional intelligence, and creative problem-solving to future-proof their companies and foster harmonious relationships with stakeholders.
Could the skills, tools and mindset of mediation help businesses to manage change, challenge and crisis and the disruptive times that lay ahead?
“The key skill that differentiates survivors from the rest in times of change, challenge and crisis is the ability to acknowledge, understand and manage conflict”
The Stakes are High
The stakes couldn’t be higher right now with economic collapse, climate change, rising costs and global tension as some of the threats on the horizon, following on from a pandemic crisis. There is certainly no getting “back to normal” but rather an acceptance that we must adapt and be ready to deal with a cycle of crises and that this instability is causing an external and internal sense of conflict, constant fear and uncertainty.
In the boardroom this is leading to difficult decisions and disagreements around future proofing the business. And in the workplace, there is an increase in employee – employer disputes, tension in teams and challenging communications, difficulties adapting to hybrid working and burnout leading to sickness and the loss of critical staff.
Ineffective Responses
This fear-based approach means that we humans often revert to ineffective responses guided by patterns of behaviour from past experiences and situations that can cloud our thinking. We then lack the ability to see things in perspective and think carefully and critically about the consequences of different decisions on the path ahead.
Mediation and the use of mediation skills and tools offer the opportunity to avoid and manage conflict and disputes at the earliest opportunity.
