Mediation in Project Management: Bridging Worlds

When I reflect on my journey as a project professional, I am struck by how often I find myself wearing the mediator’s hat. Having undertaken formal mediation training in 2016, I often find myself using mediation skills in my role as a Transformation Programme Manager. Whether I’m navigating a heated discussion between clinical teams about new technology implementations or facilitating conversations between finance directors and service users about budget constraints, the skills we use in formal mediation translate directly into successful project delivery.

Project Managers sit at the intersection of competing interest: technical teams focused on functionality, finance teams concerned with budgets, end users demanding quality outcomes, and senior leaders pushing for strategic alignment. Sound familiar? It’s the classic multi-party dispute that mediation professionals know well.

In my current role managing healthcare transformation programmes, I’ve learned that successful project delivery isn’t just about managing timelines and budgets, it’s about creating space for stakeholder voices while keeping everyone moving toward shared goals. This mirrors the mediator’s fundamental skill of helping parties find common ground without losing sight of their individual needs.

Real-World Application

Let me share a practical example. Recently, I led a pathology service integration across South London that involved merging laboratory operations from multiple NHS trusts. Imagine the scene: scientists worried about job security, clinicians concerned about service continuity, union representatives protecting staff interests, and executives focused on efficiency savings. Each group spoke a different language and measured success differently.

The breakthrough came when I shifted from trying to resolve each concern individually to facilitating conversations where parties could hear each other’s underlying interests. Scientists weren’t just worried about jobs: they were passionate about maintaining the quality that patients deserved. The executives weren’t just chasing savings: they were trying to protect services for the future. Once we surfaced these shared values, solutions began to emerge organically.

The Trust Factor

What struck me most was how trust became the currency of progress. Just as mediation relies on creating a safe space for honest dialogue, project success depends on stakeholders believing that their concerns will be heard and addressed fairly. This became particularly important when managing politically sensitive projects requiring ministerial engagement; everyone needed assurance that their interests were represented in rooms where decisions were made.

I’ve found that the mediator’s principle of remaining neutral while being actively engaged translates perfectly to project management. When implementing virtual ward technology that fundamentally changed how community health services operated, I couldn’t advocate for any single stakeholder group. Instead, I had to hold space for IT Specialists, Nurses, Patients, and Commissioners to work through their differences while keeping the patient benefit at the centre.

The Human Element

Perhaps most importantly, both mediation and project management require recognising that behind every technical requirement, budget constraint, or delivery deadline sits a human being with genuine concerns. When I achieved efficiency savings while enhancing outcomes for vulnerable service users, the real success wasn’t the financial number, it was creating solutions that honoured everyone’s fundamental need to provide excellent care.

The ability to separate people from problems, focus on interests rather than positions, and generate options for mutual gain, these aren’t just negotiation techniques from academic textbooks. They’re daily practices that determine whether complex projects succeed or fail.

Looking Forward

As project environments become increasingly complex and stakeholder groups more diverse, the convergence between mediation and project management skills becomes even more pronounced. My experience managing teams of 40+ professionals across organisational boundaries has taught me that technical competence means little without the ability to facilitate difficult conversations and build consensus around shared objectives.

For mediation professionals considering project management applications, or project managers wanting to enhance their facilitation skills, the crossover offers rich opportunities. After all, whether we’re mediating a family dispute or delivering a multimillion-pound transformation programme, we’re ultimately in the business of helping people work together to create better outcomes.

The stakes might differ, but the human dynamics remain remarkably similar – and that’s where the real learning lies.

References:

Fisher, R., Ury, W., & Patton, B. (2011). Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. 3rd ed. New York: Penguin Books.

Kerzner, H. (2017). Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling. 12th ed. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

Müller, R., & Turner, J. R. (2007). Matching the project manager’s leadership style to project type. International Journal of Project Management, 25(1), 21-32.

Shenhar, A. J., & Dvir, D. (2007). Reinventing Project Management: The Diamond Approach to Successful Growth and Innovation. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press.

Turner, J. R., & Müller, R. (2003). On the nature of the project as a temporary organization. International Journal of Project Management, 21(1), 1-8.