Mediation Style

Every mediator has a natural way of working. The two ends of the style spectrum can be expressed as passive and active.

At the passive end, the mediator may be content to ferry offers and counter-offers back and forth and consider his/her job done if both sides have fully stated their bargaining positions, whether or not they reach an agreement.

An active or assertive mediator considers success as nothing less than agreement if one is reasonably ascertainable. He/she will typically give the parties wide latitude to argue their positions over the first part of the day.

After listening carefully to both sides, the mediator will begin probing for ways to create movement towards a settlement. In private meetings with each side, he/she will push each side to acknowledge its own weaknesses and the other’s strengths. The mediator will make each side aware of the risks it faces should the case proceed to trial. Active mediators are involved, positive, facilitative, and even somewhat evaluative in late-stage mediation, short of prescribing outcomes. It is always the parties’ choice whether they wish to settle.

Many consider Mr. Archibald to be an active style of mediator who uses facilitative, transformative, and evaluative approaches to help the parties reach settlement.