Conflict in business tends towards two distinct areas – disputes with customers or suppliers or internal disputes amongst the owners/management.

Customer/Supplier disputes are obvious candidates for a civil and commercial mediation.  They may have got to the stage of pre-litigation and the mediation process is a possible precursor of court itself if the ADR is unsuccessful.

Mediation is a cost-effective method of exploring possible solutions that can be flexible and wide-ranging (although they might end up being simply an agreement over the financial settlement).  It can also be a quick process – a vital practical issue.

Almost anyone who has experienced a dispute will record how time-consuming it becomes.  Something that often overshadows everything else in the mind of the participants.

Internal disputes (outside of the Workplace arena) can be more difficult to define and therefore mediation may not be at the forefront of the minds of those involved.  Indeed, they may not even be at a point where they realise that they are in a “dispute”.

However, the sooner these type of conflicts can be introduced to a skilled business mediator then the sooner the issues can be recognised, chewed over and solutions road-tested to find out what might make things better.

It is important to consider the benefits of a practical and mutual solution, especially the ability it gives for the participants to move forward without the shadow of a “problem” holding them back and consuming all their day-to-day thoughts.  This is vital in business!

There are enough outside influences allowing prevarication to make it very important to try and move through self-generated barriers to simply “getting on with it”.

Mediation is a business tool which is often not used to its full advantage – let us help you with your business.

David King, Civil mediator and accountant with extensive financial and taxation related experience and expertise