PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY IN MEDIATION
When first considering conducting a workplace mediation, mediators will usually have a chat with Human Resources about what has happened between the parties and where things are.
As mediators we should also use this time as an invaluable opportunity to explore what kind of organisational culture forms the backdrop of a workplace dispute, so that we can tailor our mediation approaches appropriate.
Key to this is a subtle evaluation of how psychologically safe the environment is. A psychologically unsafe environment will naturally prime defensiveness, as well as the fight-flight-freeze response in mediation participants.
As part of the initial exploration with Human Resources, as well as the 121 introductory sessions with participants, mediators will want to assess 3 key factors that are the hallmarks of a psychologically unsafe environment:
If a team member makes a mistake it is held against them.
People on the team sometimes reject others for being different.
It is difficult to ask other members of this team for help.
Armed with this knowledge mediators can promote a psychologically safe mediation environment and emphasise approaches that encourage openness and ownership of the process and outcomes. These include being clear about the process and the expected standards of delivery. In mediation participants, we endeavour to facilitate the voice of each participant, but it is also important to reflect that each voice is valid ( even when different) and each voice is valued in the process. Mediators can also model psychologically safe behaviours such as swapping blame for curiousity and showing compassion by demonstrating that mistakes can be made and acknowledged without fear of recrimination.
In order to unleash the transformative power of a mediation, mediators need to be attuned that many workplaces, or teams are not experienced as a psychologically safe space. Part of our role as mediators, and the success of a mediation, requires us to be attentive to this and take steps to remedy the impact, by creating a psychologically safe space.
