MEDIATION JOURNAL
in association with:
CIVIL MEDIATION COUNCIL
Executive Mediation: How to Solve Your Clients’ No 1 Headache – and Steal a March on the Competition By Liz Rivers “The CFO and the Director of Operations are at loggerheads – they can’t agree on anything. The problem is that both of them are very valuable to the organisation and we don’t want to lose either of them. Can you help?” This scenario plays out in boardrooms up and down the country. If you’re an employment lawyer, or have an employment team in your firm, what’s your response? Is it: A. Suggest the CEO “bang heads together” and sort it out. (Bad news - they tried that already); B. Tell them to choose which director they are willing to exit from the business and advise them on how to do it safely. Some business for you but your client loses a key director who’ll be hard to replace; or C. Suggest they try Executive Mediation? Executive Mediation is workplace mediation targeting at Board and senior leadership level. Fast, skilful and confidential, it gives senior leaders who are at loggerheads a chance to take their conversation “offline”, work out what the real issue is and get their working relationship back on track. Rather than focusing on negotiating the terms of an exit, it catches a working relationship when it still has a chance of being saved - think couples therapy rather than divorce mediation. Conflict that has reached destructive levels is brought back to the “healthy challenge” zone; relationships between antagonists are improved, and - most importantly - their colleagues are able to breathe a huge sigh of relief and get back to business. The smart employment lawyer will know about Executive Mediation, exactly when it’s the right option to suggest, and which mediators to recommend. You will solve your client’s No 1 headache and the goodwill you generate will be enormous. And you’re proving beyond a shadow of a doubt you have their best interests at heart. What do users of Executive Mediation say? Jane, a director in a professional body who took part in an Executive Mediation gave me this feedback afterwards: “You inspired me to take a very different, more positive and less rigid approach in relation to my views and gave excellent guidance on how to engage with my colleague and what to focus on.” Jim, an HR director who brought me in to mediate a board dispute said: “Everyone is delighted with the outcome of the mediation and it has had a positive impact on the whole board. The atmosphere in meetings is much better and the whole organisation appears much calmer, despite how busy we have been.” So, if you want your clients to know that you can help them to pre-empt Board conflicts early, make sure you’re up to speed with Executive Mediation.
Liz Rivers is a specialist in Executive Mediation. Formerly a commercial lawyer in the City with global law firm Eversheds Sutherland, she has over 30 years’ commercial experience. Also an executive coach and psychotherapist, she is highly skilled in both the commercial and psychological aspects of organisational conflict. Liz is recommended as a top mediator in Chambers & Partners and The Legal 500.
In Place of Strife has a dedicated panel of specialists in Executive Mediation: David Evans, Liz Rivers and Felicity Steadman. They each have over 30 years’ commercial experience at board level and can be appointed at www.mediate.co.uk
25 UK Mediation Journal, Issue 7
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