What are 6 suitable means of training others in the mediation process (workplace mediation)? EG. online curses / training in psychology...

 

Each one of us is unique in how we perceive and process the world around us. These perceiving and processing qualities are known as learning styles, and when they meet, they can lead to anything from the highest levels of agreement to the deepest chasms of division. Understanding these learning styles can help us use the full range of our cognitive abilities and explain the different ways we interact with the world around us. This will allow the mediator to more completely reconcile the disparate perceptions among the parties in a dispute.

Parties in conflict face communication barriers that are most effectively alleviated by the skillful intervention of a third party with a thorough set of communication skills. Learning styles offers us a different way to understand communication styles, and can allow the mediator to more completely engage the parties. In this paper, we will consider the integration of learning style principles into mediation as one way to approach these communication barriers.

Modalities

The first step in interaction is considering how our senses take in the world around us. There are three basic sensing modes; seeing, listening and doing. In order to communicate completely we need to use all 3 modalities.

Processing and Cognition

Each one of us understands the world around us in our own way. When we come across a new situation, some of us sense and feel our way, while others think things through to connect the experience to meaning. Research has shown that we all have different aspects of the same human capacities. It is our ability to use these universal attributes that allow us to constructively work together.

Experimentation Observation

Another spectrum is how we process the world around us, how we think and feel about that world, how we make it part of ourselves. The thinkers tend to reflect on new things and filter these new things through their own experience to create meaningful connections. The sensing/feelers act on new information immediately. They think once they have tried it out and they need to extend it into their world.

Our perspective is the way we view reality. It is the combination of how we take in the world around us and what we think about it. When we interact with others, we are using our filter of the world. So the reconciliation of different perspectives becomes our first challenge in resolving conflict. Through understanding these perspectives, we help the parties develop a broader understanding and consider other points of view. Next, we compare their perspectives with each other. As mediators, we act as cultural translators through the constructive exchange of these perspectives in helping the parties more clearly appreciate the others point of view. Hopefully, this leads to empathy, the beginning of a meaningful resolution.

If we consider the learning style characteristics, we come up with some interesting observations. Imaginative learning perceive information concretely, and process it reflectively. They integrate experience with the self, they learn by listening and sharing ideas. They are imaginative thinkers who believe in their own experience. They believe in what has happened to them and they excel in viewing direct experience from many perspectives. They work in harmony, and they need to be personally involved.

Analytic learning perceive information abstractly and process it reflectively. They devise theories by integrating their observations into what is known. They see continuity; they need to know what the experts think. They learn by thinking through ideas.

Common sense learning perceive information abstractly and process that actively. They integrate theory and practice. They learn by testing theories and applying common sense. They are pragmatists and they believe that if it works, use it.

Dynamic learning perceive information concretely and process it actively. They integrate experience in application and learn by trial and error. They are believers in self-discovery and enthusiastic about new things. They are adaptable and even relish change, and they often reach accurate conclusions in the absence of logical justification.