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A Narrative Approach to Mediation
Introduction
In the years since the Employment Relations Act 2000 was introduced, mediation has become the primary method through which employment disputes are resolved in New Zealand. In this paper, I shall apply principles of a narrative approach to the context of workplace and employment mediation by telling a mediation story from my practice as an employment mediator.
A narrative approach and questioning style invites participants to step outside of their positions within the conflict story. Through the mediator’s use of such tools as narrative questioning and externalising conversations, participants are encouraged to comment on the conflict itself rather than focusing on a more blame-oriented construction of events. In this process, the power that the conflict has had over people’s perceptions begins to shift. Participants begin to work together against the problem as collaborators rather than contestants.
The story describes the mediation of a problem in an employment relationship between a chief executive and a senior community worker in a community sector organisation. Personal details have been changed to maintain the confidentiality of the participants. The mediation story shows the use of narrative questions to address the personal, relational and community effects of the problem story. The mediator endeavours to destabilise the conflict story and create space for those affected to consider how they might reclaim their dignity and respect and be able to move on in their lives.
The paper focuses on the hallmarks or principles of narrative mediation.[1] In this story, these hallmarks are applied in an employment mediation in which the parties have a continuing relationship, as opposed to one where the relationship has ended, but the ideas are relevant to both mediation contexts.
Story of Clare and Harriet
Clare is chief executive of a large organisation in the community not-for-profit sector. Harriet was appointed to the position of senior community worker one year ago. Harriet is good at her job. She relates well to others, is energetic and is willing to take initiatives and make things happen. She is not so good at administration. Harriet organised a very successful youth project in the first week of February 2008 and was expected to write a report for the board meeting at the end of the month. Other things got in the way for Harriet so Clare extended the commitment to the March board meeting. Ten days before that meeting, Clare finds out that the report is not done and that Harriet is going on leave for a week the following day. In a frustrated outburst, Clare tells Harriet that she’s absolutely hopeless at administration and will be responsible if the organisation doesn’t get funding for its youth projects the following year. Harriet accuses Clare of not understanding the demands of community work and how much she’s achieved, but just wanting to “tick the boxes” for the board. Clare says that the late reports have become a performance matter that will be followed up when Harriet returns from leave.
This is the beginning of a downward slide in the relationship. Harriet is offended about her performance being challenged and becomes less open and responsive. Clare discovers that Harriet has fallen behind with other accountability reports as well and becomes even more frustrated. Eventually, Harriet threatens to resign. This puts Clare into panic mode as she realises how important Harriet’s skills are to the organisation and how difficult and costly it would be to replace her. Clare seeks the advice of an employment lawyer who suggests they go to mediation with an independent Department of Labour mediator. Clare proposes this to Harriet, who accepts.
Hallmarks of narrative
We live our lives through stories
Taking stories seriously means treating them as having the power to shape experiences, influence mindsets and construct relationships. A narrative approach to mediation means much more than the telling of stories or the analysis of them. The mediator sees stories or narratives as constructing realities, as shaping of lives. People respond to each other with stories all the time, for example, the question, “How was your day?” is usually followed by the telling of a story. “What have you been doing lately?” produces a different response but still a story. When a lawyer in a courtroom asks, “What did you see happen?”, the witness tells a story in response.[2]
The way we talk about our lives in stories helps give us a sense of continuity in life and a sense of coherence about who we are. Some stories are more coherent than others, some are more dominant, some more rehearsed. Employment mediators hear accounts of the same events retold from each person’s perspective, which are utterly different from each other.
The stories within Harriet and Clare’s employment experience include stories of a community organisation that has a CEO, paid workers and volunteers. There are stories of high ideals, struggles for funding and losing staff to the private sector. There are also stories of managing employment relationships well, setting up clear structures of governance and management, and dealing well with conflict.
There are personal and family stories. As well as being a manager and community worker, Harriet is a mother of 5-year-old twins, so has a story about how she juggles her family needs with her work commitments. In her first year with the organisation, she relied on an administration assistant, Maree, to help with report writing. However, this year, the organisation didn’t get funding for that role, which has left a big gap for Harriet.
Clare’s story includes being deeply committed to the community sector and involved in a national organisation that is striving for more equality of wages and opportunities for workers in that sector.
No story can encompass all events; therefore, stories are always selective. This gives the mediator space to move between and around stories, to draw on a wider range than the problem story.
Avoid essentialist understandings
Essentialist or inside-out approaches to conflict ascribe people’s behaviour to their nature, for example, “he’s a workplace bully”, “they have a personality clash”. In contrast, narrative approaches build on an outside-in approach, which proposes that people’s interests, their emotions, their behaviours and their interpretations are produced within a cultural or discursive world of relations and are then internalised. They are constructed rather than natural and fixed, so people are able to shift track and be part of more than one narrative at the same time.[3]
In conflict, descriptions of each other tend to narrow. Under the influence of the dispute, the experiences that fit with the story of the dispute often get selected for remembering. Since the late-report problem, Clare is seeing Harriet as “hopeless” at administration. She “doesn’t know how to prioritise”, she’s “difficult to deal with” and “doesn’t care about the organisation”. Each of these descriptions suggests that Harriet’s behaviour is due to her nature and is therefore fixed, which may downplay and make invisible her real abilities and past successes.
Likewise, Harriet is seeing Clare as just wanting to “tick the boxes” and “being unreasonable and nit-picking”. Currently, Harriet’s account overlooks Clare’s qualities of strong leadership and demonstrated commitment to the community sector.
A mediator communicating with respect will resist essentialist descriptions and hold the door open to exceptions and contradictions to these and to the other existing stories likely to lie behind them.
Engage in “double listening”
People are always situated within multiple story lines. They are used to shifting seamlessly from one narrative to another as they go from home to school, from home to work, from the peer group to the family, from one relationship to another.[4]
A mediator engaged in double listening hears not only the pain of the conflict story but also the individual’s hopes for something different. For example, by expressing what she doesn’t like (Harriet’s late reports and the way they reflect badly on her as CEO), Clare is also implicitly expressing what she likes or wants, that is, that Harriet prepare careful, timely reports for the board and funders, as well as maintain her energy and drive for the community projects she does so well. Likewise, Harriet’s resistance to Clare’s criticism of her report work underlies Harriet’s desire for more recognition of her successful community projects.
Michael White expressed a similar idea to double listening when he wrote of the need to listen for “an absent but implicit” story.[5] This is the story that lies hidden or masked in the background of a conflict story. It is found by turning over the coin of what a person objects to or is angry about. It can indicate what the speaker values and holds important. Mediators can use double listening to draw out the differences between these contrasting stories and to invite people to make choices about which story they want to embrace.
Build an externalising conversation
“The person is not the problem, the problem is the problem.”[6]
Externalising is a way of naming the conflict and speaking about it as an entity in its own right. This approach helps parties separate from the conflict itself and can serve to distance blame and guilt.
The mediator asks Harriet and Clare, “So what would you call this whole cycle of events that has gone back and forth between you both? What’s a name that you could agree on?”
They tentatively try some answers including “late reports”, “loss of trust” and “a deteriorating working relationship”. In order to understand more about these initial descriptions of the problem, the mediator asks, “What factors do you think have contributed to the problem?” In answer, Clare talks about the deadlines she faces as CEO and the challenge of her national work commitments. Harriet adds two other names to the list from her perspective – “lack of admin support” and “juggling work and home demands”.
The mediator continues an externalising conversation with Harriet and Clare by asking questions that help map the effects of the problem on each of them. She asks such questions as:
- “How have late reports and loss of trust invited you to act, to feel, to respond?”
- “In what ways has the problem affected your working relationship?”
- “What is it costing you?”
- “Are there ways in which this conflict has got you acting out of character?”
- “How does it interfere with your preferences for how things could be different?”
- “Are these effects acceptable to you?”
As Clare and Harriet speak about the effects of the problem, some effects common to both of them emerge, such as stress, distraction from their real work, a sense of being unfairly criticised and losing the joy of work. Both become very clear that the effects are not acceptable and that things need to change.
View the problem story as a restraint (to a story of hope)
This hallmark is built on the idea that what people talk about and the way they talk about it helps construct their lives and their relationships. The mediator draws the participants back to the story of hope by asking, “What would be some components of a story of hope about your working relationship?” Clare responds, “That we resolve the problem.” Harriet says, “That we can get on with the job.” Clare adds, “That we respect each other – and our different jobs.” Harriet proposes, “That we get some more admin support.”
The mediator asks with curiosity, “So how would you name the restraints to the story of hope which you’ve outlined?” Having taken part in the earlier externalising conversation, Harriet and Clare answer in that style, that the restraints include challenges about performance, about reports, queries from the board, loss of trust and co-operation between them, and time and energy going into the conflict rather than into the organisation’s projects and goals.
The mediator follows this up by asking, “If you think about this conflict as a restraint to your getting on with the job, could you be more specific about some of the things the conflict is interfering with?” Harriet and Clare give a raft of answers about aspects of their work that are being restrained, such as celebrating the success of the youth project in February, respecting their different roles and their mutual dependence, enjoyment of work, and energy being diverted from their core work. “It’s a restraint to sleeping well, too,” adds Harriet, and Clare nods in agreement. The stage is set to develop an alternative story.
Listen for discursive positioning
An alternative to an essentialist position is to think in terms of discourse. Discourse and discursive positions refer to the larger cultural backdrop in which people participate, such as the body of beliefs, practices and assumptions about the law, human rights, employment relations or dispute resolution. The employment relations discourse includes employment law, evidence, protocols and the language all around these, but other discourses such as family, psychology and gender or age discourses often feature strongly in mediation as well.
The central ideas from these discourses and the assumptions within them are produced from within each cultural world. People select their opinions and ideas from these larger fields of play, then internalise and further personalise their views. The broader fields of influence give people the flexibility to move between discourses.
Within the employment relations discourse influencing Harriet and Clare’s relationship is also the dimension of the not-for-profit community sector as a place to work with its strong ethic of trying to make a difference in communities, compared to the competitive market values of the private sector. There is a dependence on grants, which may vary annually. Finances are more likely to be stretched and expectations on staff can be high. Clare ignores this as she calls on a legal or rights discourse suggesting that Harriet’s late reports have become a performance issue and need to be addressed more formally as such. Harriet, meanwhile, continues to experience some clash between the discourses of family and employment relations as she strives to complete her work demands before going on leave with her family. People can and do change their positions in relation to a discourse, and they change the way they call each other into a position in that discourse. Mediation can be seen as a process of negotiation of discursive positions.[7]
For example, when Clare says that Harriet is “absolutely hopeless at administration” and “difficult to deal with”, her statement invites Harriet into a position of agreement or disagreement with this allegation of personal deficit. Clare is calling on the ideas about deficit within the discourse of psychology.[8] If a problem is understood to emerge from a person’s nature, then it becomes hard for anyone to imagine change, including the person with the problem. The mediator wants to separate the person from the problem in the way that she speaks, so rather than continue this current conflict narrative about deficit, she invites Harriet and Clare to take up different positions in a narrative that offers a position of respect for both of them. She invites them to tell her more about the successful youth projects on which they have worked together. The mediator works with positioning to open up alternative stories and alternative relational positions. The old story will still reappear, but the mediator begins to open up a new cautious mutual positioning.
Identify openings to an alternative story
The story of a conflict is always only one possible story out of a range of stories that may be told about a relationship. The mediator can develop an alternative story by paying attention to the plot elements that exist but are being left out of the conflict story.A conflict story is likely to omit elements that illustrate co-operation or mutual understanding in favour of elements that spotlight the conflict.
Winslade and Monk explain this idea: “In the shadow of a story of angry exchanges, there are moments of reflection, and remorse or quiet calmness. In the shadows of a story of despair, there are moments of hope. In the shadows of a story of obstinacy, there are moments of willingness to negotiate…. In the shadows of a story of denigration, there are instances of respect. The skill of the mediator lies in catching these moments and inquiring into them.”[9]
Through questioning, the mediator elicits stories that are incompatible with the continuation of the conflict story between Harriet and Clare, for example, exceptions, contradictions, events that have been glossed over, best intentions and hopes:
- “Do you have any other thoughts or ideas from your experience of the youth project last year? You talked about the planning meeting and how you shared the big jobs. What else do you recall about how you worked together on that project?”
- “What particular strengths did you see the other bring to it?”
- “Are there elements from those projects that you’d like to revive and apply again?”
- “How did Maree the admin assistant make a difference to each of you?”
- “What would be the benefits of getting your relationship back on track? What would it mean to each of you?”
The mediator’s task is to assist the participants to weave these exceptions or contradictions into a viable story by connecting them with each other and developing an alternative story of dialogue, co-operation and agreement.
Re-author the relationship story
In order to build a story of co-operation, the mediator invites Harriet and Clare to take time out separately over a cup of coffee to consider the following questions:
- “How might you build on the co-operative and successful work you’ve done in the past?”
- “What idea or strategies might you put in place to move forward?”
- “What requests do you have of the other?”
- “What commitments are you prepared to make?”
Document progress
When they get together again 15 minutes later, she invites them to put forward their ideas alternately. Each proposal is captured on the whiteboard. When Clare and Harriet are satisfied that all their key ideas are on the board, they work through the process of discussing, refining and accepting or discarding the proposals.
The following memo of understanding is the outcome of their work together:
- Harriet withdraws her threat of resignation and agrees to stay in her position for at least three months and then evaluate how well it’s working.
- Clare agrees to set up a performance plan in order to support Clare in gaining confidence and skills in report writing. She will:
- work with Clare on writing the next report due
- review the operations budget and try to expand the administration support available
- investigate appropriate training and give Harriet the option of attending.
- Harriet and Clare agree to meet each week to plan and co-ordinate projects and to discuss any issues of concern to either. Harriet agrees to speak up early if she encounters problems when writing reports.
- Harriet requests that Clare notice and comment on the positive aspects of her work as well as giving critical feedback.
- Clare and Harriet agree to keep details of this meeting confidential and to say to inquirers only, “We’ve had a meeting, we’ve got a positive plan and we’re getting on with it.”
In bringing the mediation to a close, the mediator shares a favourite quote from Sir Tipene O’Regan, a well-known Ngāi Tahu leader who said, “We let go of our dreams easily. It’s a much harder thing to give up on our grievances”.[10] She commends Harriet and Clare on the goodwill they have shown today and their willingness to let go the story of grievance and open up new stories of shared understanding, mutual commitment and a changed ongoing relationship.
References
K.J. Gergen (1990), Therapeutic professions and the diffusion of deficit. Journal of Mind and Behaviour, 11 (3–4), 1990, pp. 353–368.
T. O’Regan, Personal communication, 2008.
M. White, The externalizing of the problem and the re-authoring of lives and relationships, Dulwich Centre Newsletter,Special edition, Summer 1988–1989, pp. 3–21.
M. White, Reflections on Narrative Practice, Dulwich Centre Publications, Adelaide, 2000.
J. Winslade and G. Monk, Practicing narrative mediation: Loosening the grip of conflict, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 2008.
J. Winslade and A. Cotter, Moving from problem-solving to narrative approaches in mediation, in G. Monk, J. Winslade, K. Crocket and D. Epston (Eds.), Narrative therapy in practice: the archaeology of hope, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1997.
J. Winslade, G. Monk, and A. Cotter, A Narrative Approach to the Practice of Mediation, Negotiation Journal, 14(1), 1998: pp 21–42.
Footnotes
[1] J. Winslade and G. Monk, Practicing narrative mediation: Loosening the grip of conflict, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 2008.
[2] Winslade and Monk, 2008, p. 4.
[3] Winslade and Monk, 2008, p. 6.
[4] Winslade and Monk, 2008, p. 8.
[5] M. White, Reflections on Narrative Practice, Dulwich Centre Publications, Adelaide, 2000, p. 153.
[6] M. White, The externalising of the problem and the re-authoring of lives and relationships, Dulwich Centre Newsletter, Special edition, Summer 1988–1989, p. 6.
[7] Winslade and Monk, 2008, p. 23.
[8] K.J. Gergen, Therapeutic professions and the diffusion of deficit, Journal of Mind and Behaviour, 11 (3–4), 1990, pp. 353–368.
[9] Winslade and Monk, 2008, p. 27.
[10] T. O’Regan, Personal communication, 2008.
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