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Being Impartial

A definition: “not supporting any of the sides involved in an argument”

A few weeks go we were training a group of farmers and talked about mediator impartiality. This led on from a conversation about whether someone could be impartial while mediating within their own family. Discussing impartiality and exploring what it means, reminded me how complex the language can become.

In simple terms, mediators don’t take sides. Just as they are not there to judge who is right and who is wrong, they are not there to support one party over and above another. This in itself can be a difficult message to get across. Often a client will want to be believed, want their perspective of what has happened to be supported and reinforced. This is when a mediator needs to carefully set out their role, in helping both clients to air their issues and together work out a way to move things forward.

But can a mediator truly be impartial? For most mediators that I know, the answer will be “no”. In neighbour or community mediation, the mediator is there to help parties work through to an agreement, so in a simple sense they are not impartial – they do care if an agreement is reached. Also, a part of their role is to help clients develop an agreement that is realistic, practical and peaceful. So, again, they are not completely impartial. This qualified or limited impartiality may seem to be an exploration of language based on the theory of mediation, but it does have a practical impact on the work of mediators. They are not silent witnesses to an emerging agreement – they can encourage, test , summarise and explore elements of an agreement so that all parties can engage and work towards it. It is a subtle yet important distinction when explaining and defining impartiality in mediation.

By being impartial – being outside the discussion of the mechanics of an agreement - the mediator not only helps ensure a practical and lawful agreement emerges, but they avoid making suggestions. During our six-day Mediation Skills training, we coach learners on avoiding making suggestions which, depending on their everyday job and personality, can take time and focus to achieve. Being impartial and not making suggestions go well together. Avoiding making suggestions and why it is important for a mediator, is something I’ll come back to in a future blog.