Mediating Non-Legal Intracompany Disputes

               Mediation is not only effective at settling legal disputes.  My experience as a senior vice president at a Fortune 10 company convinced me that mediation can play an equally effective role in resolving non-legal intracompany disputes.

               As the senior executive account manager for a multi-billion dollar relationship between two corporate divisions, I witnessed first-hand how internal disputes can create paralyzing disruption within a company. Take, for example, a dispute between two senior executives about intracompany product pricing. Or a disagreement over service quality, marketing strategy, human resources allocations – the list is endless. The way these disputes are typically “resolved” is by a C-suite executive being forced to favor one side over the other. The dispute is viewed in terms of a zero-sum outcome; only one side can win and one side must lose. It’s not unlike litigation, where one party wins at the expense of the other at the hands of a judge or jury.

               The advantage to mediation is that it allows for win-win solutions. Mediators, as neutral third parties, are skilled at facilitating resolution by exploring options to which both sides can agree -- they are skilled at “Getting to Yes.” The problem in the corporate setting is that there are no third-party neutrals, just decision-makers with a vested interest in the outcome. Some may say, “well, that’s the job of a C-suite executive and they get paid big bucks to make those decisions.” True, but are zero-sum outcomes necessarily the best outcomes?

               A mediator with no interest in a company or the outcome of a dispute, skilled in facilitating resolutions among disputing parties, has a role to play in the corporate world. Unfortunately, the option of hiring a third-party neutral to resolve an intracompany dispute is rarely considered. If you would like to learn more about the advantages of using a mediator to resolve costly and disruptive intracompany disputes, feel free to contact me.

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