Module 4

From positions to agreements: interests, options, alternatives, trades and bargaining

Parties come to mediation with positions: ‘I want 50,000.’ ‘I will not pay more than 10,000.’ ‘The children stay with me.’ A position is a demand. Behind it is an interest, which is the reason: a need, a fear, a hope, a principle. Two parties whose positions clash may have interests that can both be met, and the mediator’s work is often to find them. This is the heart of the craft, and it draws on negotiation theory that you will find in Across the Table. This module teaches how to frame the issues so that they can be solved, how to draw out interests, how to generate and test options, how to use the parties’ best and worst alternatives and objective standards to keep the talks realistic, how to find trades between issues that matter differently to each side and how to avoid the traps of bargaining. The Issue Trade Finder in the labs lets you see the idea of a trade at work on an invented case.

General education on the work of a mediator across legal systems, using invented people, services and cases. It is not legal, clinical or career advice, and it does not qualify anyone to practise as a mediator. Mediation law, accreditation, confidentiality, enforcement and safeguarding rules differ between countries and change: check the rules that apply to you with your accrediting body, your service and your regulator.