by Clive Lewis, former HR Director and CEDR accredited mediator
Originally published in November 2004
How can mediation help smooth the way for organisational change to take place? Where the only thing that is constant in the 21st century is change, it helps when this happens smoothly. For organisations to remain competitive and maximise profitability it is inevitable that a degree of change will be required, often on a substantial level. Of course the asset impacted most when change needs to take place is usually human resources. 

As HR director of a technology organisation going through a substantial change programme I have recently experienced the value that mediation can bring to the change arena. 

The context was that the parent company wished to dispose of its two subsidiaries and reduce fixed costs to allow for one organisation with one purpose. As part of the process the organisation needed to exit a number of its senior individuals.

The CEO and I held initial discussions with affected individuals and I was asked to ‘work through the detail’. A traditional discussion would not have worked as it would have potentially protracted the process and been too inflexible. Mediated discussions took away immediate and potential issues and provided a cost effective solution.

Why mediate?

With an increasing number of cases hitting the media spotlight, organisations can save time, money and quite often their reputation by engaging mediation skills early on in the organisation change process. Often, senior HR professionals are not as involved as they should be in the planning stages of a major change programme. This is probably because people issues are not considered a priority during this stage. However, if handled incorrectly, the people issues are likely the most costly and time-consuming aspects to try and recover from. Unfortunately the tangible benefits of utilising mediation to smooth the way for organisation change are often most visible when things have not gone well. The media is littered with such examples. Executives will often only realise the true value mediated solutions could have brought when they are on the wrong side of the fence. They then have to repair the damage that would not have experienced, if mediation skills had been properly deployed.

Most organisations have key individuals who are able to either help or hinder the process of change by the attitude they display toward the change agenda. This is particularly the case when they themselves are personally impacted by the change. Key individuals can be leaders (but are not exclusively) or senior individuals who are likely to carry much weight through the organisation and often, the balance of calm or progress is at their fingertips. Other individuals, who are akin to a disposition of being difficult, or have an issue that could prove difficult to handle but are not necessarily senior, may fit this category. 

Getting key individuals on your side and dealing with all people fairly and professionally during change can pay huge dividends. Key individuals can play a major role in holding up the change process and preventing a new vision or way of working being established. If junior or middle ranking employees become aware of dissatisfaction engendered by a key individual it could have a devastating impact on the future commitment of employees an organisation may want to retain and keep engaged.

As it became clear that certain key individuals would be exiting the organisation (in this instance a number of directors), mediation skills played a vital role in ensuring a smooth course of change took place. Much of the mediator’s role is to:

• Encourage a trusted relationship with the parties
• Encourage win-win negotiations
• Assist the parties to work to acceptable solutions
• ‘Reality check’ possible solutions and alternatives to settlement

Based on the above, a number of ‘mediated discussions’ were held. These started with the individual ranked as the most influential. All stakeholders recognised the requirement for change, which was a great starting point. The concluding position was that compromise agreements were reached, incorporating of course, the appropriate legal representation. In most cases, termination packages were comfortably into six figures and any future employment dispute against the company was effectively safeguarded against. 

But it became clear that it was not only senior individuals who should be classed and treated as key. One example of this was where there were two employees on long-term sick leave. The status of these employees meant that the due diligence process for one of the subsidiary disposals was being held up. The company had to act quickly in a pragmatic way to bring an acceptable resolution to both parties. The arrangements included home visits in the presence of nominated representatives to discuss possible solutions. ‘Settlements’ were reached within a surprisingly short timescale. 

Another example involved reaching settlements with individuals who benefited from generous TUPE arrangements, resulting from a joint venture with a former government department. Even with active union involvement, mediation brought an agreeable and practical solution, keeping the commercial needs of the business as top priority.

These examples illustrated the use of mediation as a genuine value-added, cost effective tool that could be used to help the organisation achieve its objectives whilst not needing to worry about revisiting any issue in future months – such as preparing for tribunals or facing legal claims. 

In these instances, mediation was used as a method of helping a number of people leave the business. This is not, of course, always the outcome one would desire or use mediation for. The principles of mediation can be used to assist people issues in other ways such as:

• Managing conflict
• Preserving positive working relationships
• Engaging key employees to collectively work towards business priorities
• Increasing effective working at ‘top level’
• Merger and acquisition process

A mediation approach goes a long way towards preserving good relationships between employee and employer. For example, many of the discussions referred to were held in a non-threatening environment i.e. away from the workplace. This encouraged affected individuals to be less defensive than perhaps they could have been within a work setting. The outcome for these conversations was ultimately going to lead to departure. However, the personal attention and flexibility of approach individuals received meant that dignity was preserved and goodwill was retained. A measure of this was some of the expressions of gratitude received for the ‘way it was handled’ after a satisfactory conclusion had been reached.

Benefits

The financial benefits of using mediation skills to assist organisational change can be substantial. Of course, benefits can also be measured indirectly in ways such as management time, employee goodwill and company reputation. 

Employment tribunal awards of six and seven figure compensation sums are now common. A lawyer from a leading investment bank was recently awarded £1m after her case was taken to employment tribunal. With new changes in employment legislation ever more likely, the number of cases of fallout and dissatisfaction are likely to proliferate. Unfortunately for employers, the media does a superior job at broadcasting such cases. Human resources directors and other heads of functions are increasingly required to provide justification of costs. It appears that there could be a major role for effective dispute resolution (in particular mediation skills) to add value in the workplace and have a positive impact on the bottom line. 

In summary

Mediation should not be considered as a soft option or easy way out, but a sensible and practical solution that can help oil the wheels of what organisations are now accepting is part of every day activity – managing change! Such change is not always viewed as positive or is indeed welcome by all, but engaging individuals and establishing dialogue to reach solutions can overcome blockages and resistance on a sustainable basis.