Assuring Quality in ADR Practice & Programs

Mediator Competence

Competence is the term used to describe the ability to use dispute resolution skills and knowledge effectively to assist others in prevention, management or resolution of disputes in a particular setting or context. While there is no clear consensus on the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other attributes (sometimes called "KSAOs") needed to perform as a mediator, one of the best descriptions of a mediator's tasks comes from the Test Design Project which summarizes them as follows:

Gathering background information
Facilitating communication
Communicating information to others
Analyzing information
Facilitating agreement
Managing cases
Helping document any agreement by the parties

The difficulty comes in determining the best way to assess a neutral's ability to perform these tasks competently.

The Test Design Project sought to provide DR programs with reliable and economical tools for selecting mediators. The result of this project Performance-Based Assessment: A Methodology for Use in Selecting, Training and Evaluating Mediators-contains general measures of competence or KSAOs [knowledge, skills, abilities, and other attributes] for mediators. It also offers a methodology for making performance-based assessments of mediators' likelihood of future successes. The project set forth the following qualities as those "likely to be needed most to perform the most common and essential tasks of a mediator":

Investigation - Effectiveness in identifying and seeking out pertinent information
Empathy - Conspicuous awareness and consideration of the needs of others.
Impartiality - Effectively maintaining a neutral stance between the parties and avoiding undisclosed conflicts of interest or bias.
Generating options - Pursuit of collaborative solutions and generation of ideas and proposals consistent with case facts and workable for opposing parties.
Generating agreements - Effectiveness in moving parties toward finality and in "closing" agreement.
Managing the interaction - Effectiveness in developing strategy, managing the process, and coping with conflicts between clients and representatives.
Substantive knowledge - Adequate competence in the issues and type of dispute to facilitate communication, help parties develop options, and alert parties to relevant legal information.

The difficulty comes in determining how to measure these kinds of qualities.

Measures of competence may also need to be linked to context. A family mediator with a therapy background would not necessarily be competent to mediate a multi-party environmental dispute. For example, see the Competencies for Environmental and Public Policy Mediators prepared by a committee of SPIDR's Environmental/Public Disputes Sector.

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