Hillingdon Community Mediation

Operating Principles

We always try to operate our organisation according to the Principles that we use when mediating.

We feel that if we believe mediation to provide an effective way of communicating and resolving conflict constructively then it makes sense for us to apply its Principles to the way we operate and work together.

We continuously refer to and expand upon these Principles during our training courses. We begin each meeting with staff and volunteers with a talk through of the Principles, and we have them written at the head of our Management Committee agendas.

These Principles are that we:

Treat each other with respect
Do not interrupt one another
Have the right to pass
Do not volunteer others
Speak only for ourselves (speak in the ‘I’)
Speak but not too often or for too long
Respect CONFIDENTIALITY
Challenge the behaviour and not the person
Acknowledge that it is OK to make mistakes

These Principles are based on what could be described as the Underlying Philosophies of Mediation which are:

Ownership
Empowerment
Impartiality
No-blame approach
Confidentiality
Adult / Adult approach not Parent / Child

An expanded discussion and exploration of how these Principles and Underlying Philosophies promote effective communication and enable conflict to be responded to constructively rather than destructively occurs on our mediator training course and is also provided in all our other training settings.

There is also a deeper discussion of the Principles, Underlying Philosophies and other related concepts on the Communication and Conflict website created by Alan Sharland, Director of Hillingdon Community Mediation.