Reflections on the role of a workplace mediator

Abstract

This article is a reflection on my time as an internal mediator and, I hope also, a guide for readers who are considering introducing or taking up the role. To that end, the discussion covers my early expectations, the first time in the role, different approaches to the role I have encountered both as a practicing mediator and also as a researcher and closes with some reflection on the future. This article is an adaptation of an original paper for the UK Professional Mediation Association conference 2014. To that end, I have sought to develop some of the themes based more specifically on my and colleagues’ research on mediation across a number of sectors in the UK, in particular within higher education.