What makes us different?

• Independence
• Expertise
• Experience
• Our approach and methods
• Our values
  

Our principal role is that of facilitator. As such, we prefer to act in an independent capacity, and on the joint brief (or with the consent) of all stakeholders. The combination of our credibility, expertise and experience helps us to deliver.

It's not easy to get all stakeholders to agree to a process to tackle the challenges and issues that confront them. Nor to agree on who should assist. But it is that consent which, when gained, gives us special space and leverage. We are not there to advantage one or other party. Our quest is to drive for mutual gain, and it's a job we take very seriously

Our emphasis is on dispute prevention rather than dispute resolution. However, where we are called on to mediate a live dispute, the voluntary nature of the process gives us additional room to get to the crux of the matter. That flexibility helps the parties find solutions beyond the orthodoxies of the tribunals and courts.

If we are training, we like to train the parties jointly. If we are analysing or designing, we like to do so inclusively. If we are facilitating change, reviewing systems or mediating disputes, we expect to do so in terms of a process agreed by the parties.

It's probably accurate to say that our client is the project (to achieve agreed outcomes) rather than the parties.

The services turn on proven methodologies, customised for the demands of the situation.

We work in settings where trust, discretion, proper judgement, professionalism and integrity count a great deal. We endeavour to promote these attributes, values and outcomes in the way we work. For ourselves, we believe that it is a good thing that people should be able to influence decisions that affect their lives. Then they can best look after their interests. Our job as facilitators is to mediate interests to best overall effect.

In any workplace there are competing interests and there are shared interests. It's never an either/or situation. We address this ambiguity and the tensions it creates. Where interests conflict, we help the parties manage this fact of life intelligently. Where they are shared, our job is to expand the common ground.

"Even some experienced negotiators assume that the way to get what they want is to 'look tough' and to 'give the other side a hard time'. Consensus building, they assume, is for 'weaklings'. As it turns out, the negotiators with the best reputations are the ones who almost always get a good deal for the person across the table as well. The pressure they feel is to generate an agreement that meets everyone's interests. They are not concerned with looking tough. They stay focused on the outcomes they want to achieve. If consensus building produces good outcomes (and leaves relationships intact so that future negotiations are easier), then they know they will get credit for their success."

The Consensus Building Handbook
Susskind, McKearnan & Thomas-Larmer
1999