Draws on the facilitative and evaluative grid of Leonard L. Riskin (1996), the transformative mediation of Robert A. Baruch Bush and Joseph P. Folger (1994), and Christopher W. Moore (The Mediation Process, 1986).
Matches the mediator's style to the dispute: transformative when the relationship needs repair, facilitative when parties can solve it with help, and evaluative when they need a neutral read.
When to reach for it
Choosing a mediator or designing a dispute process, where the wrong style would leave people settled on paper and still unhappy.
How it runs
- Ask what the parties most need: repair, joint solving, or a verdict.
- Weigh the ongoing relationship against the value of a quick resolution.
- Choose transformative, facilitative, or evaluative accordingly.
- Pick a mediator whose practice matches that style.
Where it sits in SOLVE eX
Go to the source
- Understanding Mediators' Orientations, Strategies, and Techniques: A Grid for the Perplexed, Harvard Negotiation Law Review 1, 1996
- The Promise of Mediation, Jossey-Bass; revised edition 2005, 1994
- The Mediation Process: Practical Strategies for Resolving Conflict, Jossey-Bass; fourth edition 2014, 1986