The mediator remains neutral.
- Unlike a lawyer, who advocates for one side or the other, a mediator strives to be unbiased.
- A mediator does not offer solutions but encourages the parties to do so.
The mediator assists parties in communicating effectively.
- Instead of advising or directing, the mediator creates a forum where parties can discuss their differences in a comfortable, open-ended way.
- The mediator may ask probing or clarifying questions.
- The mediator may offer listening and communication techniques that promote respectful dialogue.
The mediator encourages parties to use their own legitimate resources — wisdom, empathy, imagination — to generate a resolution.
- Parties get to speak their own hearts and minds and to think “outside the box.”
- Parties are free to discover overlapping interests that can lead to a mutually satisfactory resolution.