Mediation
What is Mediation?
Mediation is a process where a third-party neutral (a mediator) helps parties to resolve their dispute.
Types of Conflicts Big Little Insights Mediates
Big Little Insights mediates complaints or conflicts, including those that others stray away from mediating such as those related to high-conflict, interpersonal issues. Examples of areas of mediation may include the following:
Employment or Workplace
Family, Couples, and Divorce
Cross-Cultural or International
Housing
Values
Discrimination, Human Rights, Civil Rights, Civil Liberties, DEI, ADA, or Sexual Harassment
Team or Partner
Social Identity (e.g., disability, race, religion, gender)
IP
Community
Education
Geopolitical
Harassment
Founder
War
Big Little Insights' Mediation Style and Its Benefits
Our Approach: Facilitative Mediation for Lasting Solutions
At Big Little Insights, we believe in empowering clients to find their own solutions (solutions optimized for their whole selves and for all parties to a dispute) instead of pushing short-sighted, lose-lose solutions that they may not want. That's why Big Little Insights uses a facilitative mediation approach. The parties in a dispute (disputants) have the autonomy to decide what they can agree to or if they wish to settle. Participants achieve win-win solutions by finding what parties agree to and improving communication among all participants. Because the mediator does not judge who was right or wrong, participants do not leave feeling judged or like a loser.
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Why Our Mediation Approach is Faster, Cheaper, and Works Better to Resolve Most Types of Conflicts
A common complaint about mediators is that they do not listen or know essential conflict resolution skills. This is because large mediation companies and panels select typical based on litigation or judicial experience, choosing individuals based on litigation experience over conflict resolution knowledge, ability, and experience. This would be similar to choosing a statistician for a baseball team based on baseball playing skills rather than an aptitude for statistics. Veteran litigators and judges can often take an evaluative mediation approach, which is similar to a non-binding arbitration or court decision (a second opinion) where the evaluative mediator will tell the parties who they think would win the case if an arbitrator or judge made the decision. They can have a hard time shaking their habit of being quick to judge who they think is right and partisanship into a neutral position of a person who does not judge either party nor advocate on behalf of any side. ​
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​Big Little Insights mediator Jennifer Yeh has the best of both worlds. Before becoming a lawyer, she first started in conflict resolution and has been a mediator since 2007. Therefore, she is able to mediate court cases (familiar with the legal terms) yet has the knowledge and experience in mediation and conflict resolution generally. Her innate ability, which has been developed with coach training, has enabled her to develop advanced listening skills to read between the lines and interpret what each participant is really saying, which helps parties resolve miscommunications. In addition, she possesses niche knowledge in areas not known by many other mediators, such as AI bias, the psychology of bias, international relations, and disaster relief.
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With this combined facilitative mediation and coaching lens, she is able to help parties in conflict look at the big picture to come to an agreement and if desired, improve their relationships. This means that participants can resolve conflicts faster and more comprehensively than with an evaluative mediation approach. This is because the facilitative mediator does not need to read all of the proof or evidence like an evaluative mediator would because the facilitative mediator is not determining who is right or wrong. Rather, a facilitative mediator facilitates conversation to see if there is a potential for agreement. Gathering and reading proof can be costly not only in mediation fees but also in attorneys' fees or participant time to prepare the materials for the mediate to read.
In addition, a facilitative mediator can resolve several cases at once. This might mean that several people sued each other in a very complex conflict might have interrelated conflicts and several stakeholders. It could also mean that the same people have sued each other several times. It could also mean that a company has several similar lawsuits about the same issue. Big Little Insights can help to resolve the root cause of conflict so that all conflicts can be resolved at once and future conflicts do not recur.
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The beauty of a facilitative approach is that participants can always choose a more expensive path later (e.g., hiring a facilitative mediator or neutral evaluator, trial in court, arbitration) if mediation does not result in an agreement. At least parties typically leave with a greater understanding of the other side and potentially a better relationship.
Beyond Legal Limits: Creating Win-Win Solutions
​​In addition, facilitative mediators are not confined to what the law says. Facilitative mediators are able to solve complex multi-party conflicts that require elegant, win-win solutions. When outcomes are limited to only remedies a judge or arbitrator could order, this could lead to lose-lose outcomes, especially where all participants in mediation could agree to another solution. For example, in a neighbor or roommate housing case, a court ruling might mean that both parties lose their housing or housing subsidies, or the underlying conflict goes unresolved because the case is dismissed on procedural grounds. However, with mediation, this might mean the parties stay in their housing yet learn to co-exist.
The Big Little Insights mediation style can help participants create win-win solutions because agreements limited to only those solutions a judge could provide can often lead to lose-lose outcomes (winning the battle but losing the war scenarios). For example, if the parties have a long-term personal or business relationship, one party might be in the legal right but such a settlement could mean the end of the relationship. The adversarial win-lose approach (especially if all parties are represented by legal counsel) often results ill will between the parties where they could have both agreed to another solution they could both live with while maintaining a relationship they both wanted to keep. At the same time, top talent might leave and recruitment may suffer when employees and applicants see how a company acts in litigation.
Mediation Location & Format
Big Little Insights offers mediation services worldwide.
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Most mediations that Big Little Insights conducts are virtual mediations (e-mediation).
Clients who are located in Northern California (e.g., San Francisco, Berkeley, San Jose, Sacramento, Alameda County, Bay Area, San Mateo, Marin, Contra Costa County, Sonoma, Santa Clara County, Napa County, Solano County, Yolo County) or are willing to travel to San Francisco, CA to mediate in-person have the option to participate in mediation fully in-person or through a hybrid virtual, in-person method.
Get Started with Mediation
Looking for mediators near you who know how to manage the full range of disputes, even the most complex ones? Begin with our simple mediation intake form and let us help guide your organization toward a just and lasting resolution. If you have any questions, please fill out the mediation intake or the contact form, and we will get back to you or schedule an intake call. To maintain impartiality, joint calls including all participants will be scheduled so that all participants can ask questions at the same time.