Whenever people get together to work on an idea, there is a lot of enthusiasm in the room, a lot of positive energy, and drive. Every once in a while, however, ideas and perspectives will clash, and you and your team will have to initiate a discussion on how to proceed further. We can choose to regard these moments as conflicts or as productive discussions. Either way, through the lens of mediation, these situations offer many benefits to the people involved. They help to raise and address problems at an early stage, directing the attention and resources to the most pressing issues. At the same time, they also invite people to "be real" and to participate, which helps them learn how to acknowledge and benefit from the differences they see among each another, as opposed to suppressing these differences.
 

You and your team can start a mediation process before or after any tensions have surfaced. In your mediation space, you will be able to talk about your interests, needs, and goals in the presence of your colleagues/partners and get to hear about theirs in return. This process will enable you to gain a deeper understanding of your own stance on the topics relevant to your project/business, while also helping your colleagues/partners to better understand you and your actions in your role as a team member.

 

A founding mediation typically includes 5 Phases:

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• In phase 1, we'll get to know each other and you will be able to tell me more about your project/ team and the situation you are in currently. I will then present my offer as to how we can proceed through the journey together
   

• If you decide to proceed with the process, we’ll go through phase 2, which is called The Inventory. Here it will be my job to collect all of the things and topics you’d like to tackle in your mediation space, including the individual positions you have on them
   

• Next, in phase 3, we will go through a process of Clarification, putting on the table all individual needs and expectations around the topics we collected in phase 2, some of which might not have been voiced ever before. I will discuss them with each party in more detail in the form of individual conversations in the presence of the others. This type of communication might be new to you, but I’m sure you will be able to benefit from it enormously in the long run. These discussions will serve as the basis for formulating each of the party's criteria for productive collaboration in the future
   

• I will then support you in one further step to develop options in phase 4, which match all of the previously formulated criteria, which you can unanimously agree to adopt at the final (fifth) stage of the process → The Agreement
   

• In phase 5, it will be my task to do a Reality Check with you and help you ensure that the solution you have agreed upon is realistic, reasonable, and applicable and that it meets each party's individual criteria for success. If it does, this phase is concluded by signing the final agreement, which can be formulated as a Code of Conduct, an Organizational Roadmap for your startup, or as a sample of points to be integrated in a future founding contract.
   

If necessary and requested by you, this final phase can be completed in the presence of a lawyer who can formulate an actual contract containing the points of the agreement. This can be particularly useful in founding contracts. We can discuss this option during our introductory call.