When might a team process help?

Conflict may appear to concern two people while affecting a much wider group. Colleagues can be drawn into opposing camps, meetings become difficult and ordinary decisions take longer.

A team or multi-party approach may be useful where:

• Several working relationships have broken down.
• There are factions, repeated complaints or overlapping grievances.
• Managers and team members have different expectations about roles, behaviour or communication.
• A restructure, merger or leadership change has intensified existing tensions.
• Senior leaders or board members are struggling to work together.
• People need to consider future working arrangements after a formal process.

These are reasons to assess what support would help, rather than assume that mediation is automatically suitable.

Why separate grievances may not resolve the wider conflict

Several complaints can concern the same meetings, decisions or relationships from different perspectives. Considering each complaint separately may leave the wider pattern of conflict unresolved.

For workplace relationship conflict, mediation or another appropriate early-resolution process should ordinarily be considered before automatically defaulting to formal grievance. Formal investigation may still be necessary for safeguarding, serious misconduct, regulatory requirements or matters requiring authoritative factual determination.

A mediation process does not decide whether allegations are proved or replace necessary accountability. Where formal procedures are underway, we discuss how any relationship work might fit alongside or follow them.

Read our Mediation or Grievance guide →

How we design the process

Start with the organisation and the participants

We discuss the broad situation with the commissioning organisation, including who is affected, what has already been tried and what needs to change. Preparation with participants helps us understand their perspectives and concerns about taking part.

Choose the meetings and their sequence

The process may involve smaller mediations, facilitated conversations with a group, or work with the whole team. Some issues may need attention between particular people before a wider conversation becomes useful. Other issues may be shared across the group.

Keep the approach responsive

What emerges in preparation can affect the structure. We discuss any proposed change in scope and agree the arrangements before additional work is undertaken. Participants retain control over their decisions and any agreement.

How we work →

What can two mediators bring to team conflict?

With several people involved, there can be a great deal to hear and understand. Co-Mediation brings two pairs of eyes and ears, complementary perspectives and different styles. A carefully composed team can also help create a feeling of discussion rather than adjudication.

All three Mediation Rescue directors, Antony Sendall, Alan Dillon and Sue Granshaw, have experience of dealing with complex team mediations. We can draw on our directors and wider associate network when considering the appropriate team for an assignment. Where suitable, an external mediator may also work alongside an organisation’s internal mediator.

Our normal proposition is two mediators for one mediation fee. There may be cases requiring a different fee arrangement because of their scale, duration, travel or other unusual requirements. Any fee would be agreed in advance.

Our Co-Mediation approach · Antony Sendall · Alan Dillon · Sue Granshaw · Meet the team

Participation, confidentiality and reporting

Mediation is voluntary. Suitability includes whether people are willing and able to participate meaningfully, and whether the proposed arrangements address concerns about safety or power imbalances.

Confidentiality and reporting arrangements are agreed beforehand and kept under review. With several meetings or groups, it is particularly important to clarify what may be shared between conversations and what may be reported to the organisation.

Commissioning the process does not mean receiving an account of everything said privately. We discuss how agreed outcomes and advised next steps can be communicated within the agreed arrangements.

If someone is not prepared to participate in mediation, conflict coaching or another appropriate form of support may still be worth considering. It cannot substitute for that person’s participation in a shared agreement.

What might participants agree?

Depending on the issues, discussions may address how people communicate, raise concerns, run meetings, clarify responsibilities or respond when disagreements arise again. The value lies in arrangements that participants understand and can put into practice.

The mediator does not impose an outcome. The next steps and any follow-up should be clear within the agreed scope; we do not promise that every process will produce an agreement or restore every relationship.

Fees, location and practical arrangements

For team and multi-party work, we can quote a fixed price once the scope and the number of meetings likely to be required have been established. Our preferred approach is a single agreed fee for the whole agreed process, with no hidden extras.

For Workplace Mediation where the employment relationship is continuing, the commissioning organisation normally pays the fee. Venue arrangements, travel and any other separately payable costs are discussed in advance.

We work across the UK and internationally. Online or hybrid arrangements can be considered where participants are based at different sites.

Mediation costs and practical arrangements · Where we work

Consider the wider cost of the conflict

In a team dispute, costs can extend beyond the people at the centre of it. Consider management and HR time, the work involved in several grievances or appeals, disruption to colleagues and lost productivity. Take care not to count the same time or cost more than once.

Use our Conflict Cost Calculator → No contact details required. Its figures are estimates based on your inputs, not a prediction or guarantee of savings.

Does this apply to commercial disputes with several parties?

Multi-party commercial disputes can also require a flexible structure, including joint and separate discussions with parties and their advisers. The issues, preparation and fee arrangements may differ from workplace team mediation.

Explore Commercial Mediation →