Time flies! So much has happened since I met Srđan Šimac HUMAN, Judge, President of Croatian Mediation Association, first time at the mediation congress 2013 in Bratislava and following our symposium in Linz some years later! Now I am very happy to invite you to a current Q&A.
Sandra Thaler: We live in a time of multiple crises and major challenges. How do you think the culture of conflict in business has changed in recent years and what effects does this have on companies and people?
Srđan Šimac: Every novice attracts fear and resistance because it is unknown. We feel fine in situations, practices, and habits we already know. The same is true with mediation. Mediation is still a novice, a great one.
The fact is that mediation is no longer a „dirty“ word. More and more people and professionals know about mediation, and most of the time, they don’t wonder what it is. On the other hand, there is a massive awareness among businesses that they massively need mediation and people skills to learn to thrive.
Even though mediation is increasingly used in business environments, there is still a long way to go before it becomes regular, familiar, and frequent. Mediation’s potential and its human magic give us tremendous promise that mediation is among us to stay – and in business, too. Businesses need mediation the most.
Sandra Thaler: With a suitable toolbox and more awareness, conflicts can be resolved better – and a lot of money can be saved. In your opinion, where are the biggest mistakes made in conflict management?
Srđan Šimac: Business people still focus primarily on running a business or creating an organizational structure, ignoring too often that the most essential part of the business success equation is people, employees, and their not hard skills, but soft skills – people skills. Without them, there is no success in business.
Business success is also dependent on conflict management. Conflicts are a regular and inevitable part of our lives and businesses. They can be the most destructive force in the world, at the workplace and in business, or an amazing signal, an invitation to needed and positive changes and to learn.
The way and speed of preventing and handling conflict in business are crucial for the success of any business. So, this is the right time, better than ever, to include a detailed and customized conflict management system
in business politics, from education to prevention and resolution.
Saying that, I would like to remind business people about three things:
- There are no conflicts among businesses but among the people (humans) in these businesses. So please stop using B2B and start using H2H, human-to-human.
- Business people assume conflicts are legal problems so they won’t deal with them. Conflicts are not legal problems. They are problems in relationships and communication. Because of that, the law has no answer for conflicts. The law is an inappropriate tool for solving conflict. You lose whenever you enter the law and traditional lawyers into the conflict.
- Thirdly, not all business conflicts are legal problems; most are business problems. So, treat them accordingly. You will see a huge difference soon. We mediators see it in mediation.
Sandra Thaler: AI, digitalization, global crises and many power conflicts:
which mediative skills do you think are particularly important in 2024 and the next few years?
Srđan Šimac: I usually represent myself, first, as the HUMAN. We are all humans, human beings. It is the right time to take off from our faces all of our adulthood or professional masks and become what we are the best, being humans.
The same is true of mediators. Humans make conflicts with other humans and solve them with other humans. So, we need humans to solve their conflicts and disputes, not roles, not enemies or adversaries, etc. To bring back the humanity of the conflict owners into the conflict, conflict owners need help from other neutral human mediators.
I see that the most valuable qualities mediators can bring to mediation are not their skills and techniques but their authenticity as human beings, their faces without professional masks, their posture, healthy self-confidence in what they are and in what they do, calmness, confidence, patience, persistence, a feeling of trust, and a feeling that mediation participants can feel safe, protected, respected, and understood by the
mediator.
Sandra Thaler: Thank you so much for your time and precious answers!
Srđan Šimac is HUMAN, Judge, President of Croatian Mediation Association,
awarded mediator, CEDR acreditated mediation trainer, educator, peacemaker,
Ph.D.
Kontaktieren Sie uns, wir unterstützen Sie gerne.
Mag. Sandra Thaler, Business Coach, Wirtschaftsmediatorin seit 2004 & Team
