Successful Small Business Plans Include Mediation

Mediation has recently been gaining prominence with Canada's small- to medium- sized enterprises (SMEs) as a way to settle disputes that affect their bottom lines. In honour of Small Business Week 2011 and Mediation Week 2011 (both taking place October 16th – 20th), James Lozinsky, an Okotoks-based lawyer and certified mediator, salutes those small businesses with the foresight and business savvy to establish a business plan to address conflict and who choose mediation over litigation as their preferred method of conflict management.
Lozinsky explains that successful businesses know how to overcome obstacles and how to properly manage conflict. “Conflict is a normal part of business—it arises with customers, suppliers, partners, sub-contractors and employees on a regular basis. But, we often forget that there are benefits from conflict, including change and growth. This makes conflict a necessary part of success. “When our bottom-line is at stake”, Lozinsky adds, “it's often wise to bring in an objective and neutral third party to help sort out unmet expectations, hard feelings or other losses.”
According to Lozinsky, mediation is a very strong tool to use as a conflict management strategy. It is also a part of the growing family of Alternative, or Appropriate, Dispute Resolutions (ADR). ADR is now a mandatory first step to getting a civil trial date in the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench and mediation has been an integral part of the Provincial Civil Court for a number of years.
Whether implemented as an internal policy or not, Lozinsky says small businesses choosing mediation will reap the benefits and advantages it has over the other alternatives of conflict resolution, especially litigation. He explains that litigation has many disadvantages: “It is a process that could take one to two years to resolve, there is a public record of your dispute, it often destroys working relationships, a judge makes a decision that sometimes is not liked by either party and the unsuccessful party then has a judgment that can be registered against them.”
The advantages of mediation are that it is private and confidential, you decide on your solution, it can be resolved in a very short time frame and the mediation process works to maintain important relationships for future business success. Lozinsky encourages all SMEs to consider including mediation in their conflict-management plans as a way to, ultimately, enhance profits and company performance.
Backgrounder
Small Business Week 2011 (hosted by the Business Development Bank of Canada) and Mediation Week 2011 (hosted by the American Bar Association) coincide, both running from October 16th to 22nd. Thursday, October 20th is celebrated worldwide as Conflict Resolution Day and is recognized by the Association for Dispute Resolution (Canada).
The Alberta Provincial Civil Court has had a successful mediation program in operation for a number of years. The program is mandatory for parties to meet with trained mediators to discuss and try to resolve the dispute. A majority of the cases that are mediated are resolved, quite often this is as a result of the mediation process where parties are willing to talk and listen to each other and come up with a solution that they have personally crafted to their needs. In November 2010, the Alberta Rules of Court implemented rules that require prospective litigants to have tried at least one method of Alternative, or Appropriate, Dispute Resolution (ADR) before they can get a trial date. There are several different methods and styles of ADR, and mediation is but one of them available.
James Lozinsky, Law Office is located at 208, 11 Elizabeth St, Okotoks. 403-995-7744.