The Mediators' Toolbox for Developing and Asking Questions

With mediations throwing up so many different scenarios and no one mediation following the same structure as another, how do mediators know which questions to ask and when?

Innovative in its approach The Mediator's Toolbox for Developing and Asking Questions provides mediators with a new model that enables them to manage the relationship between the disputing parties by `drilling' down into their issues and identifying their needs using effective questioning thereby ensuring that the most successful outcome is achieved at the mediation.


Developed by the author, the `S Questions Model' incorporates an extensive range of question types that can be utilised by a mediator before and during a mediation. It has four stages:

S1: Subject Matter Dimension of Questions
S2: Structure Dimension of Questions
S3: Seeking Information Dimension Questions
S4: Shift Thinking Dimension of Questions

Whilst there are several mediation books that include some information about the subject content of questions (S1) and the structure of a question (S2), no books have been written about the use of Clean Language questions as a tool in mediation (S3) or the model or framework that identifies and describes the types of questions that will specifically and strategically shift the thinking and perspectives of parties in mediation (S4). These are completely unique to The Mediator's Toolbox for Developing and Asking Questions.

Split into two parts with Part I looking at the theoretical context for the `S Questions Model' and its applicability to mediation and Part II illustrating how the `S Questions Model' works in practice in mediations, The Mediator's Toolbox for Developing and Asking Questions shows mediators (whether experienced or in training) how to develop and ask powerful questions that shift the perspective and thinking of parties in conflict.

It shows them how to work with integrity in a highly emotional mediation context. It emphasises that mediators will be able to get to the core of a party's conflict by using the emotions displayed by parties to reach their underlying interests, as this is where the most effective and sustainable solutions lie.

The theory behind the question types, why they are asked, how they work, when they are used, and how they are built and applied to mediation are illustrated.