3 Learnings from Mediating Family Disputes

By Aloysius Goh – Founder & CEO of Sage Mediation | Originally published on LinkedIn

I’ve always admired family mediators. I think their work is one of the toughest.

Early in my development, I co-mediated some family mediations. The disputants were either raging or very depressed or both. Every moment was tense and a wrong word (or silence) unravelled much progress. I learnt that many family mediations take multiple rounds and my co-mediators wisely reminded me to empathize with why the disputants were unable to give in. Nonetheless, I felt frustrated.

Those early experiences were humbling and revealed to me my patience’s limits. I doubted my readiness for family mediations and accepted engagements for family conflicts very sparingly…