Page 35 - Becoming a Better Negotiator

Narrative Mediation attempts to break down conflict stories into smaller, constitutive parts. It posits that whether the underlying facts are true or not is not as important as the impact those facts have on the individual. How these “facts” create or influence a reality rather than whether they accurately describe reality is the important point.
Almost without exception, the parties fall into predictable roles in these narratives. Very few litigants see themselves as the villain in their own version of the facts. The stories of conflict told by the participants invariably cast the teller as the victim or at the least the non-culpable party. Narrative Mediation techniques are used to open space to an alternative narrative. Consider the following hypothetical example:
An employee has a non-compete and/or a non- disclosure. He leaves his employer and goes to work for a competitor. Whether or not the employee technically complies with the non-compete, the employer sees the move as a betrayal and believes that the employee is using confidential information to compete. Couple this with a predictable defection of customers and the employer “knows” that the employee is violating their agreement. The only “objective” facts in this narrative are that the employee resigned, is working for a competitor, and the employer has lost some business.
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