Every discipline has its role models and some colorful and effective ones for mediators came from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

Following the creation of the Department of Labor, Congress approved the creation of the U.S. Conciliation Service in 1917, which was later renamed the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in 1947, the oldest continuing mediation institution in the United States. From its creation, the FMCS provided mediators when labor and management requested assistance. Over the years FMCS mediators refined the process and its model of mediation became the dominant example in the United States.

The first director of the FMCS was Cyrus Ching, a 6 foot 7, pipe smoking Canadian and former labor relations director of the U.S. Rubber Corporation. Ching had a reputation for telling stories and taking long silent breaks to attend to his pipe. Ching said in those breaks he learned things negotiators had not intended to say.

Other distinguished FMCS directors include Bill Usery, appointed director in 1973 after having negotiated contracts with aerospace industries for the International Association of Machinists. His office at the FMCS had a shower stall, a refrigerator (to ice martinis), and a cigar humidor. His mediations are legendary: the first collective bargaining agreement among seven unions in the newly created, semiautonomous U.S. Postal Service; the National Football League pre-season strike; and the 13-month walkout of mine workers in Harlan County, Kentucky. When an extended session between railroad workers and management deadlocked and the parties refused even to talk with each other any further, Usery left the room to have a cigar. He returned wearing a button from the car rental company Avis which read “We Try Harder.”  The parties saw the humor, laughed, and reached a settlement. His reputation, his commitment, the tension release from his unexpected humor—all those and many more factors contributed to his style.

One can learn the mediation process, but mediation is also an art. These historic mediators were masters of the art of the process.

I once received a call from a property owner who was in the process of evicting a tenant. The renter proposed mediation to resolve their dispute, but the owner asked why would a landlord who follows the law want to mediate since the outcome is set?

Most tenants are decent people, but occasionally things can go wrong—really wrong. One landlord had rented a house to a couple who became months behind in their rent. He received numerous complaints from neighboring units about noise and cleanliness. Having years of experience, he knew all the laws and regulations that apply to eviction and followed them precisely. When the landlord got the property back he found light fixtures were removed, graffiti was on the walls, and cement was poured down the toilets. The tenants were long gone and couldn’t be located. That’s one case where mediation probably could have prevented such a drastic situation and lead to a different outcome.

Occassionally renters facing eviction reach out for mediation but often without understanding what it can actually do for them. And landlords who know and follow laws and regulations believe mediation only benefits tenants. However, about half of landlord-tenant disputes end with an agreed upon move-out date. Those agreements save dollars for the landlords and give the tenant a positive rental history.

Mediators with experience in such sessions report that in most cases the parties don’t dispute the facts and appreciate the opportunity to have a non-confrontational discussion.

The message for other types of disputes is that even when you believe you are going to win, mediation can save you time and money while offering some benefits to the other party as well.