Setting up a Referral service
The rationale of a referral service
A referral service is a facility within an organization responsible for helping conflict parties to make a well-founded choice for a certain method of conflict resolution. Referral services can either be set up for internal conflicts (for example as part of a large private business to address conflicts with or between employees) or for external conflicts (for example referral to court-connected mediation).
The objective of the referral service is to further an appropriate, speedy and effective resolution of conflicts. This can save time, energy and money that otherwise would be spent on lengthy conflicts. Other possible objects of a referral service are: promote the use of custom-made conflict resolution, enhance customer service; prevent complaints, et cetera.
A specific type of referral service is a referral to mediation. Even when the focus is not solely or primarily on referral to mediation, the referrer has to have good mediation skills when assisting conflict parties in choosing a certain method of conflict resolution.
For more information see Pel 2008 , Referral to Mediation, Chapter 4 ‘Conflict management: organizing and setting up a referral or mediation service’
Success factors
In order for a referral service to be successful, four requirements have to be met:
- Support: the referral service must be supported within the top of the organization (the management) and a well-motivated and well-trained team of referrers is vital as well. To promote internal support a good communication strategy is important. In addition, a P.R. campaign to inform (potential) conflict parties about the referral service is crucial to reach the target group.
- Quality of the referral service: it goes without saying, in order to be successful the referral service has to be staffed with qualified and motivated referrers and supporting staff. In addition, a flexible and varied use of referral methods will produce the best results.
- Quality of conflict managers: Conflict parties not only need to be guided to the most appropriate method of conflict resolution, the conflict managers (in many cases mediators) need to well trained, competent and provide timely service.
- Quality assurance: When setting up a referral service, valuable knowledge can be obtained from existing referral services. When in operation, it is important to learn from experience. To improve the quality of the referral service it is worthwhile to invest in a monitoring system in order to keep track of the nature of the referred conflicts, the method of conflict resolution, the success rate of the different types of conflict resolution et cetera. This kind of date enables the referral service to become a learning organization.
For more information see Pel 2008 , Referral to Mediation, Chapter 4 ‘Conflict management: organizing and setting up a referral or mediation service’
Court-connected mediation in the Netherlands
Referral to mediation by the Netherlands judiciary was introduced in 1999 as a pilot project in five district courts and in one court of appeal. In 2005 a phased introduction of referral services to mediation took place in all courts in the Netherlands and by 2007 the implementation was complete. Referral to mediation by the Netherlands courts has proven to be very successful: the number of referred cases to mediation rose from approximately 2,100 cases in 2006 to over 4,300 in 2010; of cases referred to mediation approximately 60% results in an agreement (slightly over 50% in full agreement and less than 10% in partial agreement); both the parties and the lawyers show a high level of satisfaction with both the mediator and the mediation process and a large majority of them would choose or consider mediation again in a similar conflict situation.
For a complete account of the implementation of the referral service and an overview of the results of court-connected mediation in the Netherlands, see Pel & Combrink 2011, Referral to mediation by the Netherlands judiciary.
