Facilitation and Mediation

Our internationally recognized mediators have decades of experience helping leaders work together to produce innovative results on complex, contentious challenges. We design collaborative processes; support leaders in creating innovative, mutually beneficial options; help resolve conflicts; and facilitate dialogues that lead to strong agreements and partnerships.

Among the many engagements where CBI facilitation and mediation have made a major contribution to collaboration success:

Building agreement among industry, environmentalists, and government on a landmark groundwater law in California
Supporting the 33-agency United Nations Development Group in defining strategic priorities
Mediating community benefit negotiations between Chevron and stakeholders impacted by the company’s onshore operations in the Niger Delta
Brokering agreement among the U.S. Department of Interior and Native American tribes on the allocation of federal construction funds to renovate Native American schools across the U.S.

Our Services

Stakeholder Assessment

Our mediators conduct assessments to clarify issues, determine the likelihood of getting to an agreement, highlight possible pathways forward, and outline the likely benefits, risks, and costs of proceeding.
Process Design

We design and lead a wide spectrum of collaborative and conflict resolution processes, from one-time meetings to multi-year collective impact efforts. Our facilitators and mediators employ a rich set of techniques and tools, ranging from joint fact-finding to scenario planning to creative visioning.
Group Facilitation

We facilitate groups, keeping a laser focus on stakeholders’ goals, concerns, and values, always working on behalf of the group as a whole. For virtual meetings, we offer a full range of tools and supports for effective online communication and collaboration.
Mediation

We mediate conflicts, helping the parties engage, communicate, explore, and settle differences. Throughout the process, we focus on building trust, maintaining impartiality, and protecting confidentiality.

Distinctive

Clients and stakeholders consistently report that our facilitators and mediators are distinctive in their ability to:

Integrate Skill and Substance

Integrate their deep understanding of the subject matter with exceptional group facilitation skills to help advance progress on complex issues
Custom Design Processes

Custom design processes to address stakeholders’ needs, and strategize throughout to guide groups toward their desired outcomes
Act Impartially

Act impartially while demonstrating sensitivity toward a range of constituency interests, values, and concerns
Build Trust

Help stakeholders build relationships and trust, so that they take ownership of the collaboration and work together effectively after CBI’s involvement ends

Testimonial

CBI worked with us in Honduras, where a company we had invested in had fallen short of our performance requirements and found itself confronting violent land disputes. CBI was retained to map stakeholders, understand their positions in this conflictual context and then identify a path towards dialogue. It was impressive to observe how CBI adapted its methodology to meet a challenge many, if not most, thought could not be overcome. Despite the highly polarized environment CBI’s facilitators found a way to build trust where none previously existed and to outline a path towards peace, which is there to be followed if the leadership from key stakeholders emerges. We are indebted to CBI for a job well done.

Mark Constantine

Environmental and Social Risk Management

International Finance Corporation