Key Considerations
- Encourage factual accuracy without omitting crucial details.
- Avoid subjective interpretations or assumptions.
- Include all relevant parties, actions, and outcomes.
Key Attributes of Effective Description
- Objectivity – Focus on facts, not interpretations.
- Clarity – Present events in a coherent, chronological order.
- Completeness – Cover participants, actions, and outcomes.
- Neutrality – Avoid emotional judgments or assumed motives.
- Context-awareness – Provide background details needed for understanding.
Insights for Mediation Supervision
- Foundation for Reflection – A clear, factual description ensures later stages (Feelings, Evaluation, Analysis) are grounded in accuracy, not bias.
- Promotes Self-Awareness – By focusing on observable actions, supervisees begin noticing practice patterns without conflating them with personal judgments.
- Enhances Supervisory Dialogue – Supervisors can guide reflection more effectively when both parties share an accurate understanding of the event.
- Reduces Conflict in Supervision – An objective account avoids defensiveness, keeping the focus on learning and professional growth.
For FDR practitioners, accurate description also reflects neutrality and professional accountability requirements under the Family Law Act 1975 and the Family Law (Family Dispute Resolution Practitioners) Regulations 2025.
Supervisor Prompt:
“Can you describe the session step by step, focusing only on what was said and done—not how you or the parties felt?”
Reflective Question for Learners:
When you last described a mediation session in supervision, did you include only observable facts, or did interpretation creep in? How did that affect the discussion?