Lisa Lingwood
As a qualified barrister, Lisa spent more than a decade engaging with private individuals and businesses and representing them before courts and tribunals. During this time, she gained extensive experience in conflict management and dispute resolution, which she now uses in mediation with a high degree of success.
Lisa now works with private individuals and families, companies both private and public and not-for-profit organisations using her skills to diffuse potential conflict and facilitate the resolution of difficult situations.
Lisa acts as a neutral and unbiased facilitator assisting parties who find themselves in challenging situations to have an open and honest conversation in a confidential setting, in an attempt to resolve their differences and to reach a solution best suited to their particular needs
Lisa firmly believes in mediation as a viable, cost-effective, efficient, flexible, and future-focused method of conflict resolution.
She is a pragmatic and realistic mediator and it is this approach that makes her a much sought-after advisor.
“People come to mediation because they want a result. They want something better than their current experience,” Lisa explains.
“While mediation is not the “soft option” that some seem to think it is, it does by contrast to the adversarial legal system, offer enormous potential by bringing sides together to reach a workable solution.
Lisa’s background in law allows her to give an informal indication of likely outcomes if parties go to court with their dispute and to bring to the table the option of collaborative dispute resolution.
“What I love about mediation is that while it is challenging, it can be incredibly rewarding for all involved. It is so fulfilling to see clients take charge of their own situation and use that empowerment to reach their own solution rather than have something neither of them want imposed on them by a court”.
“There is enormous value in dialogue. Just sitting down and having that conversation with the help of a neutral, non-judgemental mediator, who is there to assist everyone and guide parties through the process of listening to each other and talking about the issues that are causing disruption.
“Furthermore, conflict resolution is not just about conflict. It can also be an opportunity for change for the better and this gives it a huge advantage over litigation.
Lisa’s background in law gives her the ability to quickly analyse and understand difficult situations and she uses her experience to find resolutions.
Lisa also helps companies by providing practical, non-legal advice around areas of employee-related, policies and procedures, grievance procedures and issues regarding dignity and respect at work.
Lisa also devises, develops, and delivers workplace training programmes and has done so for several institutions, including Cork Chamber of Commerce, the HSE and other national organisations.
Most of Lisa’s cases come from repeat business or personal recommendations.
Lisa’s Qualifications
Lisa qualified as a Barrister-at-Law at Kings Inns. She has a Bachelor of Common Law and a Bachelor of Arts (Joint Honours) from University College Cork, a Diploma in Arts (Psychology & Sociology) from University College Cork
She also has qualification in Training Delivery and Evaluation – QQI Level 6
Lisa’s Affiliations
Lisa is an accredited Member of the Irish Profesional Mediators’ Organisation (IPMO) and a member of Elder Mediation International
Workplace Mediation and Facilitation
Unresolved conflict can have far-reaching consequences in a workplace.
It is financially very costly, particularly if the matter winds up before the courts. But it is also expensive in many other ways.
It is time-consuming taking up many hours of a HR managers or employers time which could be spent elsewhere.
It can consume staff – disputes can be likened to ripples on a pond after a stone has been thrown into calm waters. At the centre are the disputants and as the dispute escalates, its effects are the ripples, spreading outwards and involving more staff and creating further disruption.
It can impact upon employee performance and can lead to absenteeism.
In more extreme cases it can affect brand reputation, particularly if the dispute goes to court or becomes know in the public domain.
Mediation Offers:
Cost Effective – mediation costs far less than litigation
Expedient – once a mediator is contacted, mediation can begin almost immediately
Flexible – mediation is designed to meet the needs of the participants and find the best possible solution that represents their interests
Confidential – all mediations are confidential and anything that is said during the mediation by any party is strictly confidential and cannot be used in any other proceedings.
Solutions – mediation does not seek to find fault but find practical, realistic, working solutions.
Organisational Change – in many organisations if something goes wrong, the blame game is played. A culprit is found and held responsible for the mistake. However, it really should not end there. When a problem arises is should be an opportunity for change for the better. A chance to examine what went wrong and how we can all learn from the mistake and what improvements can be implemented.
Creating a culture of blame creates tension and stress and leads to denials of any wrongdoing for fear of retribution.
That is why, in many instances, rather than launching a workplace investigation or a tribunal of inquiry, a mediation meeting might be more suitable and less stressful and most likely less expensive.
The most common areas of workplace conflict arise from issues surrounding bullying and harassment, grievance matters and performance reviews. It is essential that companies have policies and procedures in place to deal with these matters and these policies should include an opportunity for mediation.
Elder Mediation
It is never easy to talk about getting older and the challenges it can bring for individuals and their families.
This is where Elder Mediation can really help as it is an opportunity for parties directly affected by the decisions that need to be made to explore possibilities and reality-test decisions.
In effect, it is future planning for all the family as it offers a framework for the older person and their families to have discussions and to make informed decisions about their care and their future with the help of a trained professional.
Workplace Mediation
Mediation has become an indispensable tool in dealing with workplace disputes. Without intervention, conflict can be very costly, very time consuming and potentially damaging. Mediation offers the chance to seek resolution in an informal and confidential manner by focusing on finding solutions in each individual case.
Elder Mediation
Elder Mediation is future planning for all the family, while putting the elder person(s) to the fore of the conversation. Talking about aging is never easy but having that conversation with the help of a trained mediator reduces uncertainty, confusion, tension and importantly, reduces the potential for family fallouts or disputes.
Family Mediation
The breakup of a relationship is never easy, and it is understandably a process that many people find difficult to navigate. Every situation is unique and, regardless of whether parties are married, cohabitating, or heterosexual or same-sex couples, mediation is worth considering as it allows people to focus on finding the best solution to their own situation.