IMI Mediator Competency Certification

Establishing the Standards

The IMI Standards Commission comprises a broad range of international expertise drawn from mediation users, disputants and their professional advisers, mediators and mediation provider institutions, educationalists, adjudicators and NGOs.

The role of the Standards Commission is to prepare the detailed standards, criteria, guidelines and rules that will enable the successful implementation of IMI Mediator Competency Certification. The standards on which IMI competency certification is based will:

• Provide users with reliable data to facilitate their choice of competent mediators
• Address the professional interests of mediators and mediation provider institutions
• Reflect outstanding training, actual experience and independent assessments
• Inspire and encourage the achievement of higher standards throughout the profession
• Prioritize self-regulation, transparency, simplicity, adaptability to differing conditions, and the minimization of administrative burden and cost.

IMI will launch two different competency certifications. The Professional Mediator Competency Certification will provide users of mediation services with the assurance that those they select to mediate will meet high and proven standards of competency. The Intercultural Mediator Competency Certification will additionally demonstrate the capability to mediate across cultural differences. The Intercultural Certification will be available only to mediators who hold the IMI Professional Certification.

All IMI Certified Mediators will be required to:

• adhere to a professional Code of Ethical Conduct, and
• be subject to a Disciplinary Process and
• identify that Code and Disciplinary Process in advance to users.

Mediators will be free to specify the IMI Code of Ethical Conduct [1] and the IMI Disciplinary Process [2] or the Code of Ethical Conduct and the Disciplinary Process of any professional, training, providing or education body that meets the minimum professional conduct standards set by IMI [3]. IMI will offer Certified Mediators a model mediation agreement [4], though they will be free to use any equivalent agreement in practice.

1. IMI Professional Mediator Competency Certification

To secure the IMI Professional Certification will involve the achievement by a mediator of Competency Points in four different streams:

• Training
• Education
• Experience
• Leadership

Once Certification is achieved, mediators will be required to maintain a minimum number of Competency Points every three years in each of the Education, Experience and Leadership streams. Failure to do so will result in de-certification.

Training

For many mediators, basic training happens once, before they begin their mediation practice. IMI sets minimum standards for training courses for IMI Certified Professional Mediators [5] achievement of which earns the required Training Points. These standards involve a minimum number of training hours in mediation theory and mediation practice, and including knowledge of the inter-relationship between different mediation methodologies. IMI’s minimum standards of training require minimum standards for trainers [6]and independent assessors [7]. IMI will maintain a list of courses provided by training bodies which meet the minimum standards [8]. Mediators who have achieved accreditation as a mediator following the successful completion of an approved training course will earn all their Training Points for the purposes of IMI Professional Mediator Competency Certification. It will also be possible for established mediators to apply to be “experience qualified” (“grandfathering”). In the past, many training courses failed to meet the IMI standards (eg lack of independent assessment). The Experience Qualification avoids the need to re-take a training course. IMI will establish the criteria for gaining IMI Professional Certification based on Experience Qualification [9].

Education

Post-training education (Continuing Professional Development – CPD) has a crucial influence on competency in any professional field and will be an important element in establishing IMI competency. Education Points will be designed around an “output based” CPD approach where mediators will define a personalized skills and knowledge enhancement program configured to their individual needs and pursue education and further training opportunities which meet that program and which will then qualify for Education Points. IMI will develop the guidelines for the “output-based” CPD system and how it will operate [10].

Experience

The quality of a professional’s experience has the most profound influence on practical competency. As mediation invariably takes place in private, it is difficult to judge a mediator’s actual competency. Feedback, if independently and responsibly prepared, and if made available to prospective users, is a good indicator of competency and can provide guidance to users in relation to style and suitability. Much depends upon the questions asked on the feedback form. Negative feedback needs to be handled with particular care to address the legitimate and natural interests of mediators while maintaining objectivity and relevance from a user perspective. IMI will set criteria for gathering feedback including preparing self-assessments, compiling Feedback Digests and handling negative feedback, how/when mediators are expected to seek feedback, who may be authorized to prepare Feedback Digests, how Feedback Digests are made available to users and earning Experience Points [11].

Leadership

As a vital component of Performance Points, IMI Certification will require Certified Mediators to play an active and ongoing role in the advancement of mediation as a profession. Examples include participation in shadowing and mentoring schemes, best practice sharing, training and educating less experienced mediators, support for non-profit professional mediation organizations engaged in thought and practice leadership, and promoting the field.

IMI will determine what activities will qualify for Leadership Points and the design of recordal forms [12].

2. IMI Intercultural Mediator Competency Certification

The IMI Certification in Intercultural Mediation Competency will be open to any IMI Certified Mediator who passes an independently-assessed Intercultural Mediation course approved by IMI. Accordingly, all delegates taking the Intercultural Mediation course will already possess high levels of competency as a mediator. The Intercultural Mediation course will be presented in a mediation context to generate an in-depth understanding of key cultural differences, clustering them and understanding their roots and drivers.

IMI Certified Intercultural Mediators will share the same Education, Experience and Leadership Credits system as IMI Certified Professional Mediators, without additional minimum requirements. IMI will establish the standards for the Intercultural Mediation course [13], plus the standards for independent assessments [14] and the qualifications required of those delivering the courses [15].

3. Certification Mechanics

To enable IMI Certified Mediators to implement certification effectively for the benefit of themselves as well as users, a number of simple guidelines, criteria and terms need to be established:

(a) Certification Scheme

Certification Points in Training, Education, Experience and Leadership will be clearly laid out on the IMI website [16] along with a simple system for maintaining Competency Points as they are gathered over each three-year period.

(b) Certified Mediator Website Profile Guidelines

All Certified Mediators will be entitled to have their profiles on the IMI website. This will be openly viewable to users. Certified Mediators will be able to update their online profile at any time. The profile will include the independently-prepared Feedback Digest. To ease searching by users, guidelines for compiling profiles will be issued [17].

(c) Use of term IMI Certified Mediator and IMI logo

All IMI Certified Mediators will be asked to commit to a simple licence by which they will use the title “IMI Certified Mediator” and similar terms, and use the IMI logo [18].

(d) Certified Mediation Providers

As an aid to users wishing to engage a mediation service provider to administer mediations, IMI will set minimum standards of quality for mediation provider bodies [19] and maintain a register of those which have achieved those standards.

(e) Professional Indemnity Insurance

Mediators will be expected to hold professional indemnity liability insurance to cover their practice as a mediator. IMI will provide Certified Mediators with links to approved insurers and policies [20].

Summary

IMI Professional Mediator Competency Certification

[01] - IMI Code of Ethical Conduct
[02] - IMI Disciplinary Process
[03] - Minimum Professional Conduct Standards
[04] - IMI Model Mediation Agreement
[05] - Minimum Training Standards for IMI Certified Mediators
[06] - Minimum standards for trainers
[07] - Standards of Independent Testing and Assessment
[08] - List of training courses meeting IMI's training standards
[09] - Criteria for Experience Qualification ("grandfathering")
[10] - Criteria for Education Points
[11] - Guidelines for Feedback Digests, including criteria for Experience Points
[12] - Criteria for Leadership Points

IMI Intercultural Mediator Competency Certification

[13] - Minimum training standards for IMI Certified Intercultural Mediators
[14] - Standards of Independent Testing and Assessment
[15] - Minimum standards for trainers

Certification Mechanics

[16] - Criteria for the Certification Scheme
[17] - Guidelines for Certified Mediator Website Profiles
[18] - Terms for using IMI Certified Mediator title and logo
[19] - Minimum standards of quality for mediator provider bodies
[20] - IMI approved professional indemnity insurers