How to build conflict competence – an interview with Miriam Attias, workplace mediator supporting Kone Foundation’s grantees   

Does friction within your working group hinder peaceful collaboration? Beginning in 2025, Kone Foundation will offer workplace mediation to projects funded by it. With the support of mediator Miriam Attias, working relationships can be improved to better withstand – and even thrive on – friction.

Miriam Attias, you work as a workplace mediator. What is your background? How did you become a mediator, and what is your approach to the mediation process?  

I have been mediating for about 12 years now, in workplaces, neighborhoods, and other informal communities.  

I ended up working with mediation because my job at the City of Helsinki used to involve working with occupational well-being. Often, unresolved conflicts within work communities turned out to be the issue that was causing tension and stress for people.  

Our department was frequently asked for help in these situations, and people felt they needed training on the subject.  

However, training or instructions alone do not resolve conflicts. Effective conflict resolution requires listening and creating spaces that enable it – physical space, temporal, and mental space.  

The basic idea of restorative mediation is to repair the relationship between the different parties of a conflict by improving communication. 

Kone Foundation also provides work counselling for its grantees. How is mediation different from counselling? In which situations should one turn to a mediator? 

Work counselling for groups is a tool for work well-being, learning and development. It prevents conflict by addressing work and the roles, relationships, and different situations related to it together.  

Crisis counselling may also deal with conflict situations but is more intensive than the basic cycle of counselling.  

Mediation, on the other hand, pauses to reflect on challenges in cooperation or some other problem, disagreement or conflict. It involves individual meetings with each group member, followed by joint discussions. If an agreement is reached, its implementation is monitored.  

External help should be sought when a member of the working group finds it difficult to work together and it is not possible to have a constructive discussion within the group.

You have mentioned that mediation does not always aim to resolve conflicts but also helps groups navigate friction – even to take advantage of it. Can you elaborate?  

There are always conflicts between people, and they are inherent in any group’s development. 

Conflict is a big word. I use it because in the course of my career I have become more comfortable with my own conflicts, but you could just as well talk about “challenges of cooperation”, “disagreements”, “dilemmas” or “friction”.  
 
Mediation builds conflict competence, fostering interaction and relationships strong and benevolent enough for conflict resolution. It aims for peace—not as the absence of conflict, but as the ability to handle it through, i.e. the ability to have difficult conversations. 

What is required to start the mediation process? Are there some possible obstacles to the process?   

Anyone in the working group can initiate mediation. 

Mediation is about taking each party’s perspective seriously, so it is important for everyone to listen to the other person’s experience, even if they do not experience the problem in the same way.  
 
While there are no inherent barriers to starting mediation, not all mediation processes go forward. Significant obstacles include power imbalances such as someone dominating others, or threats of violence, for example. In a work context, that would be a pretty wild, extreme situation.  

My advice: get in touch and ask for help sooner rather than later. Things are easier to address as soon as someone thinks, “Should we talk about this?” When it gets to that point, they usually should.  

An external assessment then determines mediation’s suitability. 

• In 2025, mediator Miriam Attias (M.Sc. in Economics and Business Administration, M.Sc., workplace mediator, work counsellor) will support selected projects. 
• Mediation requires a commitment from the team to work together to identify what is causing friction in the group and how to collaboratively de-escalate stress for a peaceful work environment. 
• Mediation includes individual and group meetings with the mediator to identify challenges in cooperation, a shared agreement on practices going forward and monitoring the implementation of the agreement.  
• Discussions between the mediator and the group remain confidential, without Foundation staff involvement.  
• If you think mediation could be helpful for your working group, please do not hesitate to contact Marianne Parvinen, Kone Foundation grant coordinator (marianne.parvinen@koneensaatio.fi, 040 670 6486). This will allow us to consider your situation and the conditions for mediation. The earlier mediation is started, the better the process can support you.  
• Note that mediation availability may vary based on project suitability. 
• Mediation services are offered in Finnish, English, and French.