As you search for a mediator you may have heard some of us follow Transformative, and others a Problem Solving model. I like to think of this in terms of what you can accomplish in the course of a mediation. Mediations generally have several things going on at once. They therefore usually have more than one type of outcome when they work well. Knowing the possible outcomes can help you make choices that will work for you.
People usually come to mediation with concrete issues in mind.
This may include money, division of property, child custody, or who has what responsibility in a business relationship. You may have ideas about what looks fair to you in terms of who pays whom what, or who gets which part of the assets, etc. Helping parties to a dispute find specific solutions to such issues is where problem solving skills come in handy. They include being able to help you pick out the key issues, brain storming, setting priorities, etc. These skills allow the mediator to help you focus on what is important to you, and to come up with solutions that you can live with.