When the airplane approaches the south zone of the city from the ocean side, flying into Rio is breathtaking. The sight of the long beaches, covered with white sand with the buildings in the background, perfectly framed by the green mountains is a pictorial representation of an idyllic place. From the top of the Sugar…
Two stories in the Canadian media caught my eye this past month. New Rules for Bank Mediators – The Federal Minister of Finance has indicated that the Canadian federal government will not require banks to mediate their disputes with customers through mediation services offered by the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI). OSBI is…
With the decrease in self help as a means of resolving disputes several have sought the traditional courts for the resolution of their disputes but with much anguish as the cases continually drag till the judgment when it is, for the most part, at best nothing more than a pyrrhic judgment. This is more hard…
One of the advantages of using mediation to achieve negotiated solutions is Parties’ possibility to separately communicate with the mediator within what it is called separate sessions or caucus. The differences of perception, the emotions and feelings determined by the ego, the stubbornness or the personality of Parties involved in a conflict are examples of…
This story is for you if: You have made a big mistake in a negotiation and you need a way to recover; Your efforts at settlement have fallen on deaf ears; You have stepped in a negotiation minefield and you need to find a way to get back on track. Periodically we find ourselves…
I have in previous posts referred to the distinction between direct and indirect forms of communication. Mediators will certainly have encountered these forms of communication before. Without seeking to offer a comprehensive or technical definition of what direct and indirect communication is, I would like to share some thoughts on this topic. First, it is…
Scotland is a practical nation. The list of its inventions includes penicillin, anaesthetics, steam engines, tarmac roads and even the decimal point (see http://www.magicdragon.com/Wallace/thingscot.html#Ta). Like the rest of the UK its culture was in part forged by the ‘practical man’ of the Industrial Revolution, rejecting grand theory in favour of trial and error. Its lawyers,…
It is often said that listening is one of a mediator’s core skills. At the same time the parties’ ability to listen to each other is equally important. Where parties’ communication has broken down to such an extent that they are unable to really hear what each other is saying, mediators can step in and…
400,000 mediation case referrals, and nearly 1 million service recipients yearly, with an army of 20,000 volunteer mediators and 1,300 full-time staff members… The State of Community Mediation Report demonstrates the current strength of the community mediation movement in the United States. The Report has recently been published by the National Association for Community Mediation…
For students of South-East Asian political struggles (come on, you know you are out there!) last month marked an important landmark. The Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Moro National Liberation Front signed an historic peace agreement intended to bring an end to 25 years of violent conflict. Of course, this is…
