Improvisation

Creativity, Decision making, Humorous Pieces, Improvisation, Instinct, Interests, Intuition, Mediation Outcomes, mediation process, Negotiation, Skills, Tips

(Strategic Resolution)/ /2 Comments

  As long ago as 1981, in the very first edition of Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, Roger Fisher and William Ury proposed the following novel negotiation method:   separate the people from the problem focus on interests, not positions invent options for mutual gain and insist on using objective criteria. Later…

Conventional wisdom, Decision making, Evaluative Mediation, Improvisation, Intuition, mediation models, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Mindset, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Reflective Practice, Tactics, The role of the mediator

(University of Missouri Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution)/ /Leave a comment

I was puzzled to get an email from a mediator thanking me for my recent post, which advocated using a unified conceptual framework of unbundled mediation interventions. The puzzling part was that she wrote that it helped to “validate my theory that ‘bundling’ of mediation models can be appropriate and effective in the right case…

Commercial Mediation, Confidentiality, Confidentiality and Transparency, Creativity, Disclosure, Efficiency, Improvisation, Interests, lawyers in mediation, Mediation Agreement, Mediation Outcomes, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Mediators’ Conduct, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Reflective Practice, Stages of mediation, The role of the mediator, Uncategorized

(Core Solutions Group)/ /1 Comment

The Dilemma: At an initial private meeting with a lawyer and his lay client in a mediation, it became obvious to the mediator that he had previously mediated in a matter which was related to the present dispute, the outcome of which was not known to the present parties. In the mediator’s view, it had…

Appointment of Mediators, Caucus, Commercial Mediation, Deal Mediation, Economics, Ethics, Future of mediation, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Improvisation, Joint Sessions, lawyers in mediation, Legal Practice, Mediation Practice, Philosophy, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Promoting Mediation, Public Policy, Quality, Reflective practise

(Weiler ADR Inc.)/ /9 Comments

Troubling trends observed as an Ontario commercial mediator compel me to once again take up my chiclet-keyed sabre. That the following are indeed trends in commercial mediation in Ontario is unsupported by any reliable data – because no one keeps track. No one records. It’s all anecdotal. Still, I’m now closing in on 30 years…

Commercial Mediation, Conflict, Dispute Resolution, Improvisation, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Reflective practise, Scotland, Skills

(Core Solutions Group)/ /5 Comments

Recently, I was ruminating about analogies between cricket and mediation. Cricket is a much-loved sport in Scotland. Sadly, nowadays, changes in the climate mean that cricket in my home country is more often affected by summer rain and damp conditions than a generation ago. Its future is less certain as a result. I have always…

Bias, Business, Clients, Cognitive Bias, Commercial Mediation, Communication, Deal Mediation, Decision making, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Efficiency, Fear, General, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Improvisation, Interests, mediation models, Mediation Outcomes, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Negotiation, Neuroscience, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Scotland, Skills, Sport, Stories, Success in mediation, Trust, Understanding mediation

(Core Solutions Group)/ /Leave a comment

The Olympics have come and gone with all of the emotion and inspiration they bring. In our recent, fully-subscribed, residential Summer School on mediation skills for leaders, we reflected on the learning from Rio. We watched a video replay of the men’s taekwondo -80kg final in which Team GB’s Lutalo Muhammad lost to his Ivory…

Co-mediation, Communication, Creativity, Developing the Field, General, Improvisation, Skills, Training

(National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law)/ /1 Comment

I said in last month’s entry that that was going to be one of my occasional funky entries. Should I be concerned that for this month’s entry, I have decided to write on something equally funky? Bear with me, it’s clearly a stage I’m passing through. Either that, or my medication is wearing off! I…

ADR, Book Review, Business, Causes of Conflict, Clients, Cognitive Bias, Commercial Mediation, Communication, Conflict, Conventional wisdom, Creativity, Decision making, Developing the Field, Future of mediation, General, Improvisation, Language, Mediation Practice, Mediation Users/Clients, Neuroscience, Policy, Scotland, Skills, Stories, Success in mediation, Tips, Training, Uncategorized

(Core Solutions Group)/ /1 Comment

It’s funny how one thing leads to another. Regular Kluwer blogger Ian Macduff posted a great blog earlier this week on the importance of asking questions. That reminded me that I had intended to get hold of a book by Edgar Schein entitled “Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling”. So, I…

Business, Causes of Conflict, Commercial Mediation, Communication, Conflict, Costs in Mediation, Decision making, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Future of mediation, General, Improvisation, Interests, Joint Sessions, Mediation Agreement, Mediation Outcomes, Mediation Practice, Mediators’ Conduct, Negotiation, Neuroscience, Scotland, Skills, Sport, Stories, Success in mediation, Uncategorized

(Core Solutions Group)/ /6 Comments

As 2014 comes to an end, it is good to reflect. How privileged many of us are. I often remark to others that my “job” is better than “real work”. What do I mean when I say that? As mediators, we have an extraordinary window through which we view life, other people and what happens…

Below the line, Clients, Commercial Mediation, Conventional wisdom, Creativity, Decision making, Dispute Resolution, Efficiency, General, Humorous Pieces, Improvisation, Mediation Lawyering, Mediation Practice, Mediation Users/Clients, Mediators’ Conduct, Social intelligence, Uncategorized

(Bill Marsh Mediator)/ /3 Comments

Global Legal Post recently carried an article intriguingly entitled “Lawyers find Eureka moments in the shower“. Sadly the article itself lacked the slightly salacious promise of its title. Instead, it focused on the results of a survey of London city lawyers, indicating that those surveyed did their most creative thinking in the shower or commuting…