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ADR, Communication, Conflict, Decision making, Humorous Pieces, Neuroscience, Online Dispute Resolution (ODR), Online Mediation, Skills, Tactics, Tips, Uncategorized, Understanding mediation

(Singapore International Dispute Resolution Academy)/ /5 Comments

To the extent that a mediator’s job involves listening to people complain and engage in negative behaviour, mediators face a serious mental health hazard. Research shows that listening to ongoing negativity impairs the brain function of the listener. Yes! Listening can be bad for you if you have a whinging party in the room, and…

Communication, Conflict, Decision making, Developing the Field, Memory and Illusions, Negotiation, Neuroscience, short term memory, Skills, Tips

(Singapore International Dispute Resolution Academy)/ /Leave a comment

Is it true that as we get older, we tend to forget things more easily? Or is it that some things are just less important? As negotiators and mediators, we often deal with complex layers of information that appear all too much for any one person to recall. So we enter the negotiation room burdened…

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…

Causes of Conflict, Conflict, Developing the Field, Instinct, mediation as a career, Mediation Practice, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Scotland, Skills, Tips, Uncategorized, Understanding mediation

(University of Strathclyde)/ /Leave a comment

(This is the final part of a keynote address to the YMCA Conference “From Reactions to Relations” in Burton on Trent on 20 November 2014.) Having considered what we can’t help noticing about our clients and about conflict I now turn to the tricky business of self-knowledge: what has our unique perspective at the heart…

Argument, Commercial Mediation, conlfict coaching, Future of mediation, International Mediation, Joint Sessions, Mediation Lawyering, Settlement Agreements, Tips

(Brick Court Chambers / Clifton Chambers)/ /1 Comment

Once again, we find ourselves on the eve of the annual ICC Commercial Mediation Competition which is about to kick off in Paris, France next week. Last year I posted 10 tips for participants, one of the most important being that mediation remains an oral sport, and the most effective counsel and parties in real…

Conflict, Developing the Field, Mediation Practice, Mediation Users/Clients, Tips, Uncategorized, Understanding mediation

(University of Strathclyde)/ /Leave a comment

(This is the second of three parts of a keynote address to the YMCA Conference “From Reactions to Relations” in Burton on Trent on 20 November 2014) Last month I wrote in this blog about the fact that mediators “can’t help noticing” certain things as a result of the work that we do. We are…

Conflict, Developing the Field, Family Mediation, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Mediation Practice, Skills, Stories, Tips, Uncategorized, Understanding mediation

(University of Strathclyde)/ /Leave a comment

(This is the first of three parts of a keynote address to the YMCA Conference “From Reactions to Relations” in Burton on Trent on 20 November 2014) Here’s an interesting phenomenon. When asked to play the part of an adversarial lawyer students have no difficulty. It’s as if the script for this activity is carved…

Book Review, Causes of Conflict, Clients, Commercial Mediation, Communication, Community Mediation, Conflict, Creativity, Decision making, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Efficiency, Ethics, General, Language, Lawyers, Mediation Practice, Mediators’ Conduct, Negotiation, Policy, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Scotland, Skills, Success in mediation, Tips, Uncategorized

(Core Solutions Group)/ /Leave a comment

I am interested in convergence – of ideas, of behaviour, of trends, of different disciplines. The more I read, the more common themes I discern in the arts, science, spirituality, leadership and in what we do as mediators. A reflection of this is found in the African concept of ubuntu, “the profound sense that we…

Business, Commercial Mediation, Communication, Confidentiality, Conflict, conlfict coaching, Conventional wisdom, Decision making, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Efficiency, Future of mediation, General, Impasse, Improvisation, International Mediation, mediation models, Mediation Outcomes, Mediation Practice, mediation traditions, Mediators’ Conduct, Mentoring, Negotiation, Scotland, Skills, Stories, Success in mediation, Tips, Uncategorized

(Core Solutions Group)/ /Leave a comment

I write here about two contrasting experiences which have, for me, underscored the richness of the mediation process. In one mediation, involving business partners with an ongoing management issue, one of the protagonists (A) suggested bringing in another partner (D) who was not perceived to be a part of the present problem, simply to observe,…