mediation skills

Communication, Decision making, Developing the Field, Dialogue, Language, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Philosophy, Skills, The role of the mediator, Uncategorized

(University of Strathclyde)/ /2 Comments
What mediators do with words

‘The world is made, not found’ (W. Barnett Pearce) (1) I just spent an intensive weekend on Zoom with my students, helping them navigate their early steps into mediation practice. So much has changed. I have never met most of them face to face; we sit at home on our screens; there are no coffee…

Mediation Outcomes, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Mediation Reforms (Legislation, etc.), Mediation Users/Clients, Scotland, Uncategorized, Zoom

(Core Solutions Group)/ /2 Comments

Ten weeks ago, I had barely heard of Zoom. At that time, I was fairly sceptical about online mediation in the kind of cases I do. It could never substitute for face to face meetings with their intimacy and candour. Or so I thought. I have recently undertaken a number of mediations using Zoom. It…

Below the line, Business, Causes of Conflict, Commercial Mediation, Conflict, Developing the Field, Economics, Mediation Practice, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Reflective Practice, Scotland, Uncategorized

(University of Strathclyde)/ /Leave a comment
money

Twice today I’ve found myself responding to mediator reflections in these terms: the money’s not about the money. Both cases involved financial negotiation, even haggling, but that’s deceptive. The key to settlement lay not in the realm of calculation and rationality but in the more opaque social world of face, punishment, justice and emotion. In…

Clients, Developing the Field, Experience, Feedback, Language, mediation as a career, Mediation Schemes (In Courts, etc.), Mediation Users/Clients, Personal Development, Research, Skills, Success in mediation, The role of the mediator, Training, Uncategorized, user perspectives

(University of Strathclyde)/ /4 Comments
good mediation seen through a client's lens

“Like poets, but with less time” The Deep End Getting to grips with mediation can leave students and trainees overwhelmed. That favourite training tool, the roleplay, throws most in at the deep end. The sudden immersion forces them to speak, listen and observe while trying to remember models and skills plus a sea of reading…

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…

Bias, Cognitive Bias, Commercial Mediation, Decision making, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Future of mediation, Mediation and Society, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Mediators’ Conduct, Neuroscience, peace negotiations, Personal Development, Policy, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Promoting Mediation, Public Policy, Reflective Practice, Scotland, shuttle mediation, Skills, Social intelligence, Success in mediation, The role of the mediator, Tips, Transformation, Trust, Uncategorized, Understanding mediation

(Core Solutions Group)/ /Leave a comment

“I’ve been trying to tell you, but you didn’t listen. You’ve got to go down more deeply and take more time, you’re rushing it and it’s too superficial. You’re hardly disturbing the surface. You’ll make no progress that way. And you are using so much effort. Relax. When you get into difficulty, you are expending…

Commercial Mediation, Mediation Practice

(Weiler ADR Inc.)/ /Leave a comment

  The recently released decision in L-Jalco Holdings Inc. v. Lawrynowicz & Associates, 2018 ONSC 4002 (CanLII) will be of great interest to mediators, lawyers and clients alike. The case offers a rare glimpse inside the “sausage factory” that is commercial mediation and highlights mediator persistence and creativity in reaching a settlement of a complex…

caucus, Commercial Mediation, Developing the Field, Experts, General, Joint Sessions, Lawyers, lawyers in mediation, Mediation Lawyering, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Mediation Users/Clients, Reflective practise, Scotland, Stages of mediation, The role of the mediator, Understanding mediation

(Core Solutions Group)/ /Leave a comment

Much has been said and written about the demise of the joint meeting in mediation. In my experience, such a view is premature and, I fear, is potentially wasteful of the power that mediation brings for creative problem-solving. I am also aware of how much the clients and others appreciate a creative approach to the…

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…

Art, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Mediation Users/Clients, Mediators’ Conduct, Memory and Illusions, Uncategorized

(Core Solutions Group)/ /Leave a comment

It was fifty years ago at the end of May that the Beatles launched the album (or LP as it was then called) “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” on the world – and the world was changed forever. 1967 was quite a year. It was the “Summer of Love”. Revolution was in the air…