How to Find a Professional Mediator
What is a Professional Mediator? Professional services advertisements often include statements akin to “come to the professionals”. The first time I ever heard an ad like this was for laser eye surgery. It left me wondering if people getting amateur laser eye surgery was a big problem. It isn’t. Medicine has regulatory bodies to ensure […]
Dealing With Grievances
Do you have a number of unresolved grievances? Are you wondering what you can do about them? Does the thought of dealing with grievances make you shudder? Elaine Newman discusses the trouble each side may have in dealing with grievances. She notes management falls victim to the 3 Ds Duck dealing with a question Defer […]
Define Mediator | Mediator Defined
How Do You Define Mediator? The question of how you define mediator and how you define mediation certainly have related answers. In its simplest form the definition of mediator is a person who mediates. That is neither a satisfying or useful answer to the question. First we have a turn our minds to the process […]
Mutualizing Conflict Resolution in Critical Care
Mutualizing, Conflict Resolution & Critical Care There I was on my weekend off at a dinner party talking with some people telling stories over a beer, when the best example of mutualizing to resolve a conflict was laid at my feet for the taking. Mutualizing is when you find a common interest shared by parties […]
Alternative Dispute Resolution | What it is & How it Helps
Alternative Dispute Resolution vs Dispute Resolution There is some debate right now about whether the term dispute resolution or alternative dispute resolution is the proper name for Arbitration, Mediation and other options that are not litigation. The folks who want to keep alternative in the name see the traditional dispute resolution mechanism as being litigation […]
BATNA Defined
If you’re like me you may be uncomfortable negotiating for something that you don’t know much about. I run into this discomfort every time something goes wrong with my car. I am decidedly not a car guy. I don’t know the difference between a crankshaft and a camshaft, so I am understandably concerned when I […]
17 Camels | How Others Help Resolve Conflict
In this TED talk negotiation guru William Ury talks about the secret to peace and how others help resolve conflict. Click Here to open video in new window 17 Camels He starts with the story of three brothers who were willed 17 camels. The first brother was given half the camels, the second brother was […]
How Can Mandatory Mediation Be Voluntary?
Voluntary or Voluntold? Most Mediators, including me, think that one of the most foundational parts of mediation is its voluntariness. But we live in a world with mandatory mediation, so what gives? How can mediators define mediation by its voluntariness but support people being forced into mandatory mediation? Ontario Mandatory Mediation Program The Ontario Mandatory […]
Become a Better Negotiator
Become a Better Negotiator With Just 1 Question! What if I told you there is one question that just by asking it and listening to the answer would make you become a better negotiator? New and inexperienced negotiators assume that the most important question in a negotiation is: What’s in it for me. That’s a […]
Spectrum of Mediation: Evaluative Mediator
This is the first of a three part series on the spectrum of mediation. The spectrum of mediation host three main types or styles of mediation from the most direction and influence of the mediator to the least these types are, Evaluative Mediation, Facilitative Mediation and Transformational Mediation. This post focuses on what Evaluative Mediation […]