mediation descriptions

Developing the Field, Experience, Instinct, Intuition, mediation models, Mediation Practice, mediation process, mediation traditions, Neutrality, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Scotland, Stages of mediation, The role of the mediator, Uncategorized, Understanding mediation

(University of Strathclyde)/ /2 Comments

I wrote this piece for Strathclyde Mediation Clinic after a series of conversations with new and learner mediators. Some surprised me with their passivity in the face of parties’ lack of knowledge or understanding. After some probing I learned that many new mediators recognise the problem but believe the model they were taught prohibits them…

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…

Developing the Field, Employment, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Mediation as a business, mediation models, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Mediation Schemes (In Courts, etc.), mediation traditions, Stages of mediation, Time Pressure, Uncategorized, Workplace Mediation

(University of Strathclyde)/ /Leave a comment
Time Limited Mediation

“It is pointless to do with more what can be done with fewer.” William of Ockham A colleague recently asked me to present a workshop to employment mediators on ‘Time Limited Mediation.’ Until that moment, like Molière’s bourgeois gentleman realising he’s been speaking prose all his life, it hadn’t occurred to me that this was…

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…

Game Theory, History of mediation, mediation as a career, mediation models, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Mediators’ Conduct, Perception, Philosophy, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Promoting Mediation, Scotland, Uncategorized

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“Doubt is not a pleasant condition but certainty is an absurd one.” These words of Voltaire are as apt today as they were when he wrote them in the 18th century. I don’t know about you but this year seems to be a curious mixture where some people purport to deal in apparent certainties, which…

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…

Conflict, Developing the Field, Family Mediation, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), mediation models, Mediation Practice, mediation process, mediation traditions, Scotland, Uncategorized

(University of Strathclyde)/ /2 Comments

“Patients don’t expect doctors to be perfect. They do expect them to strive for perfection by opening up their work to scrutiny” Atul Gawande, Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4, 6/12/15. A bit of a treat for me last week, when four of my favourite academics came to Edinburgh. They were keynotes at Mediate Scotland…

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…

Commercial Mediation, Deal Mediation, Dispute Resolution, Employment, Ethics, Europe, Family Mediation, Future of mediation, General, Governments/Public Sector, Greece, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), History of mediation, Interests, Ireland, Joint Sessions, Language, Lawyers, Legal Issues, mediation as a career, Mediation Lawyering, mediation models, Mediation Outcomes, Mediation Practice, mediation traditions, Mediation Users/Clients, Mediators’ Conduct, Memory and Illusions, Neuroscience, Nigeria, Particular Sectors (e.g. Construction, Banking, etc.), peace negotiations, Planning, Policy, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Public Policy, Reform, Scotland, Settlement Agreements, Skills, Sport, Stages of mediation, Standards, Success in mediation, Switzerland, Tactics, Transformation, Trust, UN and International Organizations, Uncategorized, Understanding mediation, Workplace

(Core Solutions Group)/ /1 Comment

I was all set to write about climate change and, more particularly, to reflect on some excellent writing on that subject which addresses so-called climate change sceptics or deniers. It seems to me that there is much to be learned about the motivations and psychology which affect such people and which can easily be read…

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…