I was very fortunate to be given the opportunity to read a final draft of this book before it’s officially published. I have been a huge fan of Michael’s work since reading his and Alison Taylor’s book The Making of a Mediator over 20 years ago. This book was a turning point in my approach […]
In our Beyond the Table course, we have an entire module on ethics. But it doesn’t focus on the ethics of practice in the sense of what we do in the mediation or coaching room with the client. Rather, it focuses on the ethics of doing business in the conflict services field. We look at
CRITICAL REFLECTION: Marketing settlement rates Read More »
Claire Holland and Judith Rafferty, conflict management specialists, academics, researchers and trainers with the Conflict Management Academy (CMA), say YES! According to Judith and Claire, frameworks are a useful way to break down and look at complicated conflict situations in a way that can bring greater awareness, understanding, and clarity to the situation. It’s not
Are frameworks useful to help understand complex conflict contexts? Read More »
This book is not new, it’s been around since 2009, but it remains one of the few books about how to work with conflict that is not resolvable, or that may take many years to resolve. The book introduces the role of the conflict specialist (in contrast to the more limited ‘conflict resolver’ and their
WHAT I’VE BEEN READING: Staying with Conflict by Bernard Mayer Read More »
This book, written by a physicist, a philosopher and a psychologist/lawyer is basically about how to apply the “thinking tools” used by experts in these disciplines to everyday life and decision making. It’s about managing information overwhelm, and learning how to think. The book developed from a UC Berkeley course called “Big Ideas” that taught
Many mediators know about transformative mediation, but in my experience, not many mediators really understand it. I was certified as a transformative mediator in 2010 (Baruch Bush was my assessor) and was approved to teach transformative mediation by the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation (ISCT) a few years later. Since then, I have
Transformative mediation – separating the myth from the reality Read More »
On 21 March I spoke at the Australian Disputes Centre conference in Sydney. This is what I spoke about. Consider how conflict coaching might support your existing processes. We’ve each been asked today to share our solid gold tips and techniques for staying on the cutting edge of Australian ADR. I’m here as the past
Solid gold tips for staying on the cutting edge of ADR Read More »
This book is about how we easily we become habituated to our surroundings, and how this can be problematic for many reasons (although it’s also practical in some ways). We can habituate to good things, and then reduce our appreciation of them. We can also habituate to bad things, and then become less motivated to
John Gottman is a very well known researcher in the field mental health and relationships. Julie, his wife, is an award winning psychologist. Together, they founded the Gottman Institute, which includes the “Love Lab” in which they have observed over 3,000 couples interact, especially when in conflict. Their analysis of these couples’ behaviours has enabled
This article was written by Samantha Hardy and Danielle Hutchinson, with significant contributions from Dan Berstein. Why adapt your practice? As I’ve discussed in a previous article, one size does not fit all. We live in a diverse world and we work with a diverse client base. We can do so much more to be
Adapting our practice Read More »
