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Conflict Resolution

Growing a Mediation Practice: Practical Insights from the Field

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The Conflict Management Academy offers regular Business Brainstorming Sessions as an accompaniment to our Beyond the Table course.  These sessions are facilitated by experienced mediator and successful business owner Megan Lewis. Here are some of the key insights and tips shared in the last session. Building a successful mediation practice takes more than just excellent […]

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Can a Mediator Provide Advice? Understanding the Boundaries in Australia

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By Samantha Hardy and Claire Holland Mediators play a crucial role in helping parties resolve disputes, but can they actually provide advice? The answer is more nuanced than it may initially appear. In Australia, mediation is predominantly a facilitative process, meaning mediators do not make decisions for the parties. However, there are circumstances where a

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How We Describe What We Do: A Guide for Mediators

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In one of our recent masterclasses at The Conflict Management Academy, we discussed some of our recent learning from Dr Emily Skinner and Professor Elizabeth Stokoe, and workshopped improved ways to describe what we do.  Here’s a summary of what we came up with. Thanks to participants (Debra Farrelly, Deb Black, Peter Hanson, Nurit Zubery,

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The Subtle Art of Impartiality: Lessons from Conversation Analysis

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Recently, we had the privilege of hosting Professor Elizabeth Stokoe for a webinar on her research into how intake staff at UK mediation centres communicate with callers seeking information. As a psychologist specializing in conversation analysis, Professor Stokoe examines real interactions rather than those happening in artificial experimental settings. Her work provides valuable insights for

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Exploring the Diversity of Mediation

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When someone says they’re a mediator, what image comes to mind? Probably someone who helps people in conflict work through their differences, right? Simple enough. But here’s the thing—mediators are not all the same. In fact, the mediation field is incredibly diverse, even though most practitioners don’t describe themselves beyond the generic label of “mediator.” There are many different

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Embracing Inclusivity in Mediation – A Pathway to Justice for Neurodivergent Individuals

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* Thanks to Rebekka Kornmehl, Danielle Hutchinson, and Carol Bowen for their helpful feedback on this content. People in the conflict resolution field typically think of mediation as a client-centered, informal, and flexible approach to managing conflict.  However, as highlighted by participants in the Symposium for Access to Justice for Autistic People in ADR in

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When the Boss Is Exhibiting Challenging Behaviours

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I recently had an interesting conversation with someone who started out by describing their boss as a “narcissistic personality” and who was looking for some advice about how to get them to change their behaviours towards staff. Work with behaviours, not labels The first step is to emphasize the importance of avoiding labelling the boss

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Navigating Ethical Dilemmas in Mediation: Insights from Practitioners

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In the world of mediation, professionals frequently encounter complex ethical dilemmas that require careful consideration and judgment. Recently, a discussion among mediators explored such challenges in depth, providing valuable insights into the ethical intricacies of the profession. This blog post delves into the key themes discussed, focusing on the delicate balance mediators must maintain between

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REAL WORLD INSIGHTS: How we adapt our interpersonal conflict strategies

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Coleman argues that there are three different criteria for how we might adapt our interpersonal conflict strategies:  relational importance, goal type, power differences. These different criteria lead to seven basic types of interpersonal situations. These include: where the conflict is of low importance (independence), compassionate responsibility (high power, cooperative goals), partnership (equal power, cooperative), cooperative

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REAL WORLD INSIGHTS: Peter Coleman’s “Adaptive Mediation”

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Peter Coleman’s research has identified the four most challenging conditions or “derailers” of mediation as: High intensity conflict: higher levels of destructiveness, emotionality, and intransigence; High degrees of constraints or limitations on the mediation: including legal and time constraints and constituent pressure; Highly competitive relationships between the disputants; and The covert nature of the issues

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