I recently reviewed the book Elastic by Leonard Mlodinow and have been thinking more about his discussion on how we understand what someone is saying to us. He explains that when you are listening to someone speak, rather than trying to decide the meaning of each word as it is spoken, your brain keeps the […]
The power of slowing down communication Read More »
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Between April and July 1994, and estimated 800,000 to million people were killed and an upward of 350,000 women were raped. As an internally recognised expert on sexual violence committed during the genocide and on transitional justice initiatives that dealt
In my work with clients in conflict, I constantly find that they have missed many opportunities to manage conflict more effectively. In particular, they often fail to set appropriate boundaries (or ANY boundaries) to allow themselves to be at their best in conflict situations. Boundaries are a fundamental part of preventing unnecessary conflict, and managing
Boundaries in conflict Read More »
When we look at how people typically promote conflict-related services like mediation, the services are often presented as a better option than other alternatives. In fact, this thinking is even found in the name “alternative dispute resolution”. However, psychological research shows that using scare tactics to try to motivate someone to do something tends not
Motivating people to engage in conflict resolution services Read More »
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 »
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 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 »
In the past couple of weeks, I have come across a few different mediators in Australia and other countries who have offered, or are currently offering, some version of a contingency fee for their mediation services. This got my attention, and I decided to explore the phenomenon in more detail. I’ve done some research, and
CRITICAL REFLECTION: No settlement, no fee in mediation? Read More »
