One value in being a mediator is learning how to think outside the box: to brainstorm. I learned long ago that any problem usually has more than one resolution. So… this is all about Buddy – part 2. Needless to say, Buddy took awhile to recover from the anti-anxiety medicine [Read More]
Mediations have a lot to do with trust. Not only must each party have some trust in the mediator but also should have at least a minimal degree of trust in the other side. If everyone completely distrusts everyone else in the mediation, there will be no resolution. In fact, [Read More]
Life is full of coincidences. Recently, I agreed to teach a class on cross-cultural negotiation. A few days later, the Harvard Negotiation Project published an article entitled, “Dear Negotiation Coach: How Can I Improve My Cross- Cultural Negotiation Skills?” (February 16, 2021). ("Negotiation Coach") Besides my academic teaching interest in [Read More]
Teaching mediation ethics has its good points and bad points. The good is that I have been required to learn the subject matter in depth; the bad is that oftentimes in an actual mediation I am cognizant (or more so) of ethical issues which may escape the (full?) attention of [Read More]
Recently, I attended another wonderful Zoom presentation sponsored by Will Work For Food (https://www.willworkforfood.news/) entitled “Apology, Forgiveness and Reconciliation” by Professor Emeritus Peter Robinson who taught for many years at the Straus Institute of Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University.(He was also a managing director of the Straus program for many [Read More]
During my first week of class teaching mediation ethics, I usually give a version of the Kilmann Diagnostic Test because I believe that one’s personality type impacts one’s mediating style. Thus, a blog post dated November 12, 2020 on the Harvard Pons website caught my attention. Entitled “How Much Does [Read More]
Thanks to the pandemic, it seems that everyone is engaging in a lot more asynchronous communication than ever before. Or, is it simply that those older than the millennials are catching up to what the millennials have been doing all along: texting their way through the day? A recent blog [Read More]
Thanks to the pandemic, Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) seems to be the ONLY way to resolve conflicts these days. The notion of an in-person mediation is just not safe. While most folks read “ODR” to reference video conferencing, it does also include e mail and all other forms of asynchronous [Read More]
