What's Happening [12.03.13]

"What's Happening?" Blog is a weekly round up of the all the ADR news, jobs, events and more. Check it out each week and view past news [HERE]

Time Frames In Mediation

By Ian McDuff of the Klewer Mediation Blog

...I want to do here is revisit a puzzle I explored a few years ago in an article in Negotiation Journal on culture, time and negotiation [Negotiation Journal 22: 31-45]. I want to revisit this, in part, as the puzzle hasn’t gone away – not that I expected it to; and in part as the number of “hits” on this article suggest that others have at least an interest in the role that time plays in mediation and negotiation, especially when it’s clear that time is itself mediated through a cultural lens.

The puzzle, in brief, is that time appears to be both something we all share, whether it’s the precise marking of the passage of time through watches, smart phones, public clocks, or the broad rhythms of the days marked by sunrise and sunset; and, it’s also something that we do not share or perceive in the same way, whether those differences are as large as a reading of history or as precise as frustrations over punctuality...

Digging in our Heels

Cinnie Noble- The meaning of “digging in our heels” according to one source is stubbornly resisting something or refusing to change, i.e. an opinion. The same source states that the origin is “probably related to the fact that if a person or an animal resists being pulled forward, the body will lean backwards and the heels will dig into the ground as the legs resist the forward motion.”

When we hold conflicting views from another person and we hold steadfastly to our own opinions and views, showing no room for change, this may be considered digging in our heels. It is a dynamic that often leads to both parties becoming stronger about their positions and asserting them with vigour.

Choose Carefully: All Mediators Are Not Created Equal

Lee Jay Berman- If a mediation is going to have a chance at success, perhaps the most important decision is who will sit in the neutral chair at the head of the table. From case to case, that decision will vary. Attorneys owe it to their clients to invest the time in investigating, strategizing and selecting the right mediator for eachcase. In a time where we have retired judges, litigators, transactional attorneys, so called "recovering litigators", and professional mediators available, and when more mediators are specializing in particular areas of practice, here are 14 tips on the best ways to select the right mediator and increase your chances for a successful mediation.

How Community Mediators Across the USA Can Now Improve Their Skills...

Giuseppe Leone- Community mediation centers can now use online mediation not only to help people settle their dispute when they live in different cities, states or even countries. They can also use online mediation to help their own mediators practice and improve their skills. How? By participating (from their home or office) in online simulations with other mediators -- from the same center or from other community mediation centers across the nation.

"How Online Mediation Helps Mediators Practice and Improve Their Skills" is the title of a 1-hour NAFCM (National Association for Community Mediation) webinar Thursday, December 5, 2013, from 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm Eastern Time...

“The Texas Conflict Coach® Radio Blog Show” December Series, The Be...

Patricia M Porter- The Texas Conflict Coach® Blog Talk Radio announces the following episodes starting

in the month of December, held every Tuesday night from 7:00-7:30 pm CST/8:00-8:30 pm EST. Please enjoy our top rated podcasts for 2013. We will return live every Tuesday night beginning January 7, 2014. Enjoy the Holidays!

To listen to our Pre-Recorded Podcasts, click on the designated link for each one.

December 3rd : Brains on Purpose: Traits and States to Shape Your Conflict Fate

Guest: Stephanie West Allen

Guest Host: Zena Zumeta

December 10th: Identifying Campus Bullies By Empowering The Bystander

Guest: Tim Porter

Guest Host: Mia Brooms

December 17th: NCPC and Cyberbullying Prevention: What’s New and What to Do

Guest: Michelle Boykins

Guest Host: Zena Zumeta

December 24th: The Dangers of Teen Sexting

Guest: Raychelle Cassada Lohmann

Guest Host: Stephen Kotev

December 31st: SAVE and National Youth Violence Prevention Week

Guest: Argrow ‘Kit’ Evans

Guest Host: Mia Brooms

Warren Bennis, Mediators, and the RPM

Karen Hollett- Warren Bennis, academic, consultant and author on leadership, once suggested that there are two ways to be creative. He said, "One can sing and dance. Or one can create an environment where singers and dancers flourish." I love that idea.

Mediators have been likened to many other roles, but I like to think of them as architects. While some are more reluctant than others to "leave the stage" - to continue the metaphor - great mediators know how to do just that. They understand that their most helpful contribution is to create a mediation environment where the parties are best situated to help themselves. To be able to come together, in conditions which support them to "be at their best," to resolve their own problems. If the mediator's accepted role in a particular dispute is not to tell the parties what to do, but rather to create the environmental conditions in which the parties will be best situated to solve their own dispute, a mediator needs to understand the types of environments most likely to be helpful to the parties.

This is where the Reasonable Person Model (RPM, previous posts) is so helpful...