Archives for October 2010

10 Big Picture community collaborations in Victoria that support the family

In Victoria there are many examples of people working together, i.e., collaborating, with the big picture in mind. I have a soft spot for these collaborations.  My experience is they are usually community-oriented.  They bring diverse peoples and groups together, bridge multiple interests, and work for a healthier community, for all.  These collaborations are systems […]

Mediation Business Summit takeaways

Although its been a month since I attended the Mediation Business Summit, I thought I’d share a few of my takeaways from the event. About the Summit The Summit was a multi-day event via telephone and web, designed for dispute resolution professionals by dispute resolution professionals, Tammy Lenski and Amanda Bucklow.  Sessions featured business management, […]

Getting to Resolution: Turning Conflict into Collaboration – Video book review

I’m always on the lookout for ideas and frames that give context to my work.  Recently I came across Getting to Resolution: Turning conflict into collaboration by Stewart Levine.  It does just that.  It touches my buttons; collaboration, conflict, resolution, mediation, community, systems thinking, to name a few. In this short video (can’t see it? […]

Triangulate conflict to find the sweet spot of resolution

One of my earliest professional gigs was as a land surveyor.  One technique surveyors use is triangulation, finding a position or location based on two other, known fixed points.  Triangulation, i.e., cross-checking, is also a technique used by resolutionaries, such as mediators.  We use multiple sources of information, signals, to locate that sweet spot of […]

Make it safe to fail

A collaborative leader makes it safe to fail and learn, and innovate.  And that’s also what most facilitator and dispute resolution professionals try do too.  As a mediator, I know there is no way people are going to open up, share information, and genuinely explore and resolve the issues unless they feel safe, free from […]