I felt crappy even before the face-to-face mediation began, this week. Fighting some seasonal bug, I was hoping the mediation would be a short one, no matter the outcome, and I would soon be on my way home, to a hot apple cider and a bed. It was not a short one. Yet, what […]
The Cloud and Mobile are the Mediator's future office
I mediated a trans-national business dispute last week. The mediation took place over several days, and was conducted online, over the Internet. There was zero physical paper exchanged. I worked from my laptop, from my home office. Essentially, all the software I used was based in the Cloud, and either free or low-cost. I’m grateful. […]
Creative Thinkering: Video Book Review
Are you a problem-solver? Do you find yourself struggling to come up with creative ideas? Then I recommend you check out Michael Michalko‘s books. I did. Here’s my video report on his latest book, Creative Thinkering: Putting Your Imagination to Work. (video not displaying? click here). And, here’s a short summary of some of the […]
Ken Kelly: Connecting Communities in Downtown Victoria
Like any city centre, downtown Victoria is a place where people from different communities intersect; residential, visitor, business, service, cultural. Each community is diverse. Residents may be living in high-end condos or in short-term residence at Our Place. Visitors include tourists, local shoppers, and the transient homeless. Businesses range from big bank office to small, […]
Silence: Pattern Interruptus
When conflict is all around, resolution seems distant, and the voices ring loud, sometimes the best way forward is to say nothing silence. As a mediator, I’ve found silence can be an effective pattern interrupt technique, a way to break impasse, especially if the parties in a dispute aren’t listening well, are locked onto negativity, […]