2 Dispute Resolution Conferences that got my attention last week

You need not leave your home to attend a conference these days.  Yet, attending a conference, in-person, has its benefits.  I had the best of both worlds last week. On the virtual front, I participated in a few of the sessions offered at Cyberweek 2011, a week long series of webinars and discussion forums, featuring […]

Aging and The Joys of Mostly Good Enough

In a world of be all you can be, I’m getting more comfortable with being, mostly good enough.  There is a rhythm to life.  Why fight it.  Go with the flow, I tell myself. Maybe this inclination is nothing more than a gut feeling.  A feeling based on 5.6 decades of being, alterations to the body, […]

Just Enough: Reframing the Paradox of Social Media

Reframing is about changing the game. It’s about how we describe a conflict.  There is no shortage of buzz about a personal conflict many of us wrestle with, our struggle to maintain attention, focus, in a world of digital busyness, the world of social media. Social media is a paradox.  On the one hand, it […]

It's a mediator's world

I spent yesterday in Vancouver, at an all-day gathering with my court mediation colleagues.  Part information sharing, part community building, always a learning experience… these types of get-together I really enjoy. There were a number of presenters during the day.  I was one of them, on the topic of Collaborating on Business Development.  That was […]

Henri Lock: Community Connector

For most students attending university, it is a time of great personal exploration.  It was for me. Henri Lock helps university students with their internal explorations.  He also helps them connect their personal passions, interests, values to opportunities in the external world; of people, work, causes, organizations, Henri is United Church Chaplain at the University […]

The Future Value of Increased Collaboration

It’s a wondrous world.  Just finished Michael Ondaatje’s book about his conversations with the seminal film editor, Walter Murch, The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film.  A companion to Murch’s own book, In the Blink of an Eye.  Two books; each shedding new light on my understanding of collaboration. In my previous […]

Culture Clash for Innovation

I’m reading The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film by Michael Ondaatje.  I got introduced to this book by local filmmaker Mandy Leith, one of the presenters at the recent Wired Words symposium I attended, in Victoria. Murch is one of the 20th century’s great film editors, having worked on many classics; […]

On being unconditionally constructive

The bible of interest-based conflict resolution may be well be Fisher, Ury & Patton’s book, Getting to Yes.  I’d be surprised if there is a mediator (Western world, anyways) who is not familiar with it. At the heart of Getting to Yes is the message: be unconditionally constructive when it comes to negotiating resolution to […]

Diversity: A pathway to connection, common ground and innovation

Diversity is a hallmark of innovative teams.  One of the best ways to expand your own problem-solving capabilities is to diversify; apply a different lens, different perspective, to the problem. Traditional pathways If you’re a facilitator, you know how to build bridges between people’s differences, find common ground, as a stepping stone to joint solutions […]

Neighbourhood Gifts

It was my neighbourhood association‘s annual Streetfest last weekend.  Excellent turnout.  People connecting. Conversation.  Having fun.  No rain! And, gifts galore… locals sharing their time, talents, and community spirit. Many of those things that make for a healthy neighbourhood were there, all orchestrated by neighbours, volunteering, including: Food; donated, baked, cornucopia Music; DJ, musicians, musical […]