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. […]
Silence: Pattern Interruptus
November 22, 2011 by · 6 Comments
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, […]
Circles: In Life and Death
November 5, 2011 by · 5 Comments
We gathered in concentric circles, like the rings on a tree that show its age, in a small community hall this week, to sing songs that celebrated our friend, who had just died. With those in the innermost circle leading the songs, we sang together, folk favourites of the deceased. Combined with other remembrances, food, […]
2 Dispute Resolution Conferences that got my attention last week
November 2, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
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 […]
