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 the title.  It could have just as easily been, It’s a Mediator’s World.  Here’s why.

The challenges facing us are complex

Order and chaos go forth, hand-in-hand.  Income inequality, the few influencing the many, shifting demographics, accelerating rates of technological change, redefining of the organization, the list goes on, one challenge after another.

How to respond to these challenges?

From a business development perspective, three things that go nicely hand-in-hand are collaboration, focus, and innovation.  The real success stories of our time are about good collaboration: businesses, sports teams, political campaigns, causes, Focus is about finding that sweet spot of mutual benefit.  Innovation is about doing new things.

It’s a mediator’s world

Mediators are ideally suited to addressing the challenges of today:

  • our inclination is to collaborate
  • we have the attitude; one of abundance, being positive
  • we know process, and how structure influences behaviour
  • we’re creative; we have to be, as impasse breakers
  • we trust our intuition; we work with both the right and left brain
  • we know how to let it go, go with the flow
  • we’re skilled at triangulating differences; bridging differences
  • we know there are many paths to resolution
  • we focus on what’s important, and we’re persistent!
  • we uncover answers, solutions, resolutions

Here’s the slides from my presentation, yesterday: (can’t see them? click here).

Why else is it a mediator’s world?

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