Reflecting on my experiences in the BC Court Mediation Program

Between 2002 and 2015, I worked as a court-based mediator, usually a couple of days a month, in the BC Court Mediation Program (CMP). The program was administered by Mediate BC and funded by the province of British Columbia.  As per this recent Mediate BC tweet, the CMP is closing its’ doors. (In the picture are Lee Turnbull, […]

Becoming a conflict competent leader helps build your emotional intelligence

Your employees want you, as leader, to become more emotionally intelligent. You, on the other hand, think your skill building priorities should focus on technology and finance. Such was the disconnect, between employees and C-Suite executives, as this chart shows from a recent survey of 4,000 professionals, by The Economist. Building emotional intelligence In his […]

Restorative Justice: The people are more than ready for it

I attended my local Restorative Justice society’s AGM last weekend. It was a full house.  My sense is that in my location, and Canada for that matter, the people are more than ready, in a very receptive mood, to an expansion of restorative justice.   Restorative Justice Victoria (RJ Victoria) is a small nonprofit organization – staffed by three […]

Getting to Hello: A Strategy For Facing Unfamiliar Territory

Picture this – You are in a foreign land, and feeling uneasy. You’re crowded around a table, with people that you barely know. The conversation feels awkward. The food is different. You’re confused. Not in control. You ask yourself, what’s next? Yesterday, I did a workshop, on cross-cultural conflict management, for my local Inter-cultural Association. For […]

Superheros in Cross-Cultural Conflict Management

An icebreaker activity I often use in training workshops is ‘Superhero’. I learned this activity via Thiagi. Here’s how it goes… I divide participants into small subgroups of 3-4. I ask them to identify a superpower that would help them be more successful in the training topic. I give them a few minutes to share […]