BRENDA REED Brenda Reed Mediation Services Facilitation Articles

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Judgment call: everyone benefits when decision making is improved (9/16/08)
Diane J. Levin
In a recently published paper, experts in decision making Dolly Chugh, Katherine L. Milkman, and Max Bazerman asked an important question, “How Can Decision Making Be Improved?” (PDF): We propose that the time has come to move the study of biases in judgment and decision making beyond description and toward the development of improvement strategies. While a few important insights about how to improve decision making have already been identified, we argue that many others await...

A Credo for Facilitators (7/07/08)
Colin Rule
Peter Adler, head of the Keystone Center and a giant in the field of dispute resolution, recently published a great "credo for facilitators" that he first came up with some years ago. I really like his set of seven beliefs at the end of the credo: "1. A GOOD FAITH CONTRACT. We believe the job of the “facilitator” involves a three way good faith contract that must be honored by (a) those who are sponsoring or convening the process; (b) those who are serving as facilitators of...

A Credo For Facilitators (6/23/08)
Peter Adler
I recently was asked to state clearly and unequivocally to a group of prospective clients what my “philosophy” of facilitation is. To prepare for that, I went back through my files and dug up a “credo” that various colleagues and I put together in 1998 in Hawaii. The statement grew out of a series of discussions about the use and occasional abuse of “facilitation” in the public, private, and civic sectors. The following tenets have held up well over the years and may be of use to others. We encourage readers to copy and disseminate the statement to other groups and individuals who have an interest in facilitation, collaboration, and consensus-building.

When two heads aren't better than one (6/17/08)
John Windmueller
There’s a common expression that “two heads are better than one,” and that may often be the case. However, since we often bring groups together to work on resolving conflict, it’s also important to recognize when and why groups may fail at producing high-quality deliberations. Two U Chicago scholars have released an interesting working paper on this issue, available here: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1121400 Below is the paper’s...

Consensus Building Tips from Work Life Bridge (4/14/08)
Victoria Pynchon
Thanks to WorkLifeBridge for including us on its resource page. We're happpy to reciprocate and pleased to find another good source of information on collaboration, dispute resolution, and making life and work better for everyone. In their post Creepy Crawly Consensus, the authors of WorkLifeBridge direct their readers to some good consensus building resources. See below for their recommendations and click here for the full post. Here are some resources and ideas to ...

A Useful Tool For Mapping Concepts And Discussions (3/04/08)
John Windmueller
I recently discovered a terrific tool for mapping concepts and group discussions: Compendium. Compendium was designed with an eye toward the IBIS (Issue-Based Information System) approach to structuring and recording group conversations. These are typically conversations done with the goal building a better understanding of a complex problem and exploring ideas for tackling what emerges. (For a good introduction to this take on facilitation, I’d recommend Jeff Conklin’s >Dialogue...

Mediación entre víctima y ofensor (2/11/08)
Josefina Rendon
La mediación entre víctima y ofensor es el proceso por el cual la víctima de un crimen enfrenta al causante de éste en la presencia de un tercero quien ayuda a las partes a dialogar sobre los hechos y sus consecuencias. En dicho enfrentamiento, la víctima tiene la oportunidad de expresarle al ofensor su coraje o su temor, de echarle en cara el impacto de su conducta criminal, de preguntarle las razones de esta conducta, o simplemente, de satisfacer su propia curiosidad sobre que tipo de persona es el acusado. Por su lado, el ofensor tiene la oportunidad de explicar los hechos, explicar la razón de su conducta, comprender el punto de vista de la víctima, y hasta pedirle perdón.

Note to Board of Directors: Women Make a Positive Difference (2/11/08)
Victoria Pynchon
Why diversity? Uh . . . . because that's how life successfully evolved on planet earth?Now a new study prepared by Ontario's Richard Ivey School of Business and the Wellesley Centers for Women concludes that corporations benefit from the presence of women on the Board of Directors in Critical Mass on Corporate Boards: Why Three or More Women Enhance Governance. (for the same reasons noted below, we also make pretty darn good mediators and settlement officers)We find that...

A Protean Negotiator: An Interview with Peter Adler (8/28/07)
Gini Nelson
This is an interview of Peter Adler, President of The Keystone Center and one of the world's leading public policy facilitators by Gini Nelson. Peter speaks to his perspective on the nature of negotiation, conflict and our field, or lack of field, currently and in the future.

CaliforniaSpeaks: Working Together for Better Healthcare (7/30/07)
Susan Dupre
Facilitators are needed for California's state-wide health care conversation. Thousands of Californians will come together on Saturday, August 11th, to evaluate proposals for reforming California’s health care system and send a message to state leaders about their priorities. Interactive television will link together public meetings in eight cities to create a true state-wide conversation.

The Dynamics of Group Decision-Making (6/18/07)
Geoff Sharp
A great resource today from Bill Waters' Campus ADR Tech Blog on the Dynamics of Group Decision-MakingIt's an animation showing the phases a group goes through when making a decision - another example of how the web is enriching our learning as mediators.

The Art of Disagreement (2/27/07)
Dale Eilerman
Most of us would likely say that we do not care to be around disagreeable people. This choice of behavior is typically discouraged in organizations as being disruptive and unsettling. It can generate negative emotional reactions and a sense that the disagreeable person is being uncooperative and is not “on board”. However the act of disagreeing is essential to identify problems, provide contrary perspectives, consider alternatives and make changes. What we need to recognize is that there is a skill and “art” in offering a disagreement that plays an important part in the success in taking this position. It is not what is said, but how it is said.

Where Settlements Cannot Go – Towards a Praxis of Reconciliation in Group Conflicts (Part 6 of 6) (2/19/07)
Darrell Puls
We have now reached the final installment of our investigation into the underlying dynamics that promote forgiveness and reconciliation following large group conflict. Each step first focused inward and away from the conflict to find the seeds that must be planted and grown to move on. It stands conventional conflict resolution practice on its head by not only standing in between the warring parties, but turning them away from the conflict before again turning towards each other in a process that starts out tightly controlled but becomes more fluid and unpredictable as it goes. The process and facilitators are not neutral, and this is not mediation in the conventional sense; it is a voluntary process to help those wounded by conflict restore their relationships torn apart in the heat and confusion of battle. It is intended and designed to move groups of people who desire it to forgive for their own benefit, and reconcile should they choose to do so.

Skills for Transformative Group Facilitation (12/19/05)
Ronald S. Kraybill
The single biggest factor in determining whether a meeting is rewarding or disappointing is the skill of the leader. Unfortunately, skills for facilitating meetings are rarely taught. People seem to assume that white hair, or a good education, or the title of CEO, chair, reverend, etc., somehow equips leaders with skills adequate to lead meetings.

Flavor of The Month Part II (4/18/05)
Sterling Newberry
In my first article in this series I asked whether we facilitators might be a part of the “flavor of the month” syndrome that I’ve heard reported in company after company. Lets continue to explore this important question.

Flavor Of The Month: Are We Facilitators Guilty? (1/31/05)
Sterling Newberry
When I was an in house facilitator at a major corporation, I often ran into skepticism about new initiatives, especially those that involved a change in “how we do things around here”. The closer to the line I got the more likely I was to hear skepticism about the “flavor of the month”. What people expressed was the belief that no matter how positive a particular initiative seemed at first, that within six months we would be back to doing things the “old way”. Sometimes folks were willing to give it another try, sometimes not. I’ve heard the same thing from people in many other companies, so I don’t think it was unique to us.

Leading From Any Chair (4/06/04)
Barbara Ashley Phillips
You’re sitting in a meeting that’s going nowhere. You’ve heard all the speeches before. You could have written from memory the script that is being played out. You heartily wish you were somewhere else.

The Skilled Facilitator (Book Review) (12/08/03)
Sterling Newberry
The latest edition of The Skilled Facilitator by Roger Schwarz is much improved over the earlier edition, and, in my opinion, advances the art of facilitation by reaching back into the work of Action Science and bringing it into the modern facilitation field. I would like to turn your attention to one facet of this book, because I think it applies particularly to ADR work in general.

Communication Assessment: Promising Practice For Meeting Management (10/13/03)
John Helie
Every medium of communication has advantages and disadvantages, as well as personal preferences. Each has optimal process applications and drawbacks. In other words, they work well for some things and not so well for others. As a part of the convening process, it might be helpful to find out what is available, desireable, and what works for the group. Please view, add and subscribe to:

The Allagash: A Case Study of a Successful Environmental Mediation (6/16/03)
Jonathan W. Reitman
What are the elements which make possible the successful mediation of an environmental dispute? In this article, Jonathan Reitman analyzes what conditions led to the resolution of a 33-year-old controversy about the management of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway in northern Maine. The polarized dispute involved wilderness canoeists, sportsmen, environmental organizations, local residents and state and federal regulators. Their recent negotiated agreement was hailed as "comprehensive and visionary." The mediator who facilitated the negotiations reflects on lessons learned.

Groupthink Revisited (4/07/03)
Wesley S. Helms
Groupthink, where bad decision making behind closed doors by ‘the few’ adversely affect the many, is a scary part of group behavior. Why? Because the symptoms of it are a part of everyday organizational behavior.

The ABC’s of ADR. A comprehensive guide to alternative dispute resolution (12/16/02)
Daniel Renken
In general, there is an increasing use of ADR-Techniques. But the specific terms describing distinct methods of conflict resolution are often not used appropriately. Hence, there is a need to properly draw distinctions between the ADR-Techniques. Therefore, the article gives a complete overview on the basic ADR-Techniques, such as, e. g., mediation, facilitation and arbitration. It characterizes all of them, draws distinctions between them, and organizes them within a spectrum of increasing influence of the third party on the conflict resolution process and the solution itself. The article is based on intense research as well as on experience made while working for the State of New York Public Service Commission's Office of Hearings and Alternative Dispute Resolution in the year 2001.

Facilitative Mediation: The Classic Approach Retains its Appeal (12/02/02)
Carole J. Brown
This paper advances the position that mandatory mediation in Ontario was not designed as a process where a third party would offer an evaluation of the legal merits of a dispute. Instead, the goals of mandatory mediation are best achieved, and the parties know what to expect, when a mediator takes on the role of a neutral third party who facilitates communication, and takes an interest-based approach to problem-solving.

Face To Face vs. On-Line Facilitation: What To Put At The World Trade Center Site? (10/21/02)
Jon Linden
I was among a very few individuals who got the opportunity to facilitate the discussion in both the Javits Center Face-To- Face format and the WebLab On-Line format. This unique concordance of events allowed me to compare and contrast the Face-To-Face and On-Line Environments for almost precisely the same topical substance.

Rebuilding The World Trade Center Site (8/05/02)
Sterling Newberry
On July 20th, 2002 I volunteered as a facilitator (along with 499 of my colleagues) for a remarkable experiment. Organized by The Civic Alliance To Rebuild Downtown New York, and moderated by America Speaks, this event represents an experiment of increasing the amount and quality of public participation in policy issues. The organizers invited a cross section of people from the New York City region, survivors of the September 11th destruction of the World Trade Center (WTC), and families of the victims to comment upon a series of ideas for rebuilding the WTC site.

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