It Turns Out That Humans Make Human Decisions (3/15/10)
Monique McKay
I googled the question “What makes a good lawyer?” and found 49,300,000 results. There are lots of articles about analyzing, taking positions, fighting, winning and being a good adversary. Reading these articles wakes up the competitive side in me. I love the logic of the law, researching positions, thinking up clever arguments and advocating a cause. And forget happiness, I love the pursuit of the victory.

Roger Fisher: Discussion of Beyond Reason - Video (3/01/10)
Roger Fisher
Roger Fisher talks about his recent book, Beyond Reason and explains the importance of emotion. Negotiators should build rapport by expressing their appreciation of the other party/parties, expressing affiliation, autonomy, acknowledging each other's status or expertise, and choosing a fulfilling role.

Before The Deal Honeymoon Ends (1/24/10)
Frank Aquila, Kathy Bryan
Even as deal activity begins to pick up, corporate decision makers remain understandably risk averse. Dealmakers must balance their need to get a deal done with the goal of avoiding costly or unnecessary mistakes.

All Behavior Makes Sense: A Spectrum Approach (1/11/10)
Michael Blackstock
This essay will first explore a theoretical example of a spectrum of possible behaviours and why individuals may select a choice and then defend their decision (i.e. cognitive dissonance) to others, and finally how others perceive the decision. Next, this essay proposes how this tool can be used to debrief negotiations or mediations, and to further develop strategies. What does this all mean in our day-to-day world?

Decision Making: Are You Better Than Coin Flipping? (12/28/09)
Manie Spoelstra
Lets assume that you and your wife have decided to buy a new car (or you are contemplating an important decision at work). You have narrowed the choice down to two SUV models. You like the German model. She prefers the Japanese one. You consult everybody, you read articles and websites, you think about the two toddlers at home and you even go for a few test-drives with both. Finally you agree on the German model. What are your chances for having made the correct decision?   2 Comments

Copenhagen Deal Will Require More Than A Little Give And Take (12/21/09)
John Sturrock
Last week, I found myself in the Bella Centre in Copenhagen, the location for the negotiations on climate change. It is a vast cavern, with scores of rooms serving as the location for talks, presentations, media activity and lobbying. I was struck by the sheer mass of people, with laptops, leaflets, cameras and TV screens, milling around in the hope of influencing discussions. That image has stayed with me as we hear daily of the difficulties facing negotiations.

Me and Joe Lieberman: Fantasy Negotiations and Little Irrationalities (12/16/09)
r.d. benjamin
Joe Lieberman, the independent Senator from Connecticut, pissed me off today. First, he is screwing up the pending health care reform legislation, and second, he is forcing me to consider my commitment to negotiation and mediation. Others seem to enjoy fantasy football or picking the perfect baseball team. My amusement, as twisted as some might find it, is picturing myself in ‘the room’ negotiating the big stuff, like health care policy ‘reform’ pending in the U.S. Congress.   3 Comments

Simple Mediation Methods Can Help Children Resolve Disputes (12/07/09)
Michael Lang
Ah, the joys of parenting. Did we sign up for this? Who said we would need to be referees? Parenting was supposed to be about loving, nurturing and educating our children. I can’t tell you the number of times my three children would squabble about food, toys, space or (most contentious of all) control of the TV remote. So, when these arguments happen, and they will, what’s a parent to do?   4 Comments

Ethics And Best Practices For Mediation Provider Organizations: 7 Years After Georgetown (11/17/09)
Diane J. Levin
As readers of this blog know, the private practice of mediation in the United States remains unregulated by government. Arguably, this absence of formal regulation, licensing, and credentialing does not diminish mediation’s standing as a profession. It does, however, place weighty responsibility on the shoulders of U.S. mediators, collectively and individually, to protect the reputation of the profession and to build public confidence in mediation services.

Moving The Goalposts - How To Craft A Mediator's Proposal (11/02/09)
Alec Wisner
In mediations involving commercial, business, contractual, employment, construction and insurance issues, the bottom line is most often dollars and cents. This is referred to as "distributive mediation," meaning that the size of the pie is predetermined, and the issue is limited to determining what size each claimant's slice will be. In my practice, I've developed a systemic method (sort of) through which I can narrow down my focus as much as possible in order to be able to insert my own proposal in a final effort to close the gap and obtain settlement.   2 Comments

Mediating How People Get Along (8/10/09)
Diane Cohen
Mediating how people get along is important in many different areas of mediation. In some case, the entire set of issues between the parties may be matters of tone, subtle behaviors, etiquette, style and world view. Helping parties deal with these sorts of issues effectively can be the key to many mediation cases, and can add value to the resolutions achieved in a mediation case.

The ‘Texas Shoot Out’ And Other Ways To Get Out Of Deals! (6/22/09)
Manie Spoelstra
Most partnerships, joint ventures, marriages and many contracts and alliances start off with big plans, grand expectations, speeches and champagne! Statistics indicate that the majority will, somewhere in the future, due to many personal and financial reasons, reach a point of such conflict or deadlock that parties want to ‘get out’!

Negotiators And Snipers: On Strategies For Managing Piracy On The High Seas---And Elsewhere (5/13/09)
r.d. benjamin
Few international incidents end with the successful finality and clarity as did the rescue of the Maerske ship Captain, Richard Phillips, from the clutches of Somali pirates in mid April. Three clean kill shots by U.S.Navy snipers settled the stand-off. Most people in the Western world felt relieved and good about the outcome. Maybe assassination was warranted. Clearly, piracy cannot be tolerated. However, the pursuit of both negotiation and assassination strategies at the same time is troublesome and may be costly in the longer term. If negotiation appears to be merely a pretext for snipers' to act, then will the trust essential for successful negotiations be lost in future negotiations?   15 Comments

Making Decisions In Times of Uncertainty (5/04/09)
Manie Spoelstra
Lets consider how we tend to decide in times of uncertainty and how perhaps we can make less ‘crazy’ decisions.

Obama The Negotiator: The Strategic Use of Anger (3/17/09)
r.d. benjamin
One of the few ways to endure the current economic catastrophe is to appreciate the event as theater. As President Obama goes head to head with the Wall Street folks, one can’t help but be intrigued by how the negotiations are played out. His dispassionate, reasoned demeanor has been noted and is reassuring, but the theater of negotiation sometimes requires dramatic flair. A flash of ‘irrational’ anger might be a useful negotiation technique---even if he has to authentically fake it.   3 Comments

Letter To President Obama (3/02/09)
Kenneth Cloke
Thank you. As conflict resolution professionals, practitioners and scholars, we have noticed and profoundly appreciate your efforts to change the process and tone of how differences are managed, both in Washington and around the world. We value your experience, understanding and commitment to conflict resolution, and offer our full support to you and your administration in your efforts to promote peace, collaboration, and consensus in domestic and international relations.   4 Comments

The Joy Of Impasse: The Neuroscience Of ‘Insight’ And Creative Problem Solving (2/09/09)
r.d. benjamin
Most novice and experienced conflict mediators alike feel themselves viscerally tighten in the face of an impending impasse. The prospect of the parties in a dispute becoming locked up and unable to reach an agreement raises the ugly specter of failure for the practitioner who purports to offer a better way to manage conflict. However, current studies in neuroscience suggest that frustration can be useful in fomenting creative problem solving. Practitioners might do well to encourage impasse.   8 Comments

Cloaked Negotiation: Necessary Back-Channel, Under the Table and Surreptitious Strategies and Techniques to Make Deals Work (1/19/09)
r.d. benjamin
Cloaked and surreptitious negotiation strategies are commonly used but seldom openly discussed by conflict management practitioners. This, after all, is the shadow side of negotiation that goes against the grain of the more preferred. view of negotiation as a straightforward, ethically clean and rational enterprise, This article suggests the necessity and importance of those strategies in order to make deals work in the real world.   3 Comments

Bringing Oxytocin Into The Room: Notes On The Neurophysiology Of Conflict (1/19/09)
Kenneth Cloke
To explain the etiology of conflict therefore requires us to gain a deeper understanding of how the brain responds to conflict. This should clearly include the ways distrusting personalities are formed, even among primates; the sources of aggressive character traits and the “fight or flight” reflex; the wellsprings of spiritual malaise and hostile gut reactions; and the neurological foundations of forgiveness, open-heartedness, empathy, insight, intuition, learning, wisdom, and willingness to change.   5 Comments

The Clash of the Titans: Getting the Best Results in Mediation when Cooperative Negotiator meets Competitive One (1/06/09)
Jan Frankel Schau
California lawyers are now being routinely trained in the benefits of a win/win approach to negotiation by “expanding the pie”. However, the culture of cooperation is often confronted with a more competitive approach in mediation of litigated cases. This article will offer strategies for breaking the impasse this clash of styles presents in mediation as well as offer concrete strategies for litigators to adjust their own styles and thereby maximize their clients’ results.

Working Together after Divorce – The Mediated Road to Success (1/06/09)
Rikk Larsen, Blair Trippe
The world of divorce is a place with an infinite number of stories that play out as a short list of common themes. The biggies: the well being of the children, how to divide assets, who gets the marital home and the complications of a parenting plan. We also know that divorces are rarely the end of the relationship in the sense that once they are final you never have, or need to have, contact with the other party again.

An Alternative Approach to Negotiation and Mediation Planning (12/14/08)
Manie Spoelstra
It is often of concern for individuals involved in the training and practise of mediation and negotiation to witness how negotiators (even after being trained for several days) still get bogged down in issues that are ‘trivial’ to the central objective or frame.

Unlearning And Learning From Freud For Negotiated Solutions (12/01/08)
Luis Miguel Diaz
This essay is inspired by Sigmund Freud’s persuasive, imaginative and enigmatic writings on mental processes and their meanings. He was the founder of psychoanalysis and is psychology's most famous author. The relevance of Freud’s work is even manifested in popular language which has incorporated expressions that he coined such as “mechanisms of defense” and “Oedipus Complex.” The significance of his legacy remains disputed.

Rule 68 and Offers of Judgment, Part I: How They Work and Why You Should Care (9/30/08)
John DeGroote
I once had a client tell me: “I’m in the outsourcing business, not the litigation business.” He would probably read the title to this post and say something like: “I’m a client. Why do I care about rule anything?” Whether you are a client or a lawyer involved in US litigation, Rule 68 and similar state rules are important to you for two reasons: they can get cases resolved when nothing else can, and few lawyers use them effectively.

Improvisational Negotiation: Moving Away from Conventional Wisdom (9/30/08)
Improvisational Negotiation represents a particular mind-set and approach to negotiation that is flexible and adaptable to a fluid set of circumstances. In the Improvisational Negotiation realm, there are no steadfast rules, grids, or specific definitions that must be adhered to. Rather, the success of this technique stems from the willingness to replace the traditional “one size fits all” textbook approach with a style that focuses on the moment and is based on creativity, acceptance of uncertainty and willingness to take risk.