Public Policy Section
How do we best support the growth of mediation around the world? This Forum will share the perspectives of panelists from Nigeria, Argentina, Russia and India to compare and contrast the experiences of online mediation and training in developing mediation cultures. Guided Mediation is a collection of best practices and tools in actual use that increase mediation efficiency, get earlier settlements, reduce legal and consultants’ fees, and minimize business disruption. This article identifies four approaches to environmental policy-making or problem-solving. Mediate.com is ranked the top mediation website by Alexa in its April 14, 2021 global website rankings. In business since 1996, Mediate.com has over 25,000 searchable mediation articles, blog posts, news items and videos and hosts the most utilized mediator directory in the world. One of the most important things a mediator must do- if not the most important- is to build trust and rapport with the parties. In pre-Covid days, this was a bit easier; the mediator could sit face to face with each party and schmooze. While debriefing immediately after a co-mediation, an interesting question arose: “Does a reflection always have the same function regardless of the context?” 2020 has been a year of too many upsets, too many uncertainties, and too many confusions. In preparation for the next international meeting on climate change in Glasgow in November 2021, it is important to begin thinking together, not only about outcomes, but ways of improving the process of meeting, discussing, and negotiating agreements on climate change. This article focuses on creativity and negotiation role models. Forrest (Woody) Mosten, Task Force Chair, and Jim Melamed, Mediate.com Board Chair, invite you to participate in five (5) open Forums seeking to further Online Mediation Training. See the Forum Schedule and Register! As an ongoing Mediate.com Premium Membership benefit, Mediate is now hosting, on a monthly basis, an ongoing series of live online conversations with top mediators and conflict resolvers from around the world. Here is detailed description of the first 9 live conversations. Working remotely during the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the need for organizations to demonstrate their emotional qualities. The process of mediation, the opening of how to meet the people, how to engage with them, how to listen to them, how to manage them, how to explore them, how to take them closer to the resolution and how to get to the settlement from the horse’s mouth. This piece on mediating workplace sexual harassment cases provides an overview of what the mediation process would entail, the advantages of mediating such cases, and a brief discussion about the Indian perspective as regards workplace sexual harassment. I remember standing by the wall with my brothers and crying while my father was beating my mother. This article looks at how to prevent violent conflicts, especially while quarantined. Electoral democracy has gone through a period of profound conflicts, yet each unique conflict points us toward potential solutions and more collaborative processes. Nina Meierding discusses her training on implicit bias, and what we can do to become "bias aware." I write this in the aftermath of yet another mediation in which the protagonists exhibited symptoms of having been seriously traumatized by the litigation process to which they had been exposed. Depression, suicidal thoughts, anger, loathing, destroyed relationships, large amounts of money spent with no discernible value. Are kindness and conversation still possible? What about the many other people who share a perspective with those folks and are not themselves violent? I am sitting in a room, negotiating a sale, and I’m thinking: Which is likely to be more favorable to me: put a figure on the table, or insist the Other does so first? Because democracy is open, it is vulnerable to demagogues and autocrats; yet because it is open, it is also resilient, able to learn and improve, and responsive to popular wisdom. If you’re good at selective conflict avoidance, you will have a greater sense of order and control in your life. “Never let a good crisis go to waste” – Alistair McIntosh 2020 was a tough year for many of us, from the pandemic to shutdowns to political chaos. Let's use the fresh start of the new year to set our sights on a more optimistic horizon.
Public Policy & Environmental Articles
April 23 Forum on the Global Growth of Mediation
Paul M. Lurie on Guided Mediation
Preparing the Next Generation of Professors of Environmental Studies
Mediate is Top Ranked Mediation Website
Trust and Rapport - ODR Style!
Reflection as a Manifestation of Recognition Beyond Relational Weakness and Self-Absorption
The 2020 Tax Conundrum: Questions Facing Couples Whose Divorce is Pending
20 Ways to Improve UNFCCC Meetings and Climate Change Negotiations
ADR & Activism Through Art - Maya Angelou and Frida Kahlo
Mediate.com Announces 5 Online Mediation Training Forums
Evolution of the Mediation Field: Monthly Conversation Series with Field Leaders
After Lockdown, Businesses will Need to be More Human Than Ever
Why Mediation Fails
Mediating Workplace Sexual Harassment: The Road Less Taken
Domestic Harmony For Better Future Of Our Children
How to Find Help From Domestic Violence
20 Proposals to Resolve Electoral Conflicts and Strengthen Democracy
Mediate.com Instructor Discusses Implicit Bias: We All Have It
Recognizing Trauma: Litigation and Politics are Harming Us
Conversation, Kindness, and Democracy
A Negotiation Innovation: An intelligent negotiation assistant
10 Actions We Can Take to Turn Adversarial, Autocratic, Power-Based Political Conflicts into Collaborative, Democratic, Interest-Based Social Problem Solving
How to AVOID Conflict Gracefully
Egalitarian Change – Our Roles and Responsibilites
Let’s Make 2021 the Year of Resolutions