On September 13, 2022 a group of mediators participated in a 1-hour Free Zoom webinar presented by Giuseppe Leone (yours truly) titled “Online Mediation - How to Create Quickly a Good Rapport with the Parties”.

3 KEY TAKEAWAYS OF THIS WEBINAR

1 - In online mediation, what matters most are the mediator’s skills, experience, and personal qualities. That’s because learning the “online” part takes only a few hours or days of practice. On the contrary, becoming an effective mediator takes several years of training, experience, and self-reflection.

2 - Once a mediator clearly understands the parties’ expectations, needs, and feelings when they participate in an online mediation - especially for the first time - it’s much easier to figure out what to do, when, and how in order to create a good rapport with them.

3 - Two of the above parties’ most crucial expectations are not only that they feel “in good hands” (i.e. their online mediator knows what he or she is doing); but also that they believe that their mediator truly cares about them.

During the webinar we discussed several techniques useful in 2 different scenarios that require creating quickly a good rapport with the parties. 

SCENARIO 1: When a mediator is scheduled to mediate online a case with two or more parties (and their legal or union representatives), who have already agreed to pay for his or her  mediation services. 

SCENARIO 2: When two people (potential clients), who have never participated in mediation before, book a 30-min Free mediation consultation via Zoom on a mediator’s website. In just 30 minutes, that mediator needs

>  To connect, create a good rapport with those potential clients

>  To explain to them clearly the benefits of mediation (compared to their other options: i.e. assisted negotiation, arbitration or trial)

> To  convince them to hire him or her as their mediator. 

Not an easy task. Therefore, mediators who participated in my webinar also learned that, if they want, they can sharpen their rapport-creating skills by participating with other mediators in Free 1-hour online mediation ...

To watch the 1-hour video recording of that webinar, click here

Giuseppe Leone