Practice Principles
Template for Selecting and Organizing
Your ADR Practices
Is your conflict resolution practice
accessible to parties with special needs?
prepared for challenging behaviors?
transparent with your clients?
If you are wishing for clearer answers to these questions, you are not alone. A survey of several hundred private mediators across the United States revealed that 85.3% do not address all parties the same way and 65% would like clearer policies.
This webinar, template, and optional live training will help you solidify your formal and informal techniques into a cohesive framework that ensures you are prepared and demonstrably consistent in your practice.
There is no one prescribed ‘best’ way to mediate. I’ll never forget the day I trained Chicago mediators, who insisted on always caucusing to prevent power imbalances. This was a shock from me after having just delivered a training in Maryland two days before – there, they thought it was practically never appropriate to caucus.
Those two days drove it home that a uniform set of practice standards might not be possible for the field of ADR. But because we share the values of self-determination and impartiality, we all recognize the importance of consistency within our own practice. Practice Principles was designed to help ADR practitioners have that personal consistency.
Practice Principles is not your typical dispute resolution training because it embraces YOUR style and leaves you with a customized template for your practice. This webinar training – with optional live training and follow-up calls – will empower you to:
- Ensure consistency across parties
- Prove your impartiality to your clients
- Feel comfortable during challenging situations
- Be prepared for emergencies
- Become accessible to party needs
- Demonstrate professionalism from consultations to follow-up
We walk you through the different options so you can choose what practices and elements match your style. It’s up to you which features are formal or informal, flexible across parties and situations or uniform standards. You leave with a template customized for your practice.
The Practice Principles webinar, template, and live training is based on:
- A recent proprietary study of hundreds of ADR practitioners from 47 states, with representation across family, court-connected, workplace, business, and community practice areas and with over 10% of respondents mediating 100-1000 cases per year
- Trainings to practitioners in twelve states, focused on accessibility, challenging behaviors, and transparent practices
- Electronic surveys of national and NYC-based mediation communities
- Dozens of live focus meetings with ADR practitioners and stakeholders
- Literature reviews of both academic and practical sources including peer-reviewed publications, books, and training manuals
- Three years of research and development including the design, distribution, and assessment of pilot instruments
Option 1:
Practice Principles Webinar and Template
Tuesday April 26th, 2016 from 1PM to 2:30PM
$125 ($99 with early registration)
(all major credit card accepted, no account necessary)
*Replays available for those who miss the live event
* If you can play a YouTube video you can watch our webinar – it’s the same technology
*Pre-Webinar Action Guide delivered Monday, April 25th
*Notes and template sent after webinar
Option 2:
Practice Principles Live Training and Follow-Up
Saturday April 30th, 2016 from 1PM to 6PM
Includes Webinar and Template
56th St and Madison Ave in New York City
$799 ($699 with early registration; includes webinar and template)
(all major credit card accepted, no account necessary)
*Limited to 9 participants
*Includes April 26th Webinar and Template
*Includes Certificate
*Includes three one-on-one 30 minute follow-up calls scheduled at your preferred pacing over the following 6 months
Practice Principles
Webinar
This webinar teaches you the framework for organizing your practice principles, and presents the options you might consider as you develop your own unique principles. After the webinar, you can use the accompanying Practice Principles Template to organize your practice principles, formally or informally.
You will answer the following questions
- What principles are formal versus which are informal?
- What practices are uniform versus which are customized to the needs of the party?
- What do you share with parties, and how do you share it in your marketing, consultations, and process?
- How do you operationalize core values of impartiality, confidentiality, self-determination, safety, and quality?
- How do you adjust the process based on being accessible to a party’s needs?
- How do you adjust the process based on being adaptive to challenging behavior?
Practice Principles Template
Our copyrighted template will walk you through your choices so you can arrive at your practice principles. It includes:
- Style Elements
- Techniques
- Emergency Plans
- Capacity Assessments
- Disruptive Behaviors
- Accessibility
- Demonstrating Impartiality
- Charting Your Process
- Communication with Parties
Practice Principles
Live Training Agenda
The live training is designed to provide intensive support in completing the Practice Principles Template for your particular ADR practice. The five-hour session is limited to no more than nine participants. We will build off the earlier webinar, and you will have had time to review the template before the session. After the training, we will schedule three one-on-one video or phone calls to discuss any questions or support needed over the next six months.
Defining Your Style
Document your ADR style
- Style Elements – review different styles and determine the features of your unique style
- Techniques – review techniques and identify which you use and when
Addressing Challenging Situations
Document how you handle emergencies, capacity issues, and disruptions
- Emergencies – plan for emergencies such as medical issues or violence
- Capacity Assessments – identify when parties cannot participate in mediation
- Disruptive Behaviors – develop norms for handling disruptions
Becoming Accessible to All Parties
Document how you ensure your practice is accessible and appealing to parties with diverse needs
- Anticipating Party Needs – outline how your practice anticipates party needs
- Disability Accommodations – describe ways you support parties with disabilities and other needs
Demonstrating Impartiality
Document how you prove your impartiality
- Pre-Session – describe how your impartiality is clear from materials and consultations
- During Session – identify tactics you use during sessions to protect impartiality
- Challenges – outline process for responding to questions of your impartiality
Charting Your Process
Document which elements are flexible versus which are uniform throughout your process including consultations, intake, sessions, and follow-up
Communicating Your Process
Document how you will communicate your process in marketing efforts and with clients
- Statements – organize opening statements and practitioner talking points
- Paperwork – formalize some of your principles and practices into paperwork
- Marketing – incorporate your principles and practices in marketing materials
About the Trainer
Dan Berstein is a mediator and trainer known for his work in mental health and mediation. He brings his expertise in operations management, research, and systems development to the world of conflict resolution. Dan is passionate about advancing the field of conflict resolution by empowering practitioners to develop their own personal consistent practices amidst the variation amongst ADR professionals.
An expert in accessibility, transparency, and challenging behaviors, Dan has extensive experience helping mediators reflect on their practices, operationalize their craft, prepare for challenging situations, and prove impartiality to their clients. Prior to launching the Practice Principles framework, Dan collaborated with ADR stakeholders across the country to conduct research projects and pioneer tools that help mediators strengthen their practices.
Dan holds a degree in Operations and Information Management from the Wharton School, where he was a Wharton Research Scholar and an analyst at the Wharton Risk Center. He has many years of experience developing systems to help fields organize their practices - whether it was aggregating hurricane and terrorism insurance perspectives at the Wharton Risk Center, identifying and manualizing best practices at NYC mood disorder support groups, or conducting a comprehensive literature review of mental health capacity and risk assessments at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Dan has spent the past five years applying his passion for systems to helping ADR practitioners select and implement their best practices in accordance with their personal values.
To register:
Option 1:
Practice Principles Webinar and Template
Tuesday April 26th, 2016 from 1PM to 2:30PM
$125 ($99 with early registration)
(all major credit card accepted, no account necessary)
*Replays available for those who miss the live event
* If you can play a YouTube video you can watch our webinar – it’s the same technology
*Pre-Webinar Action Guide delivered Monday, April 25th
*Notes and template sent after webinar
Option 2:
Practice Principles Live Training and Follow-Up
Saturday April 30th, 2016 from 1PM to 6PM
Includes Webinar and Template
56th St and Madison Ave in New York City
$799 ($699 with early registration; includes webinar and template)
(all major credit card accepted, no account necessary)
*Limited to 9 participants
*Includes April 26th Webinar and Template
*Includes Certificate
*Includes three one-on-one 30 minute follow-up calls scheduled at your preferred pacing over the following 6 months
