If you're in Europe this June, swing by the transformative mediation conference organized by Quadra.  More information available here.

I have used the expression “the straw that broke the camel’s back” or a similar idiom when referring to an incident that pushes an ongoing situation too far across a line of tolerance. I didn’t know the derivation of this particular expression and when I looked it up I found the meaning is consistent with this same notion.

According to Wikipedia, the straw that broke the camel’s back is…

In this age of instant communication and instant gratification sexting has become all too common for those in love. Teenagers are no different, while many teens openly admit that they know it's wrong to send these sexual photos, many feel the odds of getting caught are…

In this episode of the Conflict Specialists Show, Dave Hilton interviews Dan Rainey- Chief of Staff of the National Mediation Board. This was the debut episode of the show from October 2012.

Some of the topics in today's episode:

• The National Mediation Board (NMB)
• Online Dispute Resolution…

Impasse Is A Fallacy…

Impasse Is A Fallacy

 

Guest writer Lee Jay Berman is a professional mediator and President of…

Michelle Zaremba, coordinator of the Dayton Mediation Center, believes that her center's commitment to the transformative approach is central to their success.  My latest blog post, which you can see here, includes comments form Michelle, as well as her presentation to the City Commissioners of Dayton.

Join us as our next guest, Giuseppe Leone, discusses Helping Mediators Around the World Practice and Improve Their Skills via Skype. 

The…

Forgive me. I apologize. I was an idiot. You didn’t deserve what I said. I was so wrong. I didn’t mean it. You are a saint for putting up with me. Will you please forgive me? In whatever form requests for forgiveness take, it is not incumbent upon the receiver to forgive. For some reason many people think they ‘should’ forgive or at least say they do. It’s just not always that straightforward.

When it comes to interpersonal conflict, we all have our own range of thresholds – what is…

To all of the mediators who believe in transparency, take a look at this short clip and let me know if being transparent is always good.  Enjoy  :)

Appddiction Studio’s Stop Bullies district wide smartphone app empowers bystanders to capture bully events as they occur and report them to school administrators in real time. School administrators can then begin to investigate…

Cinnie Noble- When considering that one response to being provoked is to freeze, this week’s blog encourages thinking about what that means and what to do about it. So, what does freezing mean in the context of conflict? It may…

Hi all -

Passing on this announcement by Susan Raines, introducing her new blog. Worth keeping an eye on!

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Hello Friends and Colleagues,



I am writing because we share an interest in mediation, negotiation and conflict management.…

Did you know the UN has a site dedicated to peacemaking?

They also have a mediation response team always on standby ready and able to help when called upon.  

From the site:

STANDBY TEAM

Established in 2008, the Standby Team is a group of full-time mediation experts that can be rapidly deployed to provide technical advice to United Nation’s officials and others leading mediation and conflict…

It may seem a strange coupling – threat or treat – when it comes to talking about conflict. Threat is, of course, more straightforward, since we commonly sense some type of challenge when we are in conflict. That is, if we perceive that something undermines our values, beliefs, or needs, we may experience that as a threat to us and our identities. Sensing any sort of threat when we are in conflict causes feelings of insecurity and vulnerability. This may, for instance, be due to…

“The National Association of Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE) is proud to be a founding partner of the National Youth Violence Prevention Campaign. The goal of this campaign is to raise awareness and to educate students, teachers, school…

Revisiting "Win-Win" Negotiation: It's Still a Losing Game…

It's been a while since a story on CNN took my breath away, but this one did just that.

No matter what your take on transformative mediation, this story demonstrates how conflict presents participants with critical opportunities for decisionmaking, decisions of a sharper nature than day-to-day life usually presents us with. And, with these moments of…

When I first started to practice law some years ago I heard the expression and then, observed the act of “posturing” - as referred to lawyers who became positional during negotiations or court proceedings. As I observed it, posturing is typically demonstrated through body language, mannerisms, and words. These came together, it seemed, in an adversarial effort to ‘win’ and assert a position about a legal dispute. While posturing may be considered strategic and just part of the game of…