From the monthly archives:

August 2006

8 tips for better brainstormingBlogger and innovative thinker Matt Homann, who seems to have a nose for articles on brainstorming, has found another good one, this one via BusinessWeek Online.

Eight Tips for Better Brainstorming” provide plenty of common sense advice for brainstormers and serve as a reminder why a good facilitator can be your best guarantee of a productive brainstorming session.

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Meditations on mindfulnessThe latest edition of the Complete Lawyer, an online magazine that examines “best practices in personal and professional development that impact every lawyer’s success and satisfaction”, asks, “Are You a Healthy Lawyer?

Among the excellent collection of essays that explore this question is an interview with ADR pioneer Leonard Riskin, “How Meditation, Yes Meditation, Can Improve Your Performance And Enhance Your Satisfaction With Work“.

Mediators and negotiators will want to see an earlier edition of the Complete Lawyer, which focuses on “Resolving Conflict“, and includes articles like “How to Master Crucial Conversations” and “The Human Side of Negotiation“.

(My deepest appreciation to my friend Stephanie West Allen, author of the weblog Idealawg, for introducing me to the Complete Lawyer and for so kindly sharing with me Len Riskin’s interview. )

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Australia launches mediator accreditation programAccording to the most recent edition (in PDF) of the Bond University Dispute Resolution Centre newsletter, Australia has taken a major step forward toward establishment of a national system of mediator accreditation as the result of the system’s endorsement by delegates at Australia’s National Mediation Conference in May 2006.

The system, which at this time features but one level of mediator accreditation and for general practice only, would ultimately result in a national register of accredited mediators. The system may be adapted later on to create accreditation for specializations within mediation practice, such as family, workplace, and personal injury, as well as advanced practitioner levels. Participation by mediators in this system would be voluntary and not compulsory.

Further information about Australia’s National Accreditation Standards for Mediators may be found at the National Mediation Conference web site. The final draft of the report to the Conference is available for downloading in Word format.

Unfortunately here in the U.S., momentum has stalled on the mediation certification project which the Association for Conflict Resolution undertook in conjunction with the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution. The two groups worked together to establish a Mediator Certification Task Force which recommended the creation of a Mediator Certification Program, and in early 2005 a Mediator Certification Feasibility Study (PDF) was conducted to invite input from stakeholders.

The word on the street now is that the ACR has quietly decided to leave this project on hold and commit its resources elsewhere, leaving many mediators feeling frustrated and angry that a project launched with so much fanfare has now been placed on standby.

It’s disappointing that while Australia moves forward into the future with national accreditation for mediators, we continue to lag behind here. But in the meantime we can watch and learn from Australia’s experience as the mediation community down under prepares for the system’s official launch.

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100 angriest U.S. citiesAmerican mediators looking to relocate where need for their services will be greatest will want to read “How Angry Is Your City?“, an article by Men’s Health magazine that ranks the 100 angriest U.S. cities.

Factors considered include percentage of men with high blood pressure, rates of aggravated assaults, statistics on workplace violence, and road rage.

My own city, Boston, renowned for its hot-tempered motorists, ranked far lower than I anticipated, at #39 (due perhaps to the high percentage of practicing mediators within city limits).

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Find out your innovation styleThose of you on the lookout for innovation tools and trends will want to pay a visit to the Innovation Weblog.

This blog, in a post titled “New tool for innovation team design: Innovation Styles Online“, links to a free Innovation Styles Profiler (available through 10/31/06) at Innovation Styles Online which allows you to discover your own personal innovation style.

I’m an explorer. What are you?

(Hat tip to Dennis Kennedy for the link.)

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Personal branding: how mediators can use blogs to define their identity online

August 24, 2006 Tech and Business Tips for Mediators

This post constitutes Part 3 of a series of essays on blogging for the conflict resolution community.
The series began earlier this summer with Part 1, “Getting to yes with alternative dispute resolution blogs: time for ADR practitioners to join the conversation” and continued with Part 2, “Getting in touch with the whole world through blogging“.
In [...]

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Association for Conflict Resolution quarterly magazine ACResolution publishes its first article on blogging

August 24, 2006 Blogs and Bloggers

My eagerly awaited copy of the Summer 2006 edition of the Association for Conflict Resolution’s quarterly magazine, ACResolution, arrived just the other day.
It was eagerly awaited primarily because it contains ACResolution’s first-ever article on blogging, which, I am proud to say, I wrote.
This article, “Three Reasons ADR Professionals Should Be Blogging”, while unfortunately not available [...]

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Corkscrews yes, whipped cream no: making sense of air travel's new carry-on luggage restrictions

August 24, 2006 Random Musings

Travel advisory: this post has nothing to do with mediation, negotiation, or the practice of law. It concerns itself solely with the peculiarities of the latest U.S. Transportation Security Administration regulations regarding carry-on items–which I got to see first hand during business travel earlier this week.
Mediators are keen observers of human behavior. We know from [...]

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Imminent danger? The Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th centuries

August 24, 2006 Books for Mediators and Negotiators

I’ve been reflecting a lot lately on the deterioration of public discourse and the suppression of dissent that has become so commonplace here in the U.S. It’s hard not to, given how prevalent its symptoms are.
I was therefore intrigued (and amused) to discover via the Law & Society Blog a list of the Ten Most [...]

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Free review copies of Kraybill Conflict Style Inventory now available to trainers

August 17, 2006 Conflict Resolution

Riverhouse ePress, founded by Ron Kraybill, a trainer and advisor in conflict transformation and peacebuilding since 1979 and an Associate Professor of Conflict Studies at Eastern Mennonite University, announces the release of free review copies of Style Matters: The Kraybill Conflict Style Inventory.
The inventory is a recently developed five-styles-of-conflict inventory used by business managers, organizational [...]

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