I just finished my first day at the Association for Conflict Resolution's national conference. Fortunately for me, the conference is being held in Austin, Texas, a pretty convenient drive from my home city of Dallas. After a non-eventful three hour drive down I-35 this morning, I checked into the conference hotel and ran into the president of the Dallas Chapter of ACR. We reviewed last night's chapter meeting, which was our annual civil judicial panel. Five local judges were on last night's panel discussing the world of mediation. It was a good night.
Today's pre-conference institute was outstanding. Dr. Larry Fong (from Canada, eh—he actually said "eh" several times) delivered an outstanding presentation about thinking and asking questions. One might think that thinking and asking questions ought to be fairly routine concepts for folks to grasp, particularly those in the conflict resolution field.
But most of us know folks who are not clear thinkers. And most of us know folks who may find it difficult to ask the right question at the right time without derailing communications. Dr. Fong engaged us in an exercise on developing hypotheses and questions for use in mediation. I came away from the presentation with a reminder of how critical it is for the mediator to be prepared and how important it is for the mediator to enter the mediation free of bias, that is, mediators ought to reflect upon their own role in the "system" of the mediation, and continually ask, "What am I doing to direct this process? What assumptions am I making about the participants?"
Mediators need to work prior to and during the mediation. Be on the look out for mediators who do not work hard.
I am looking forward to tomorrow. A number of fascinating seminars are being offered, and the day will start with a keynote address from Lee Hamilton, former congressman from Indiana and a member of the 9/11 Commission. Mr. Hamilton will speak on the future of American involvement in Iraq and the Middle East.
No comments:
Post a Comment