In their book, Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most, Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen, say that parties in disagreement must start the discussion with the “third story”. They say “think like a mediator.” The vision that Marilynn Hall and I share for Partners in Mediation is to help people get through conflict situations in a manner that also develops their ability to “think like a mediator”. Like the coaching we do, when our work is done, we’re no longer needed again.
The approach we use is called transformative mediation because its goal is not as focused on resolution as it is on transforming conflict into empowerment and recognition. We believe that mediation should increase the individual’s sense of their own capacity to handle life’s problems and their understanding of situations from the views of the other. Transformative mediation is most essential and effective when the parties involved will continue to have some nature of relationship. This is another reason why we also believe this work changes the world one person at a time.
We invite you to join us for a webinar where will tell you more about transformative mediation and the services we provide. Our intent is to introduce you to Partners in Mediation and make you aware of how we want to be of service to people needing some help with those “difficult conversations”. Please follow the link below to register. The webinar is free so we must limit attendees to thirty. Thanks for your interest!
Click Here to Sign up for Webinar – November 11, 2009 12:00 pm Pacific
