INFORMATION ACCUMULATED THROUGH DECADES OF EXPERIENCE

Reading Time: 2 minutes Back in June of 2002, G8 meetings set to commence in Calgary were jeopardized when security arrangements ran up against lobbying taxi drivers, outraged over proposed changes to taxi licencing. The drivers picketed on the City Hall steps, right...

Reading Time: < 1 minute Know that all conflict exists in our stories of the past about what happened to us and what we made it mean. To drag these stories into the present moment only causes us to re-live them. Remind those caught in conflict of this fact. Step...

Reading Time: 5 minutes The role of a mediator is often misunderstood. Similarly, the roles of counsel, parties and other advisors may be unclear. Too often mediation is viewed as something that is being done to the participants rather than done with them. This can...

Reading Time: 5 minutes “Breath on a mirror. If it fogs over, you have conflict.” This phrase signifies an undeniable fact of life: that conflict is inevitable. As with any challenge, it is useful to consider the nature of conflict in order to deal with it...

Reading Time: 2 minutes I get asked this all the time when negotiations go south. “What’s the point of mediating when we already know everything they have to say?” My answer is simple: Mediation involves a much bigger box than litigation. Here are three reasons why:...

Reading Time: 2 minutes Have you ever wondered what it is about certain conversations that make them so difficult to have? Even when a skilled negotiator is present there are some situations that just seem unworkable. What if I told you that part of the answer is...

Reading Time: 2 minutes The Sufi Poet Rumi once said: “Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing there is a field. I’ll meet you there.” Conflicts can be said to begin in our stories of the past and our attachment to our positions as the best and sometimes only...