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7 days-5 courses-3 countries-2 continents-1 tired James

                                 

Writing this having just returned from Hong Kong. Been a full on week and a bit, starting in Vienna last Sunday at the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), doing 2 days of conflict management training for internal staff.  Great venue at the Hofburg Palace, so not a bad place to work and really enjoyed workingwith the group. Back to London briefly before flying to Hong Kong on Wednesday. Did quite a few different things while out there including:

• Hong Kong CEDR mediator's reunion looking at 'Dealing with Difficult People in mediation'. We looked at the following: Angry, Nasty, Upset, Postional Lawyer, Someone not engage in the process
• 2 days Enhanced Negotiation skills Training for one of the major law firms
• Mediation training for the Hong Kong Judiciary- This was held at the High Court and went over two evenings. Hong Kong is about to launch new civil justice reforms similar to those in the Uk in 1999, and mediation is one of the things which has been a focus. Therefore we were speaking to Judges about the process and issues around suitability, timing and convincing parties. Lord Woolf happened to be in Hong Kong sitting on the Court of Appeal and kindly agreed to speak on the 2nd eveining. My colleague, Danny and I then had dinner with him before I jumped on the plane back to London.

Trip to Washington now cancelled, so have a week at home before off to Brussels and 2nd leg of Kiev. project. I will keep you posted.

Robo-trainers in Ukraine

Just got back from 5 days training in Kiev, Ukraine with 2 colleagues, Miryana Nesic and Graham Massie.  This is part of a 3-stage project for IFC Ukraine's Corporate Governance Initiative.

• The first stage we have just completed was a 4-day foundation skills training course.
•  We are returning at the end of November to run advanced training, including assessment to CEDR accreditation( the first time we would have assessed not in English!!!- see post in November for more information).
•  In February we are returning for a train-the-trainer course and a second foundation course.

The foundation course was covered mainly on basic mediator skills, but given the corporate governance focus of the project, we designed a section of the course to focus on particular issues raised in CG disputes. The whole of this course was delivered via simultaneous translation, which meant we felt like robo-trainers with lapel microphones for the three of us, as well the headphone box clipped to our belts so we could get the english translation when the participants answered one of our questions. Took a bit of getting used to changing from microphone to headphone constantly, but we got it going pretty smoothly!!

Dealing with the Unexpected

  In life as in mediation, you often have to deal  with the unexpected, and it is this uncertainn nature of life that has led to such a long gap since my last entry in May.

 Following my trip to South Africa for the Tokiso conference, I returned to India at the beginning of June, to deliver a train-the-trainer course for mediation.  What I didn't expect to get out of the trip was Pneumonia!!!!!!. Within 3 days of returning to London, I was in Hospital and in a pretty bad way!! What followed was a 3 weeks stint in a room overlooking the Thames ( not a bad place to be if you have to be in hospital) and then another 6 weeks convalescing at home!!!

I am now fully recovered and back into full swing with recent work in Barcelona and Ireland training mediators, Durban and Johannesburg, South Africa training advocates in mediation and Croatia for a workshop on Business engagement in mediation.

So where to next?? Well we are just about to start work on a 4 month project in Kiev, Ukraine and my next entry will tell you all about the first round of that project

 

Always Learning- Lessons from Labour Mediation in South Africa

Last weekend I was invited to Johannesburg to give the key note speech at the annual mediators conference of Tokiso Dispute Settlement, which is the biggest private dispute resolution organisation in South Africa.It has specialized for many years in labour mediiaon and arbitration and is now branching out into commercial mediaiotn, with CEDR having traned all thier commercial panellists.

After giving my speech on 'The reasons countries are turning to mediation' (see CEDR website for article summarising this speech), I was able to sit back and enjoy the conference as a participant.

 What struck me from listening to pre-dominantly labour mediators, was both the similarity in the processes we all adopt as mediators as well as the nuances of the application of the process and the skills between different mediation 'disciplines'. Of particular interest to me was the constant battle these mediators have to establish and maintain their neutrality in the face of often quite hostile parties who challenge this neutrality often.

Other dilemmas that  were explored were, denial of authority to relay information to the other side after it was given, mediator accused of misrepresentation and the age-old favorite of having a cross-over of offers.

It was a great opportunity to sit back and learn from mediator s who have been practicing in their specialized field for many years!!!

India Week Two

Sitting at home with a cup of coffee desperately trying to stay awake after arriving back from Delhi at 6.45am this morning. The last week was again full of challenge and interest for the team. This group was particularly enthusiastic about our participative approach, which required us to manage that enthusiasm in a constructive way to ensure that we still got through all of the programme. As always we were flexible with this at times took more time to demonstrate key skills which the group were having difficulty immediately grasping.

The coaching day on the last day again really allowed the group to see a mediation all the way through from start to finish and allowed as to work intensively with them. it was also great fun with lots of laughs at things that were happening.

Thats it for me for India until June when I go back to do a Train the trainers course for Judges and mediators. 

Next trip will be in relation to my visit to Johannesburg for the Tokiso Conference, who have just started a commercial mediation subsidiary and who CEDR are working with closely. More later.......

India week one

Writing this on Sunday after delivering a four day foundation skills course to 30 participants here in Delhi. Training that many was quite a challenge for the three of us especially trying to remember that many names which aren't familiar to us!!!!! The International Centre for ADR (ICADR), which hosted the training is an impressive building from the outside and the participants were mainly senior lawyers with a few other professions as well as a retired judge.

One of the issues which come up here as it did in Pakistan, is how you encourage mediation in a jurisdiction that has no costs sanction at all, and relatively low costs. Therefore defendants have no incentive to settle, rather it encourages them to delay and therefore not to settle.

Out side of work, one of the funniest moments came at the hotel when we were having a drink reviewing the day on Friday , when this woman approached us and very deadpan said " I am the hotel tarot reader, if you want to know your future I am at the desk in the Lobby" she then turned around and walked away. All of us were silent for about 5 seconds processing what we had just heard and then all burst out laughing.......it had been a long day and that just rounded it off nicely!!!!

Had a day off today and was going to go to Agra and the Taj today but would have had to get up at 5am so gave it a miss. Did have a look around old Delhi and now going down to have a swim. Another 4 day course starting tomorrow.

2 weeks in India

Just writing this entry before the taxi arrives to take me to Heathrow. I am leaving today with 2 colleagues for 2 weeks in Delhi to deliver 2 courses in foundation mediation skills training. It is part of a wider project which includes us going back out for an advanced course next month which included assessment for CEDR accreditation. There is also a train the trainer schedule for June sometime.

Parallel to the training work stream is business plan consultancy for ICADR. This work stream is being run by Karl Mackie, CEDR's Chief executive and Graham Massie, a fellow CEDR Director.Time frames for both work stream are tight and must be delivered by June.

Thats all I have time for right now. Next post from Delhi. Never been to India before so looking forward to exploring the Indian culture as well.

James

This phase of the Pakistan Project finished..Dubai here I come!

Writing this at hotel after finishing the peer practice session with mediators and before I leave to go to the airport to fly out at 10.30 to Dubai for the weekend.

Had a really interesting session with the mediators at KCDR today discussing a number of the issues which are coming up in their mediations and how they might be dealt with by them. One issue in particular we worked through in some detail is parties wanting to adjourn mediations, resulting in the mediation taking place over a number of sessions. The group came up with quite a few ideas about how to address this, which the mediators and the centre will now move forward.

Better go and catch my plane and so ends this trip to Pakistan. it has been great fun and as always I have learnt so much myself about mediation, people and life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

James

Mediator Skills course completed and 32 assessments done!!

The course has just finished after the team meeting to review all 32 assessments completed over the course of the last 2 days ( 2 assessments per participant). It has been a very busy couple of days but everyone has finished the course with smiles on their faces and the inevitable group photos and exchanges of business cards.

Heather, Ronald and Danny left this evening to go back to the UK leaving me all by myself to do a peer practice session tomorrow with the CEDR accredited mediators from last year, who are already mediating at the Centre.

Last day tomorrow and then a weekend off in Dubai!

Coaching day is always satisfying

Ronald Bradbeer joined us yesterday and now the team is complete for us to coach and assess the participants over the next 3 days.

Today was the coaching day, when all the participants work in the same group all day mediating one case from opening to concluding. They all got to be mediator once throughout the day and one of the faculty team is with them the whole time, coaching them actively during the sessions and giving them private feedback at the end of their session.

It was so much fun working this actively with the group and we all felt at the end of the day that the participants had learnt a great deal today and developed their practise. We are in good shape going into the assessment days tomorrow and Wednesday!!!!!