1. Student Mediator Training

2. What is mediation?

3. Definition of Mediation
A process for resolving disputes in which another person helps the parties negotiate a settlement

4. What is mediation?
How does that differ from arbitration and negotiation?
When is it used?
When should it not be used?

5. FORMS OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION (Consider the degree of self-determination)
AVOIDANCE
NEGOTIATION
MEDIATION
ARBITRATION
LITIGATION

6. THE MEDIATOR’S ROLE Convener Educator Communication Facilitator
Translator
Questioner and Clarifier
Process Advisor
Angel of Realities
Catalyst
Responsible Detail Person

7. What is not the Mediator’s Role?
To be a detective
To be an arbitrator

8. TYPES OF MEDIATION How do the goals and mediator roles differ?
Facilitative
Evaluative
Transformational
How do the goals and mediator roles differ?

9. Suppose a party withdraws from a mediation.
Would that be a success or failure?
What might make it feel like a “success?” What outcomes might have occurred?

10. STEPS IN THE MEDIATION PROCESS
Mediator opening statement
Party opening statements
Exchange/negotiation
Caucuses
Closure/agreement

11. MEDIATOR OPENING The opening is critical It can set the stage
It can establish trust
Communicate concern
Provide a structure for discussing issues

12. MEDIATOR OPENING Welcome and introduction
Purpose of mediation; the mediator’s role
Logistics: timeframe, breaks, restrooms
Confidentiality explained
Agenda
Caucusing explained
Ground rules
Questions
Commitment to proceed

13. THE AGREEMENT It must be doable & durable.
Write a draft of the agreement immediately after the disputing parties have verbally agreed upon a solution.
Read the agreement out loud.
Use positive language.

14. Student Mediation Program at
Process
Co-Mediation
Confidentiality
But some information must be reported
Impartiality
Types of cases

15. What challenges face college mediation programs?

16. PREPARING FOR MEDIATION
1. Figure out the real interests — not the “positions” — and
reservation point for each side as well as you can. Privately review
these points with each side. If appropriate, keep reviewing these
points during the mediation. Stay alert for new data.
2. Through acquiring information and brainstorming, seek to
expand the pie so that each side might get as much as possible of
what it would like. Explore moving the reservation points of each.
3. Help the parties decide on fair principles to determine how to
decide the issues at hand.
4. Do you what you can to see that all parties come to see the
settlement — any — as the best possible one under the
circumstances

17. BARGAINING /DISPUTE MANAGEMENT METHODS
Distributive
Zero-Sum
Positional
Competitive
Integrated
Win/Win
“Interest Based”
Cooperative

18. The Distributive Bargaining Situation
Goals of one party are in fundamental,direct conflict to another party
Resources are fixed
and limited
Maximizing one’s own share of resources is the goal

19. PREPARING FOR DISTRIBUTIVE BARGAINING
I. Figure out your own interests and reservation point as well as you can. Keep reviewing these points while you negotiate.
2. Figure out the interests and reservation point of the Other (the other party or parties). Be alert to new data while you negotiate.
3. Seek to move the reservation point of the Other to widen the
bargaining range especially if there is a negative range. (This process is often begun by “sowing doubt.”) However, if necessary for a settlement that you must’ achieve, move your own reservation point.
4. Seek a settlement as close as possible to the reservation point of the Other so that you win the maximum profit.
5. Do you what you can to see that both you and the Other come to see this settlement as the best possible one under the circumstances.

20. Example
Larry, a business major, spent the summer in his uncle’s store. His uncle was so appreciative of all the work he did that he gave him a new computer. Larry decided to sell his old computer, which was only a year old, but the new computer was an upgrade. (You know how fast technology changes.) He could use the money to buy his textbooks. He put a sign up at school asking advertising the sale.

21. Example – P. 2
Larry had originally paid $799 for his old computer. He had seen used ones advertized for $585. His textbooks cost $535. He advertizes the computer for $585, but he wants to get at least enough money to pay for his textbook.
Minnie, is a math major. She needs a new computer, but after buying books, has only $450 left. She cannot afford the new computer she wants, so she decides to find a used one. She is going to start a part-time job in 3 weeks, but she isn’t working now. She answers Larry’s ad, hoping he will take less than the advertized price.

22. What Makes Integrative Negotiation Different?
Focus on commonalties rather than differences
Address needs and interests, not positions
Commit to meeting the needs of all involved parties
Exchange information and ideas
Invent options for mutual gain
Use objective criteria to set standards

23. Getting to Yes The Seven Elements of Negotiation
INTERESTS What do people really want?
OPTIONS What are possible agreements or bits of an agreement?
ALTERNATIVES What will I do if we do not agree?
LEGITIMACY What criteria will I use to persuade each of us that we are not being ripped off?

24. The Seven Elements of Negotiation (cont’d)
COMMUNICATION Am I ready to listen and talk effectively?
RELATIONSHIP Am I ready to deal with the relationship?
COMMITMENT What commitments should I seek or make?

25. Overview of the Integrative Bargaining Process
Create a free flow of information
Attempt to understand the other negotiator’s real needs and objectives
Emphasize the commonalties between the parties and minimize the differences
Search for solutions that meet the goals and objectives of both sides

26. Key Steps in the Integrative Bargaining Process
Identify and define the problem
Understand the problem fully
identify interests and needs on both sides
Generate alternative solutions
Evaluate and select among alternatives

27. PREPARING FOR INTEGRATIVE BARGAINING
1. Figure out your own interests and reservation point as well as you can. Keep reviewing these points while you negotiate.
2. Figure out the interests and reservation point of the Other. Be alert to new data while you negotiate.
3. Through judiciously shared information and brainstorming, seek to expand the pie so that each side may get as much as possible of what it would like. Explore moving the reservation points of each side.
4. Decide on fair principles to determine how to divide the pie.
5. Do you what you can to see that both you and the Other come to see this settlement as the best possible one under the circumstances.

28. Example
How would you approach the sale of Larry’s computer using an integrative style?

29. COMMUNICATION IN MEDIATION
Up to 85% of communication that passes between people is nonverbal.
The parties have the answer.
Bob Berlin
80/20 rule

30. How People Communicate
Use of language
Logical level (proposals, offers)
Pragmatic level (semantics, syntax, style)
Use of nonverbal communication
Making eye contact
Adjusting body position
Nonverbally encouraging or
discouraging what the other
says

31. Communication skills Active listening Skillful questioning
Paraphrasing
Reframing
Sending clear
messages

32. SKILLFUL QUESTIONING General – most open What’s on your mind?
What can you tell me about this situation?
What happened?
Opinion Seeking – open
What do you think would be fair?
What is most important to you?
What is your reaction to his/her proposal?
Fact Finding – somewhat open
Who needs to approve this?
When is the deadline?
Where, What, When, How?

33. SKILLFUL QUESTIONING Narrow Direct or Forced Choice – mostly closed
Did you tell him/her before it happened?
Will you be there before 5 o’clock?
Will you accept his/her version of the agreement w/o any changes?
Leading – closed
Isn’t it true that there is no alternative?
Didn’t you say that it would be done without fail by Tuesday?
Isn’t it a fact that s/he cannot go to another school?

34. How to Improve Communication
Listening: three major forms
Passive listening: Receiving the message while providing no feedback to the sender
Acknowledgment: Receivers nod their heads, maintain eye contact, or interject responses
Active listening: Receivers restate or paraphrase the sender’s message in their own language

35. Listening is Important and Powerful
• Good listening is helpful in and of itself--if you do nothing else in mediation
• Builds trust and rapport
• Deescalates/calms
• Creates clarity
• Listening is a precursor to problem-solving
• Feels like a “gift”--everyone wants to be heard

36. Demonstrate that you want to listen
Focus your eyes on the person who is talking.
Lean forward occasionally.
Respond with appropriate facial expression or body language
Encourage by asking supporting questions
Acknowledge what is said.

37. What’s “Active” About Active Listening?
• Requires work and concentration
• Two-way

38. Three ways of looking at Active Listening
– Set of skills (e.g. open-ended questions)
– Ability to focus/concentrate -- focused on all aspects of speaker’s communication, setting aside my own issues for the moment.
– Attitudes (ideally):
• I care what this person has to say
• I’m sincerely curious about how this person sees
things
• I’m willing to withhold judgment and accept this
person’s reactions, perceptions, feelings as
legitimate.

39. Active Listening Skills
• Get the Story
• Probe / Clarify Meanings
• Listen for Emotions
• Summarize
• Value Silence

40. PARAPHRASING Focuses on the experience of the speaker.
Important because:
Lets speaker know s/he has been heard and understood
Receiver makes sure s/he gets it right
Gives the speaker an opportunity to access the message and to modify it
Gives the other party to the mediation a second opportunity to hear and understand the message

41. REFRAMING
Redirecting, limiting, or shaping the perception of a message so that it is more constructive
Message may have negative dimension
May contains threat, insult or offensive language
Mediators choose a positive interpretation

42. REFRAMING-Examples: Reframing position to interest
Reframing a judgment to a problem
Reframing a blame to a need
Reframing a past to a future
Reframing an individual problem to a shared problem

43. SENDING CLEAR MESSAGES
Mediators need to make sure they are understood
Suggestions
Replace abstract concepts with
concrete descriptions
Send I messages instead of You.
Accept personal responsibility for
interpretation. Avoid placing blame
and putting others on the
defensive.

44. PRONOUN
FORM OF LANGUAGE
LIKELY RESULT
They
Stereotype
Prejudice
You
Accusation
Denial & counter attack
He/she
Demonization or Victimization
Hostility or disem-powerment It
Objectification
Problem solving

45. PRONOUN
FORM OF LANGUAGE
LIKELY RESULT I
Confession/
request
Taking responsibility/
introspection We
Collaboration
Commitment

46. Communication Reminders
When explaining our own actions, we usually point to external circumstances and conditions.
When explaining the actions of others, we usually point to personal weaknesses or character flaws.
Human beings continually make assumptions & inferences about others based on first impressions.

47. SOURCES OF POWER IN NEGOTIATION
* Positional power or the power of legitimate authority
• Rewards
• Sanctions
• Force
• Expertise
• Information
• An elegant solution
• Commitment
• Charisma — referent authority — moral authority
• BATNA — the best alternative to a negotiated agreement
• Relationship — power gained or power lost

48. Impasse What are some indications that parties are stuck?
What are some reasons
that settlements stall?
What tactics can you use when the parties are stuck?

49. Role reversal
Negotiators understand the other party’s positions by actively arguing these positions until the other party is convinced that he or she is understood
Negotiators realize that increasing understanding does not necessarily lead to easy resolution of the conflict

50. EMOTIONS
Expressing strong feelings may be an essential part of the process
Guidelines
When one party is venting, pay attention to the parties. It may be counterproductive
There is a difference between venting and personal attacks.
If necessary, ask the speaker to stop and reformulate the statement.

51. EMOTIONS (continued)
When emotions are not being expressed, consider using probing questions.
If feelings are not revealed in the joint session, they may be in caucus.
Inject feeling issues into the mediation with reality-testing questions.

52. MODEL STANDARDS OF CONDUCT FOR MEDIATORS
Self-Determination
Impartiality
Conflicts of Interest
Competence
Confidentiality
Quality of Process
Advertising and Solicitation
Fees
Obligation to the Mediation Process

53. CHECKLIST FOR A GOOD RESOLUTION
Is the resolution specific enough? Does it tell:
When? Where? How? Who?
Is the resolution balanced?
Can both disputants really do what they promised?
Will the resolution solve the problem?

55. Mission
Mediators Beyond Borders brings together experienced mediators to volunteer their skills world-wide, in collaboration with local, indigenous and global partners, to improve conflict resolution capacity and support alternative approaches to expressing, negotiating and resolving interpersonal, political, economic, social, ethnic and religious differences.

56. The Liberian Initiative Pittsburgh Somali Refugee Project
Current Projects
The Liberian Initiative
Pittsburgh Somali Refugee Project
Hurricane Katrina Project
Middle East Peace Initiatives
The Zimbabwe Initiative

57. University Chapters

58. Mediation Conference and Tournament
Drake Law School in Des Moines, IA on November 5-6, 2010
Brenau University Mock Mediation Tournament, October 1 and 2, 2010