1. Mediation Consultants: A Road Map for Conflict Resolution
Realize Communications
Principal: Mark Collins

2. Mediation: An Introduction
- Conflict is Inevitable - Conflict Can Be Managed - Conflict Can Be in Organizations,
But Ultimately it is a “Relationship” Issue

3. Mediation Consultants: Fundamentals
- Process: Road Map, Roles, Responsibilities
-Patience: Establishment of a New “Time” Reality
- Personnel: Address Bias, Perspective and Emotion

4. Mediation Consultants: Mark Collins
- Professional Experience: Human Resources, Regulatory Affairs, Labor Relations
Licensed Attorney: Inactive Status
Various Speaking/Leadership Activities in the Food Industry
Certificate: Center for Conflict Resolution

5. Negotiation Primer, Part 1
- Negotiation: the process whereby interested parties resolve disputes, agree upon courses of action, bargain for individual or collective bargaining, and/or attempt to craft outcomes which serve their mutual interests. True or False
Negotiating means getting the best of your opponent.
True or False
Negotiation: the art of persuading your opponent to take the nice shiny copper penny and give you the wrinkled old paper money. True or False
Negotiation: resolving of disagreements, the reaching of agreement through discussion and compromise. True or False

6. Negotiation Primer, Part 2
- Negotiation: the process between two or more parties (each with its own aims, needs, and viewpoints) seeking to discover a common ground and reach an agreement to settle a matter of mutual concern or resolve a conflict. True or False
Negotiation: the tackling of a hazard or problem.
True or False
Negotiation: one or more meetings at which attempts are made to reach agreement through discussion and compromise. True or False
Negotiation: An interactive process between two or more parties seeking to find common ground on an issue or issues of mutual interest or dispute where the involved parties seek to make or find a mutually acceptable agreement that will be honored by all the parties concerned. True or False

7. Negotiation Primer

8. Mediation Agreement Documentation, Documentation, Documentation
A Mediator’s Objective is to Facilitate a Process
A Mediator Works on Behalf of Both Parties
Mediation Consultants Cannot Provide Legal Advice
A Mediator Must Remain Impartial
All Parties Have an Obligation to Discuss Real or Perceived Biases on the Part of the Mediator

9. Mediation Agreement
Primary Responsibility for Resolution Rests on the Parties, not the Mediator
A Mediator Must Disclose Costs and Obligations of the Parties
A Mediator Must Disclose a Schedule of Activities and Provide Reasonable Notice of Modifications
All Parties Should Commit to Working Towards an Agreement

10. Mediation Agreement
Key: Any Party May Withdraw or Suspend the Mediation Proceedings at any Time
The Mediator May Suspend Proceedings for the Following Reasons:
1. if the Mediator feels that the mediation will lead to an unreasonable result (including the incapacity of a participating party),
2. if the Mediator feels that an impasse has been reached,
3. if the Mediator determines that he can no longer effectively perform the facilitation role or
4. if the Mediator feels one or more of the parties are not acting in good faith.

11. Confidentiality - All parties are subject to confidentiality protocol.
- Parties shall not divulge information gained through this mediation to third parties.
- The Parties shall not subpoena any participant to the mediation process or request the release of information related to this mediation.
Confidentiality includes discussions that occur in caucus.

12. Confidentiality Exceptions
To prevent reasonably certain bodily harm.
To prevent a party from committing a crime or fraud that is reasonably certain to result in injury to the financial interests or property of another.
To secure legal advice about the Mediator’s legal/ethical compliance.
To comply with another and superseding legal obligation or court order.
To implement and disclose the obligations of the party’s pursuant to the express language of the mediation agreement.

13. Elements of an Opening Statement
GOAL IDENTIFICATION
SMART
(Specific, Measurable, Achievable,
Realistic, Time Bound)
Documentation of Goals
Flexibility of the Parties

14. Elements of an Opening Statement
PROCEDURES
Mediator’s Opening Statement
Parties' Initial Statement
Identifying the Interests Versus the Positions
Cross Talk I
Caucus
Cross Talk II
Agreement in Writing
Concluding the Mediation

15. Elements of an Opening Statement
CAUCUS
Beneficial Step in the Mediation Process
Cool Down Period or Reassessment of the Situation
Non-Requesting Party Should Take Advantage of the Opportunity

16. Elements of an Opening Statement
GROUND RULES
Allow Acknowledgment of Emotion
Verbal Statements as “Draft” Statements
Interruptions, Partial Thoughts, Clarifications
Active Listening, Summarization, Praise
Proper Use of Caucus
Parking Lot
Requests/Counter-Offers/Commitments

17. Elements of an Opening Statement
STRATEGIES FOR FACILITATING EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
Reality Testing
BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement)
Silence
Brainstorming
Flip Side
Reframing
So How Would This Work?
Range of Possible Options

18. Getting to Yes Any method of negotiation can
be fairly judged by 3 criteria:
It should produce a wise agreement.
It should be efficient.
It should improve (or at least not damage) the relationship between the parties.

19. Getting to Yes A wise agreement has 4 elements:
It meets the legitimate interests of each side to the extent possible.
It resolves conflicting interests fairly.
It is durable.
It takes community interests into account.

20. Getting to Yes Principled negotiation has 4 elements:
PEOPLE: Separate the people from the problems.
INTERESTS: Focus on interests, not positions.
OPTIONS: Generate a variety of possibilities before deciding what to do.
CRITERIA: Insist that the result be based on some objective standard.

21. Getting to Yes How to avoid the “people” problem:
Perception: what is their reality?
Emotion: make them explicit and acknowledge them as legitimate.
Communication: talk “to” each other … not “at” or “in close proximity” to each other.

22. “Be hard on the problem, soft on the people.”
Getting to Yes
“Be hard on the problem, soft on the people.”

23. Getting to Yes Obstacles that Inhibit the Inventing of Options:
premature judgment,
searching for the single answer,
the assumption of a fixed pie, and
thinking that “solving their problem is their problem.”

24. Getting to Yes Insist on using Objective Criteria:
frame each issue as a joint search for objective criteria,
reason and be open to reason as to which standards are most appropriate and how they should be applied, and
never yield to pressure, only to principle.

25. Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement
Getting to Yes
BATNA
Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement
The reason you negotiate is to produce something better than the results you can obtain without negotiating.
BATNA is the standard against which any proposed agreement should be measured.

26. Procedural Guidelines
Guard Rails
Compass
Map
Road
Performance Criteria
Subject to the Review of the Parties

27. Mediation Consultants will not provide legal services.
Contracts – A Review
Mediation Consultants will not provide legal services.
However, contract requirements can help begin to illustrate what the parties should consider when framing up an agreement.

28. How to Write a Mediation Agreement
“Language” is the responsibility of all the parties.
Detail how each disputing party will communicate and work with each other to head off any future conflicts and ensure that the agreement is followed.
The agreement “is” the reality

29. Subject to the Review of the Parties
Agreement Template
Guard Rails
Compass
Map
Road
Performance Criteria
Subject to the Review of the Parties

30. The Spirit of Mediation
"There is no way to peace,
peace is the way.”
A. J. Muste

31. Questions Concerns Statements Next Steps
Conclusion
Questions
Concerns
Statements
Next Steps