The Society of Mediators’ annual CPD event this month was an excellent refresher day, combining talks with role plays.
The opening presentation started with a slide of a battleship, illustrating how the speaker, a former RN Commander, used to settle some disputes before becoming a mediator.
More seriously, there was a useful revision of the key points of Fisher and Ury’s ‘Getting to Yes’: (1) Separate the people from the problem (2) focus on interests, not positions (3) invent options for mutual gain and (4) insist on using objective criteria.
And a reminder of the Society’s golden rules for mediators: ‘Listen, Listen, Listen’ and ‘Don’t make matters worse’.