VIDEO: SCCR event: Ripples...The Power of You 'Mediation

VIDEO: SCCR event: Ripples...The Power of You 'Mediation - A success Story?'

Click here to watch a presentation that I gave on the 19th October 2023 (National Conflict Resolution Day) as part of the Scottish Centre for Conflict Resolution's (SCCR) Ripples...The Power of You online events. I really enjoyed giving this presentation, though as per usual I spoke too much and we basically had to skip the Q&A which is my favourite part. One day I will learn!

Mediation - A Success Story? with Alan Jeffrey, Senior Mediator, Cyrenians

This event on the 19th October 10:00 is with Alan Jeffrey, Senior Mediator, Cyrenians. We are thrilled to have Alan join us on National Conflict Resolution Day. As mediation continues to grow as an alternative way to address, repair and settle conflict, more attention is being paid to how we can ensure mediation is as successful as it can be. Join Cyrenians senior mediator Alan Jeffrey in this interactive session to explore what makes mediation successful. Particularly focusing on the situations that are most suited to mediation, the qualities of the mediator themselves and the concept of procedural fairness, where mediation process heavily impacts parties perspective on success. The event will be followed by a Q&A.

SHARED WITH THE PERMISSION OF SCCR

Comments

Will you please start acting like an animal!

Steve and Andy aren’t happy with each other. Steve stole Andy’s lunch, a delicious fruit platter piled high with pineapples, mango, and ripe bananas. Understandably, this made Andy angry - he was looking forward to this exotically sumptuous banquet. Steve doesn’t feel too guilty though, he was already furious with Andy, for Andy had only that morning performed a salacious dance for Lola’s benefit, Lola being the female that Steve has his eye on of course, and sadly for Steve, she seemed to enjoy it. As fists are raised towards the canopy and panted barks ring through the forest, violence is all but certain. Chimpanzees, for that, is what Steve and Andy are, have been known to aggressively maim, kill and even cannibalise their brethren when conflict arises. This is bad news for Andy, the smaller of the chimps who I’m sure does not want to be eaten by his family. As the conflict escalates and violent hoots give way to physical posturing, the troop is seconds away from wild and sava...

What are we hoping for?

Last month, a chance encounter with the CEO of another organization in the hallway set off a chain of events that, three weeks later, found me sitting in a mediation session with two warring colleagues. I work for a charity in a building shared by other charities, surrounded by charitable people for whom alternative dispute resolution is an easy sell. The reasons for this, however, require an uncomfortable acknowledgment of a variety of stereotypes that I don’t feel secure enough to list. The colleagues in question, despite both self-identifying as reasonable people, could not quite reach a resolution on their core disagreement. My strategically placed grapes and custard creams could not de-escalate the palpable tension in the room, with anger and frustration fizzing almost visibly in the air. And yet, despite the thickly oppressive atmosphere blinding my optimism, many smaller, bite-sized agreements were made collaboratively, which, in the moment, gave me hope—and perhaps th...

Family Matters

“Like father, like son” “The family that prays together, stays together” “Home is where the heart is” “You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family” “Family is forever” “Treat your family like friends, and your friends like family” “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” “Nothing is more important than family” The problem with family, is that almost everyone has had one. Which makes almost everyone an expert. It is easy to fall prey to the bias of false consensus wherein we assume, not necessarily correctly, that there is such a thing as the “typical family” and that this “typical family” mirrors our own in terms of dynamics, values and the correct way of handling conflict at home. This bias can lead us to offer advice and support to others in times of crisis, that are relevant to our own experiences but don’t necessarily translate to a family with different values, cultural practice an...

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