In the evening of November 30, 2018… We are gathering for the holidays to celebrate the impact ACR Hawaii was able to make in year 2018 to promote peaceful conflict resolution, and to talk about the Future of Conflict Management in Hawaii moderated by Peter Adler. Below are the links to the documents for the gathering: ACR Annual Meeting Program 2018 ACR-Hawaii2019OfficersAndDirectorsFinal Draft Minutes of 2017 Annual Meeting and Holiday Dinner (1) (1) If you have not registered for the event, you can still do so here. Brief video of 2018 ACR Hawaii’s activities We look forward to seeing you!
Category: Tips for Mediators
Sharing… ABA 21st Annual Section of Dispute Resolution Spring Conference April 10-13, 2019 in Minneapolis The 2019 Annual Spring Conference will be held on April 10-13, 2019 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The theme of this year’s conference is “Shining the Light on the Parties in Dispute Resolution”. The Conference will begin on April 10th with the convening of the Symposium on ADR in the Courts and run through April 13th featuring over 70 concurrent CLE and non-programs, multiple dedicated networking opportunities and will culminate in the Legal Educators’ Colloquium on Saturday, April 13th. Whether you are new to dispute resolution practice or have been practicing for decades, the 2019 ABA Section of Dispute Resolution Spring Conference has something for you. Participate in an enriching experience along with some of the worlds’ leading ADR professionals that can only enhance your career. Click here for more information.
If you have a great idea for Conflict Resolution Education for youth, there is an opportunity to seek funding through 2019 funding cycle of the JAMS Foundation-ACR partnership! Please see Notification of Funding Availability (NOFA) attached below. ACR_JAMS_Notice_Of_Funding_Availablity10.31.2019
5:1 Kindness Challenge Pledge Be Kind, Small Kine and Bank’um. What separates healthy and happy relationships from miserable ones is a balance of positive to negative interactions. Studies in the field of social psychology1 show that it takes five positive interactions to make up for every one bad encounter you have with someone. It is called the 5:1 Magic Ratio. Think of it as a simple formula for building healthy relationships (at home or at work2). And, consider the impact beyond building relationships. We experience approximately 20,000 individual moments in a waking day each lasting just a few seconds.3 The moments that make an indelible mark on our memory are not the neutral encounters we have with others, but the ones that are either positive or negative. Even though these encounters are only seconds long, they can be life-changing. If you can change someone’s life in just a few seconds, why not make it for the better! Pay someone a compliment. Offer a few encouraging words. Give a two thumbs ups. Smile and gesture a show of appreciation. Make someone laugh. These simple actions can make someone’s day. The good news is that you can bank good actions or encounters. After all, we are human and we all have momentary lapses in judgement, or mindless, rushed moments when we don’t know what we are leaving in our wake. So, while you are consciously making someone’s day with a kind gesture, you are banking positive encounters to balance the scale when your lesser self takes over. We challenge you to the Magic Ratio Kindness Challenge: Be Kind, Small Kine. By signing the Kindness Challenge Pledge you commit to banking five (5) positive encounters each day during the month of October (that is 155 kind acts if you start on October 1,…
Sharing webinars offered by Association for Conflict Resolution. Two highly interactive online sessions: Part 1 on September 18 at 9:00 AM MST Part 2 on September 20 at 11:00 AM MST Registration: There is no fee for this webinar and registration is required. Click here to register and once you do, you will receive the connection information. This is a highly interactive training that will be conducted on Adobe Connect. You will need a head-set with microphone in order to participate. Description: Connection Circles are designed to engage at-risk and structurally disadvantaged youth, and the direct care helping professionals who work with them, to increase their conflict resolution skills. Developed originally for a homeless youth shelter in Tucson, Arizona, the project received a two-year grant in 2016 from the JAMS Foundation-ACR Initiative for Students and Youth to expand the application of Connection Circles to other settings throughout the US. This session will provide everything needed to set up and conduct Connection Circles. Included will be the theoretical foundations of circles; role of the facilitator; overview of the curriculum; and the “how to” of setting up a Connection Circle. In addition, the results will be shared from the evaluation component of the grant. Objectives: Participants will have an understanding of the nature and effectiveness of the circle method Participants will identify the three keys to successful implementation of the program About the Presenters: Catherine Tornbom is a mediator and organization consultant with over 30 years of experience. She is currently the Manager for the Center for Community Dialogue & Training, a program of Our Family Services, in Tucson, Arizona. Chris Medvescek is the Community Dialogue Specialist at the Center with over 30 years of mediation experience. The Center’s purpose is to help Southern Arizonans talk about challenging issues in a skilled, civil and respectful way.
By Giuseppe Leone The underlying assumption of Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) programs like the one being implemented in Michigan is that going to court for settling high-volume/low-value disputes like small claims or landlord/tenant cases should not be the parties’ first option. Instead, it should be their very last option. Why? Because it would save a lot of money and time – both the parties and the courts handling their case. This is how ODR programs typically work. To begin with, they give parties the opportunity to settle their case by themselves. That is, they can exchange messages using their smart-phone, tablet or computer – 24/7, anytime, anywhere, without taking time off work. If the parties are unable to reach an agreement on their own, no problem. At that point they can (1) seek the assistance of a neutral mediator and (2) indicate how they prefer to participate in mediation: by text, by phone, by video or, when applicable, even face-to-face/in-person. Needless to say, all mediators who participate in an ODR program know already how to mediate face-to-face, when both parties are in his or her office. However, some mediators are not sure how they can apply their skills equally well when the parties communicate by text, by phone or by video. In other words, what should mediators be aware of and do differently when they mediate online? For this reason, Giuseppe Leone, founder of Virtual Mediation Lab: Online Mediation Made Simple, now offers a 30-min training designed only for ODR mediators. Titled “Differences Between Face-to-Face and Online Mediation”, this new training is packed with tips and online mediation techniques, which are based on Leone’s 21-year mediation experience face-to-face and online. For more information send an email virtualmediationlab@gmail.com or call (808) 383-4117. Virtual Mediation Lab: Online Mediation Made Simple https://www.virtualmediationlab.com is a project sponsored by…
Webinar 1: Getting Published in the Fields of Conflict Resolution and ADR by Dr. Susan Raines September 6, 2018 @ 2:00 – 3:00 PM (EDT) Description: This webinar is designed to assist anyone seeking to publish, from practitioners to junior faculty or graduate students. Whether you seek to promote your expertise as a mediator or ADR expert or you seek to move up the tenure and promotion ladder, this webinar will examine the strategies involved in choosing a publication outlet, the ingredients in a successful article or book proposal, and discuss the pros and cons of self-publishing versus using an established publishing company. Registration is required. Click here to register and once you do, you will receive the connection information. Presenter Biography: Dr. Susan Raines is the Associate Director of the School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding & Development at Kennesaw State University in Suburban Atlanta. She has been the Editor-in-Chief of Conflict Resolution Quarterly for 10 years and is an accomplished author. She has worked with numerous publishers for publications aimed at practitioners as well as academics. Sponsored By ACR’s Education-Research-Training Section Webinar 2: Ethics for Environment and Public Policy Practitioners: Review of the Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators by Kelly Wilder September 13, 2018 @ 3:00 – 4:30 PM (EDT) Description: There is underway an informal review of the Model Rules for Mediators that have been in effect and endorsed by ACR/ABA/AAA for just over a decade. At a meeting during the last ACR conference in Texas, it was suggested that instead of trying to re-write or update the model rules, we open up the rules for comments from the sections so that special circumstances or approaches to the model rules that affect each section somewhat differently could be discussed. The goal of the project is to create a set of section-specific commentaries…
By Thomas DiGrazia The ACR Hawai`i is calling all peacemakers to volunteer to provide peacemaking services on Oahu to government entities and officials in need of assistance to help resolve public policy disputes. Here is a recent example: The facilitation services several of its members provided to the Kailua Neighborhood Board’s Subcommittee on Homelessness At the instigation of Sen. Laura Thielen and invitation of the Kailua Neighborhood Board, an experienced team of professional peacemakers over an eight to nine month period, assisted the two Subcommittee co-chairs and community participants in designing, organizing and implementing a facilitation process to address the Kailua community’s homelessness challenge in an initially contentious atmosphere. At our first meeting, the room seemed to be divided into two camps. One camp wanted the homeless just to leave and the other camp wanted to help the homeless not be homeless. There were some immediate safety concerns that were referred to law enforcement and the mental health providers. What our team provided was a calming down facilitation process in which each side was given the opportunity to listen and be listened to. We worked together using a very light facilitation touch in keeping the meeting very peaceful and positive. The ACRH members supported the diverse stakeholders participating in the Subcommittee’s work to better respect each other’s points of view; find connection on homeless issues and programs; educate themselves through expert advice and information; and begin to find local solutions and remedies to the challenges represented in the Kailua homeless population. Each facilitation team member spent approximately 5-7 hours per month engaged in this project. A testimonial in support of the ACRH members’ contributions to the project by the Subcommittee’s co-chair can be viewed, below. At a time when the need for community members to be heard and channel their energies…
A Forum by National Issues Forums Sponsored by: Accord 3.0 (Refreshments courtesy of Accord 3.0) Hawaii State Judiciary Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution The College of Social Sciences at The University of Hawaii at Manoa The Mediation Center of the Pacific Pacific Gateway Center What are the Issues? The immigration issue affects virtually every American, directly or indirectly, often in deeply personal ways. This guide is designed to help people deliberate together about how we should approach the issue. The three options presented here reflect different ways of understanding what is at stake and force us to think about what matters most to us when we face difficult problems that involve all of us and that do not have perfect solutions. The issue raises a number of difficult questions, and there are no easy answers. The concerns that underlie this issue are not confined to party affiliation, nor are they captured by labels like “conservative” or “liberal.” The research involved in developing the guide included interviews and conversations with Americans from all walks of life, as well as surveys of nonpartisan public-opinion research, subject-matter scans, and reviews of initial drafts by people with direct experience with the subject. WHEN: April 4, 2018 TIME: 5:00 – 5:30 Registration & Refreshments • 5:30 – 7:30 FORUM WHERE: Hawaii State Capitol, 4555 S. Beretania St., Room 225 COST: FREE RSVP: Please register by March 16, 2018. Click here for the Eventbrite Link. Download the Flyer QUESTIONS: Department of Urban and Regional Planning, UHM Phone: 956-7381 For more information go to: Coming to America Issues Guide Free Moderator Training Monday April 2, 2018 5-7:30pm University of Hawaii, Saunders Hall Rm 116 In preparation for the “Coming To America” Forum on April 4, you are also invited to join a moderator training in facilitating community…
Quick Tips for Mediators by Robert Lillis, ACR-Hawai‘i Director Shut up and listen (“Ripples from the Zambezi” Chapter 9 by Ernesto Sirolli) Establish rapport (“Never Split the Difference” by Chris Zoss) (“Persuasion” by Robert Cialdini) (“The Art of Negotiating the Best Deal” by Seth Freeman Lecture 6 Credibility and Rapport) Start with a hand shake (HBR June 04 2014 “To Negotiate Effectively, First Shake Hands) Good introduction (Mediation Training) Grinning is winning, be likable. (“Persuasion” by Robert Cialdini) Be more interested in the parties then their problem (“Ripples from the Zambezi”, Chapter 2 by Ernesto Sirolli) Ask “What’s going on?” (“Never Split the Difference” by Chris Zoss) Initiate small talk. See if you have a common enemy e.g. traffic in Honolulu, problems with the rail system, bloated bureaucracy.(“Getting More” by Stuart Diamond”) (“The Art of Negotiating the Best Deal” by Seth Freeman, Lecture 6 Credibility and Rapport) Be respectful of the parties and their problems. Remember it is their problems. (“Ripples from the Zambezi” Chapter 2 by Ernesto Sirolli) Deal with the feelings and emotions before tackling their problems. (“Never Split the Difference” by Chris Zoss) (HBR January 2013 Negotiating with Emotion) Let them solve their own problems (“The Art of Negotiating the Best Deal” by Seth Freeman, Lecture 6 Credibility and Rapport) (“Never Split the Difference” by Chris Zoss) a. Ask questions, let them educate you. (HBR June 27, 2014 Win Over and Opponent by Asking for Advice) (HBR Sept 2007 Investigative Negotiation) b. Be respectful of their problems, do not offer your own solutions(“Ripples from the Zambezi”, Chapter 2 by Ernesto Sirolli) It is O.K. to nudge them towards a possible solution. Nudge them to their own solution even though it might have started as your idea. (“Nudge” by Richard Thaler) Ask this question. For you, what is the other side not seeing? What are they not…