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Better ways to resolve conflict
By David B Savage
Recalling my early days speaking and writing about ‘Appropriate Dispute Resolution (ADR).’ The Network Conference in Edmonton. Twenty-two years later, I still believe we have many pathways to agreement or settlement.
At the Rotary International Convention in Toronto I will be leading a session on ‘How to Produce Better Outcomes with Well Designed Collaboration, participating in the Rotary Peace Conference and volunteering with Meditators Beyond Borders.
I continue to invest my time and heart in ADR because I need better dispute resolution personally and my clients do as well. I am frustrated in a personal conflict that the other person will not engage and their lawyer is driving us to court. I know it will take time and that ultimately we will find a way to negotiate a deal that serves us both. Until then opportunity, money and time goes.
Don’t get stuck in the dualistic thinking of mediation good, litigation bad. Conflicts are complex and the path to resolution must be managed with awareness, skill and mindfulness.
Don’t go from frustration to litigation. Start with a situation assessment meeting and decide together how best to resolve your conflict. Stay in Control and treat the others with respect. Be hard on the problem and not the people.
Check Here for information on ADR
The dispute resolution continuum includes negotiation, facilitation, situation assessment meeting and/ or judicial case conference, mediation, med/arb, arbitration and litigation.
My experience is that people go directly from frustration to litigation. Once the issues get more complex through investigation and the time, risk, and costs increase then the parties most often negotiate a settlement. So, we go from one end to the other then back. Why not “sperate the people from the problem” (Fischer and Ury) and design the resolution process early and collaboratively. When companies and people fail to do this, relationships and future opportunities are eroded.
Here is a Problem Solving Planner for your evaluation of how best to resolve your conflict.
Another great resource for you and your organization is our Collaborative Global Initiative (CGI).
The Collaborative Global Initiative is an international network, of mediators, facilitators and systems design professionals that provide assessment, training, facilitation, mediation and process design services to help multiple stakeholders work together to achieve common goals. We focus on projects where organizations and individuals with differing interests require effective communication and learning across perspectives, cultures and sectors to help all parties to achieve sustainable, cost-efficient solutions. We work with any scale and complexity of the conflict.
Yes, since 1996, I have been part of the Appropriate Dispute Resolution community by co-founding Synergy Alberta, Company to Company Dispute Resolution Council, the Global Negotiation Insight Initiative, and the Collaborative Global Initiative. And I remain committed to associations like Mediators Beyond Borders and Rotary. Often, I am contacted and asked “David, we need you to tell them they are wrong.” That is not my mission. My mission is to get the right people in the right space with the right resources at the right time to resolve their conflict collaboratively and with respect.
More great people to help you resolve your conflicts include Jeffrey Cohen, Doreen Liberto, Kathy Porter, Alicia Kuin, Ken Cloke, Duncan Autrey, Ron Supancic and many more.
Let’s Talk. #leadership #adr #conflict #collaboration
– David B Savage serves organizations creating better ways to work together internally and externally. Clients have David assess, design, coach, train, and evolve their collaboration, negotiation, dispute resolution, and business development capacities and successes.
