This is the third installment reporting what I learned from David RIchbell at a recent advanced mediators workshop in Sydney.

PRIVATE SESSIONS AND TIMETABLING

David says that the “exploration” carried out in private sessions is a critical part of the “finding the deal” during a mediation.

Timetabling is important, especially if there are multi parties involved. David lets other parties know how much time he will be spending with each party through the day so that they can plan their own time effectively.

He says that many mediations will conclude in a day running from about 9 am to 6 pm. The objective is to try to materialize the deal by 4 pm so that the lawyers have time to get the agreement drawn up and documented by 6 pm.

Exploration is all about trying to understand what the parties need to reach a settlement that they can both live with. You are looking for their “drivers”.

The mediator knows that there is a big difference between NEEDS and WANTS. Disputes get settled by identifying each parties core needs.

When the exploration in private sessions has flushed out the core needs and the parties have moved from the Extreme polarized zone to the Reasonable Zone where a deal can be struck he then moves them back to OPEN SESSION so that they can take full ownership of the deal that is emerging.

When the deal is done and the lawyers have prepared the agreement for signature by the parties he usually concludes the mediation with some drinks so that the parties, who are probably feeling quite relieved to have ended their dispute, have the opportunity before they leave to try and repair their relationship.

In my next part of this series on David Richbell I will tell you what he said about “Closing the Gap”.

Again, I remind you, this blog is a forum for open discussion about the content of each blog post. My role is simply to get the issues out there and encourage discussion and sharing of experience for the benefit of all. Anyone with something interesting to say can take part in this.

Christopher Whitelaw