Conflict Resolution Alliance (CRA)

(Please click on the title above, so that the links in this post work.) During our February 22, 2024 1-hour webinar “Mediation Training 2.0: Human + AI-Assisted Simulations”, CRA Hawaii member Giuseppe Leone explained and demonstrated the benefits of using ChatGPT-assisted mediation simulations to help mediators refine their skills independently, at any time. These simulations offer three distinct avenues for practice. Firstly, ChatGPT takes on multiple roles, including those of the parties, their lawyers, and an invisible “Assistant.” This Assistant can provide valuable guidance to the mediator throughout the simulations, which may include joint and private meetings, as well as a debriefing session. Secondly, ChatGPT can assume the role of the mediator. This feature proves beneficial for mediators seeking insight into how ChatGPT would handle challenging situations encountered during a real, tough mediation. Thirdly, ChatGPT helps mediators in practicing specific skills and techniques learned during their mediation training. For example, in a 5-min video produced by Giuseppe a mediator tests Dr. Robert Cialdini’s principle of ‘Reciprocity’, as outlined in his renowned book ‘Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion,’ after the parties’ negotiation had reached an impasse. Notice how adeptly the mediator refrains from using terms like “compromise” or “common ground” while asking each party a key, final question. To watch that 5-min video click this link – https://youtu.be/LvEZabUeN5Y For further information on ChatGPT-assisted mediation simulations and Giuseppe’s “Getting Started Kit” for setting up and running your initial mediation simulations, please reach out directly to Giuseppe via email at mediationskills@gmail.com or through LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/aimediationskills/

Below is an article submission from CRA member Giuseppe Leone:   “After Mediate.com published an interesting video demonstration of ChatGPT, a free app related to Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) with Robert Bergman and Colin Rule, I confess that I was incredulous, but also intrigued. So I decided to sign up for that app and try it. Margaret Doyle, a mediator in England, did exactly the same. Read on my blog what each of us found out — go to mymediationskills.blogspot.com — and then let me know what you think. Is that topic “Mediation and Artificial Intelligence” sheer nonsense, science fiction – or something that could be useful and to think about?” Giuseppe Leone Giuseppe’s email address: mediationskills@gmail.com Thank you, Giuseppe, for discussing this thought-provoking topic!

Although transformative mediation is widely recognized as one of the main approaches to mediation, it’s also widely misunderstood.  In this talk, certified transformative mediator and conflict coach Tara West will attempt to bridge that gap by sharing what transformative mediation means today (which is not exactly what it meant 25 years ago), compare and contrast it with other mediation approaches, and explain why it’s the approach she now exclusively practices.  Local mediator Giuseppe Leone will moderate the discussion.  Please join us! The What, Why, and How of Transformative Mediation Tuesday, February 21, 2023, 12:00 noon – 1:00 p.m., Hawai’i Time (on Zoom) Register here:  https://transformative-mediation.eventbrite.com For questions, please contact Lisa Jacobs, at Lisa@PonoDivorce.com We hope you register and see you there!

On October 27, 2022 CRA Hawaii member Giuseppe Leone interviewed via Zoom Dan Simon, an expert in Transformative Mediation and co-author with Tara West of the book “Self-Determination In Mediation – The Art and Science Of Mirror And Lights”. During that 10-min interview, which you can watch here – https://youtu.be/czOpTSrhHxE – Giuseppe asked him: > What makes Transformative Mediation unique, different from other mediation methods? > What does the “Science” of Transformative Mediation suggest or prove? > How can a mediator attain “Art”? > What are the key takeaways of that book? > Who will benefit by reading it? SEEING IS BELIEVING If you are interested to see how Transformative Mediation works in practice, you can find on YouTube the following videos/simulations: 1 – “Transformative Mediation in Action – Workplace Discrimination Case Example”. In that simulation Dan Simon plays the mediator’s role https://youtu.be/Cq0upTnMbVc 2 – A 2-part “Purple House Conversations” with Baruch R. Bush – https://youtu.be/E3KJY1_ZzWs and https://youtu.be/l5IZTIixtQk 3 – An excellent 90-min NJAPM (New Jersey Association of Professional Mediators) webinar titled “Facilitative and Transformative Mediators” showing two different mediators applying two different mediation methods (facilitative and transformative) to the same divorce case, with the same parties. More importantly, at the end of those two simulations both parties shared their response to either mediation method. In other words, did they feel and think differently? And if so, what was the main cause of that difference? Was it the mediation method of each mediator? Or was that mediator’s experience, skills and personal qualities? Or a bit of both? https://youtu.be/eb4RbHGSZW4 After you watch those simulations, please let Giuseppe know – mediationskills@gmail.com – if and why your view on transformative mediation and parties’ self-determination has changed. That way, we can all keep learning something new from one another. Thank you as always, Giuseppe,…

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Below is a message from Conflict Resolution Alliance (CRA) Member Giuseppe Leone: Dan Simon and Tara West have a long experience in transformative mediation. They have recently published a book titled “Self-Determination in Mediation: The Art and Science of Mirrors and Lights”. In the Acknowledgment section of their book, they mention an online mediation simulation that many years ago I organized via Skype (Zoom didn’t exist yet), and Lisa Jacobs participated in, playing the role of one of the parties. The purpose of running those online mediation simulations was simple: I was curious to see if the same case, mediated by three different mediators experienced in three different mediation methods (facilitative, narrative, and transformative) would yield different results. They did. But why? In any event, I’m glad that two CRA Hawaii members – like Lisa Jacobs and I – from our homes in Hawai’i were able to make this small contribution that inspired many years later Dan Simon and Tara West to write a book based also on our little experiment. Giuseppe Leone

We want to let you all know that Conflict Resolution Alliance’s (CRA’s) Annual Meeting and Keynote Presentation and Discussion, featuring ADR Sage Kenneth Cloke, on Zoom, will be coming up. It’s scheduled for Friday, November 18, 2022, from 12:00 noon – 2:00 p.m. Hawai’i Time. Kenneth Cloke’s keynote presentation and discussion is titled, “Mediation In A Time of Crisis.” The business portion of the Annual Meeting will run from 12:00 noon – 12:30 p.m., with Kenneth Cloke’s presentation and discussion following, until we’re done at about 2:00 p.m. The CRA 2023 Officers & Directors Election, which will occur during the business portion of the Annual Meeting. Registration is now open at this link: https://annual.eventbrite.com The cost for the event is free for all current CRA members. Just select the applicable tier when you enter the above registration link. For the general public and those whose CRA memberships have expired, the cost of registration is $25.00 (plus a modest eventbrite processing fee). That tier is available when you enter the registration link. All of those folks who pay the registration and processing fee will become a CRA member through December 31, 2023. Note that $25.00 is the cost of a regular 1-year CRA membership, so paying the registration fee for this event also gets folks to participate with Kenneth Cloke! The registration link also contains a Pay It Forward tier, for those who are interested in paying the $25.00 registration and processing fee to sponsor a student to attend the event and become a CRA member through December 31, 2023. Please pass along this information and the eventbrite registration link, directly above, to colleagues and all others whom you think may be interested in finding out more at CRA, and hearing Kenneth Cloke share his many decades of wisdom in the…

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Matsunaga Institute for Peace at UH Manoa and Conflict Resolution Alliance (CRA) are co-sponsoring “Building Rapport with Parties in Online Mediation,” a Zoom workshop featuring Giuseppe Leone and moderated by José Barzola, scheduled for Thursday, October 20, 2022 (Conflict Resolution Day), from 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Hawai’i Time.   Join us to learn why building rapport with parties when you mediate online is an important (even though more difficult) than when you mediate in person.  Giuseppe Leone will share his lessons from the field, as well as some effective techniques for building that rapport online. To register, please click on this eventbrite link,  http://mediate.eventbrite.com/.   If you have questions about the event, please reach out to José Barzola at email: jbarzola@hawaii.edu, or phone: (808) 956-6433. We hope you register (using the eventbrite registration link, above), and see you there!

Mediate.com has published an article that CRA Hawai’i member Giuseppe Leone wrote for sharing with fellow mediators 3 important lessons he learned after his retirement from mediation practice. Giuseppe learned those lessons accidentally, by reading some good books on mediation and human nature/behavior. Those books not only helped him understand better the parties’ and his own behavior in mediation. They also made him realize two other things. First, that during his mediation practice he had fallen into two traps – the “Lack of Curiosity Trap” and the “Complacency Trap”. And second, that for more than 20 years there had been a big, inexplicable “disconnect” – between how Giuseppe had been trying to help other people resolve their conflict, and how he had been trying to resolve conflict in my personal life, at home. You can find Giuseppe’s article on the Mediate.com website  – https://cutt.ly/zXBoVDX  After you read it, you can send Giuseppe your comments by email mediationskills@gmail.com

Tara West is a conflict coach and certified transformative mediator with a background in law and psychology. She is the author of  “The Mediator’s Approach: Five (and a Half) Paths through Conflict, and co-author with Dan Simon of a book titled “Self Determination in Mediation: The Art and Science of Mirrors and Lights”, which will be released next month. In a 7-min Zoom chat with CRA Hawaii member Giuseppe Leone, which took place on August 18, 2022, Tara West explained briefly why it would be useful for mediators and attorneys to be aware of the key differences among the 5 most well-known approaches to mediation: Evaluative, facilitative, transformative, narrative and understanding-based. To watch the video of that interview, go to Giuseppe’s blog – https://mymediationskills.blogspot.com