The Pennsylvania Council of Mediators (PCM) Regional Forum for Southeastern PA was a rousing success. The event, in the Progressive Conflict Solutions offices at HeadRoom, was held on October 1 for an engaged and enthusiastic group of conflict resolution professionals. The panel discussion “Crafting Better Mediation Outcomes through Party Preparation” was informative and elicited lively discussion. I led a discussion at the end of the evening on the state of mediation in PA and how PCM can better serve mediators and mediation clients. That too was a lively discussion with a lot of helpful feedback and brainstorming.

As part of my service as a Board Director of the Pennsylvania Council of Mediators, I’m helping to coordinate and host a regional forum for conflict resolution professionals. We are seeking panelists for the professional development portion of the program.

Dear Conflict Resolution Colleagues,

On the evening of Thursday, October 1, the Pennsylvania Council of Mediators with the help of the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the Association for Conflict Resolution will hold a Regional Forum for conflict resolution professionals. The event will take place in Media in Delaware County. Part of the program will include a one hour panel discussion. We are seeking local professionals willing to join the panel to share how they are addressing party preparedness in their mediation practice.

Crafting Better Mediation Outcomes through Party Preparation

At the pre-conference workshop of PCM’s annual conference in April, 2015, Professor Timothy Hedeen presented on ways to improve mediation outcomes. One of his three workshop modules focused on party preparedness.

Hedeen reviewed various research on party preparedness including results of a survey he conducted of mediation professionals. Among the interesting results was the determination that mediators considered mediation clients (parties, not their lawyers or other professionals) to be under-prepared for mediation 47% of the time. The same survey respondents identified these as the five most overlooked preparation steps:

1. Strengths and weaknesses of the party’s own case
2. Other party’s interests in the dispute
3. Strengths and weaknesses of the other party’s case
4. Party’s interests in the dispute
5. The role of the mediator

Join fellow local mediation practitioners share how they prepare parties for mediation, what steps they are taking to address these issues, and other aspects of party preparedness in their own mediation practices. Contact Ellen Morfei for more information. ellen@progressiveconflictsolutions.