Blog
As a personality typing system, the Enneagram has clearly stood the test of time, but Louise Phipps Senft has brought it fully into the 21st century by employing it as a powerful diagnostic tool in the practice of conflict resolution. In a recent training with Louise, I learned that the roots of conflict are self-absorption and confusion, which I can definitely identify with. Seeing a sample conflict scenario was eye-opening, I really identified with the workplace tensions presented. When I’m stressed, I shut down; I don’t let anyone in to help. I’ll just stubbornly grind away in futility.
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Blog
by Lehn Robinson
I had the privilege of participating in the June 19th 3-day, 20-hour training in Transformative Mediation, which I took as a refresher for the earlier skills I picked up at a 45-hour training I took two years ago. I always try to approach trainings with an open mind, a blank slate, but I was struck nevertheless by some distinct differences between the earlier training and this one taught by Louise Phipps Senft.
In the Community Mediation training I took
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Everyday as mediators and teachers in negotiation and conflict resolution we witness and study the dynamics of difficult high-stakes negotiations. We see people stuck in impasse and know that, when they have the strength and humility to engage in mediator-facilitated dialogue and to listen deeply to the other(s), they can overcome any barriers. When facing impasse, true leaders choose to take this path of strength and humility. Unfortunately, President Obama, Speaker Boehner, Senator Reid, and the other 500+ legislators engaged in the current wrangling known as the “government shutdown” refuse to take this path, and this is a failure in leadership.
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Blog
I had the privilege of participating in the June 19th 3-day, 20-hour training in Transformative Mediation, which I took as a refresher for the earlier skills I picked up at a 45-hour training I took two years ago. I always try to approach trainings with an open mind, a blank slate, but I was struck nevertheless by some distinct differences between the earlier training and this one taught by Louise Phipps Senft.
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Blog
As mediators, a bedrock tenet of our practice is that we work to help people make free and informed choices as to both the process of working on their conflicts and the outcome of that process. Fundamentally, we believe that everyone has a desire for self-determination – to make their own decisions instead of having decisions handed down to them by others. For many, this strikes a chord related to personal freedom and autonomy that is a strongly held value. It also makes great sense because people value decisions that they own and those decisions lead to more durable agreements.
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I was asked by a national bank this summer to give an interview about mediation for their bank sponsored magazine geared for their business clients. A senior marketing executive at the bank recently e-mailed me saying that unfortunately the bank’s legal department asked her to pull the article from publication saying they “didn’t like the topic of choosing mediation over litigation” and that to publish it was “too risky”– essentially, mediation competes with litigation.
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