Hello Friends and Supporters,

This month, we are focused on the essential aspects of your professional journey, starting with the crucial role of self-care. Maintaining your well-being through self-care practices is critical for sustaining your effectiveness and preventing burnout in a field with high emotional demands.

We offer guidance for those looking to establish their practice. Building a successful and sustainable practice involves balancing mediation skills with business acumen, including marketing, client relations, and financial management. Catherine Conner also emphasizes owning your professional path by encouraging you to define and pursue your unique career goals on The Other Chair.

We are also excited to announce training to enhance your practice-building efforts and refresh your understanding-based mediation skills. These trainings will provide hands-on workshops and expert insights to help you thrive professionally.

In partnership,

James Dykeman

Executive Director

The Boutique: How To Start, Scale, And Sell A Professional Services Firm by Greg Alexander

For conflict resolution and mediation practitioners, starting a firm can often seem daunting due to the specialized nature of their work and the necessity for a robust reputation. Alexander demystifies this process by emphasizing the importance of establishing a clear value proposition and niche expertise. He advises readers to focus on what sets their services apart, crucial in a field where trust and credibility are paramount.



One of the core strengths of “The Boutique” is its emphasis on building a solid foundation. Alexander stresses the importance of meticulous planning and strategic thinking from the very beginning. This means having a deep understanding of mediation and acquiring business acumen from conflict resolution professionals. The book encourages professionals to develop a detailed business plan that outlines their target market, service offerings, pricing strategy, and marketing approach – comprehensive planning essential for ensuring the practice is viable and competitive.

Owning Your Path as a Conflict Professional with Guest Catherine Conner

This episode of The Other Chair explores how mediators, especially career practitioners, continue to learn, grow, and refine their skills after becoming established in the field and bringing together people in conflict for many years.

Guest Catherine Conner, director and trainer at the Center for Understanding in Conflict, reflects on 20 years in the field of alternative dispute resolution and steps listeners can take to stay sharp as a conflict resolution practitioner.

Our flagship experiential certificate training program centered around the Understanding-Based Model. 

Realistic simulations, in which participants work through mediations from beginning to end, with coaching from our teachers, offer participants the chance to hone their skills and experience the emotional challenges faced by parties in dispute. Participants describe these different learning modes and their interplay as enjoyable, engaging, and rewarding.

Online

June 20 & 21, 26 - 28, 2024

California

November 6 - 10, 2024

Have you have taken a conflict resolution training and want to add consensual dispute resolution to your existing work or start a new practice, what next? This three-part series will help you explore your motivations, professional goals, opportunities and challenges.

This annual series is an interactive process with exercises and briefings on practical aspects of starting and/or incorporating ADR into a practice or your work and bringing people in the door. You will leave with a concrete action plan to develop the next phase of your work.

Did you complete our 40-hour basic training in the past, and would you like to do it again? But perhaps signing up for another 40-hour training doesn’t fit into your life? Our Mediation Refresher is the answer.

In this 24-hour training over four days, we will review the basic concepts and skills covered in our Basic Training in the understanding-based approach:

● Stages of mediation and what happens at each stage

● Positive neutrality - how to support all parties to a conflict without taking sides

● Enhancing understanding and empathy through the Loop of Understanding

● Developing creative options that address differing needs and interests

● Creating the groundwork for the parties to make effective and lasting decisions

together now and in the future

We will also include self-reflection practices that we believe are the key to our understanding-based approach and will change how you work.

Conflicts are a common occurrence in any workplace or personal environment. Addressing them is crucial for maintaining positive relationships and nurturing a healthy organizational culture. The Conflict Coaching method equips individuals with practical tools and techniques. These are necessary to identify, manage, and resolve conflicts in a way that fosters understanding and collaboration, making you feel confident in your conflict resolution abilities.

Join Danillo Alves, Melanie Rowen, and Gary Friedman on June 26 at 12:00 PM PT / 3:00 PM ET for an engaging discussion exploring how to transform how your organization approaches and resolves conflicts through Conflict Coaching.

The Center for Understanding in Conflict, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Learn how to support our efforts to bring together parties in conflict.