Arbitration & Mediation

Outlandish mediation techniques? Name yours

By Diane Levin

Last week ADR Prof Blog posted a zany request to mediators, asking them to share their most outlandish mediation techniques.

It got me thinking. The most outlandish thing I’ve done during a mediation had to have been this: I was mediating a multi-party dispute involving a bunch of guys who towered enormously over me. Things got heated, and suddenly in unison they erupted from their chairs, shouting angrily at each other.  Operating totally on instinct (and adrenaline), I climbed onto the table, stood up, and yelled at the top of my lungs, “Don’t make me stop this car!” They all cracked up, and in a few minutes they were talking settlement.

Addendum: My buddy Geoff Sharp, a commercial mediator in New Zealand, alerts his readers that ADR Prof Blog’s request attracted the attention of a mediator known only as Brother Mat who, tongue-in-cheek (or at least I hope so), shares an unorthodox tool for reality testing: a sock puppet.

What’s the most outlandish technique you’ve deployed along the road to yes?  Let the nice folks at ADR Prof Blog know.

Full post as published by Online Guide to Mediation on January 27, 2009 (boomark / email).