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What Happens During Mediation?
A step-by-step walk through a typical mediation: what the mediator does, what you do, and what the room actually feels like.
Insights
Writing on conflict, and what to do about it.
59 articles from the Venn team, how mediation actually works, when it helps, and how to prepare. Written for people deciding what to do next.
Also worth reading
Mediation Versus Litigation: An Honest Comparison
The real differences between mediating and litigating a dispute: control, privacy, cost dynamics, and when each path makes sense.
Questions to Ask When Choosing a Mediator
A practical checklist for evaluating mediators: training, style, process, and the questions that reveal how they actually work.
How to Prepare for Mediation
Practical preparation that actually helps: clarifying interests, gathering what's needed, and getting your head ready for a different kind of conversation.
Understanding Mediation
10 articlesWhat Happens During Mediation?
A step-by-step walk through a typical mediation: what the mediator does, what you do, and what the room actually feels like.
Mediation Versus Litigation: An Honest Comparison
The real differences between mediating and litigating a dispute: control, privacy, cost dynamics, and when each path makes sense.
How to Prepare for Mediation
Practical preparation that actually helps: clarifying interests, gathering what's needed, and getting your head ready for a different kind of conversation.
Questions to Ask When Choosing a Mediator
A practical checklist for evaluating mediators: training, style, process, and the questions that reveal how they actually work.
COVID Conflicts
The age of COVID has seen an increase in conflicts - in the workplace, at home, and in business. Venn Mediation’s online facilitative approach is well suited to helping parties work through these…
Confidentiality - What happens in Mediation Stays in Mediation
Confidentiality is central to the mediation process, but it’s scope and limitations can sometimes be unclear. Private mediators and non-profits can operate by different confidentiality rules and the…
Conflict in the Time of COVID
The COVID-19 crisis has added immeasurable stress and anxiety to everyday life - whether your business is closed or still open and whether your loved ones are near or far away. This is exponentially…
Online Mediation - A Primer
COVID-19 has put a number of dispute resolution mechanisms on hold. But disputes have continued unabated. Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) tools, like mediation, are effective options to resolve…
Raison D'Être - Why We Mediate
Our passion for our work comes from the knowledge that justice is often complicated. And finding the right path for our clients requires a blend of empathy, open-mindedness and strong listening…
"To jot or not to jot" - Taking notes during a mediation
"To jot or not“ Taking notes during a mediation
Couples & Family Matters
9 articlesHow Prenup Mediation Works
From the awkward first conversation to a signed agreement: what prenup mediation covers and how the process protects both partners.
Co-parenting Cooperatively
Co-parenting is an extremely important aspect of any divorce agreement, but can be difficult to negotiate. In many cases, children benefit from the ongoing involvement and emotional support of both…
Conflict Resolution in Relationships - Guest Post
Guest Post - Conflict Resolution in Relationships
Couples Mediation - Working it Out Instead of Getting Out
All couples fight, especially the ones that love each other. When someone is emotionally invested in a relationship small issues can feel amplified and can easily become big problems if they aren’t…
Eldercare Mediation
Mediation for an Aging Family Member
Mediation - A Better Way for All Couples
Couples argue. No matter the strength of the relationship or the length of the commitment, conflicts happen because all people are different. Mediation can help couples whether they are considering…
Prenups - What To Do Before You Say "I Do"
Prenuptial agreements (‘prenups’) are uncomfortable to bring up but smart to have. The ‘prenup discussion’ is often awkward, but mediation can make the process easier. With the help of a neutral…
Sometimes to Come Together, You Need a Little Time Apart - Why We Caucus
Communication between parties is critical to the mediation process, which is why people are sometimes surprised to learn about the possibility of a ‘caucus’ - where the mediator speaks to each party…
What Should be Included in a Prenup?
While historically used primarily for financial concerns, modern prenuptial agreements (or “prenups” for short) can cover a wide variety of topics including: student debt, pet parenting, social media…
Workplace Conflict
1 articleBusiness Disputes
14 articlesMediation for Business Partners and Co-Founders
Why partner disputes are uniquely destructive, and how mediation addresses both the commercial questions and the relationship underneath.
Can Mediation Help Before a Lawsuit?
Pre-litigation mediation: why the window before filing is often the best moment to resolve a dispute, and how the process works.
Case Study - Local Bakery Seeking Ingredients
Mediation is a great tool for dealing with crises that could otherwise wind up in court and ultimately with broken business relationships and all sides worse off. But how exactly does that work? This…
Five Situations You May Not Have Known Could Be Mediated
Mediation is a form of ‘alternative dispute resolution’ (ADR) that can be used to resolve interpersonal and commercial conflicts and disagreements. When most people think of mediation, the first…
Landlord/Tenant Disputes During COVID
Landlord/Tenant Disputes In COVID
Mediation - Swapping Middling Middlemen for Maestros
“I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to get middlemen out of my deals. Why on earth would I choose to add an intermediary into a
Mediation 1-2-3
So, you are not sure if mediation is for you and you are curious about the mediation process. Before starting, it is important to understand the principles of mediation - that it is a safe,…
Mediation in Dollars and Sense
Conflicts impose many concealed costs in businesses, which can compound over time and damage your organization’s bottom line. As a manager or business leader, even if you are uninterested in the good…
Overcoming Conflict Avoidance - Guest Post
Guest Post - Overcoming Conflict Avoidance
Start at the Beginning: What Start-Up Agreements and Prenups have in Common
What Start-Up Agreements and Prenups have in Common
Striking out with COVID: A Case Study on Negotiation and Baseball
In both good times and bad, live sporting events serve as a pastime for billions of people. Sports like basketball, hockey, football and baseball are both an emotional escape from reality, and an…
What is Commercial Mediation?
Commercial mediation can help individuals and companies resolve their business-related disputes. The field is broad and includes contractual disputes, conflicts between landlords and tenants,…
Where do We Go From Here? - A Review of Mediation vs. Arbitration vs. Litigation
When people have disputes that cannot be resolved by negotiation, their first inclination may be to sue the other party in court. Or they may seek alternative dispute resolution processes like…
Workplace Mediation
Conflicts in the workplace are common. What is less common are effective ways for resolving conflicts and corporate cultures that encourage employees to want to resolve those conflicts. Successful…
Ombuds Services
2 articlesCommunication & Negotiation
18 articlesHaving Difficult Conversations: What Mediators Know
Techniques from the mediation room you can use anywhere: at work, at home, and in any conversation you have been putting off.
Co-Mediation: When Two Heads Are Better Than One
Mediators differ in their preferences between mediating alone or with other mediators. While a strong mediator can effectively resolve most disputes, having multiple mediators working together can be…
Creating Value Through Conflict - How Mediation Can Help
When conflicts involve important and urgent matters, the urge to protect one’s interests can actually worsen outcomes and destroy potential value in the negotiation. A neutral intermediary - like a…
Every Journey Starts With a Single Step - Mine Was the MWI Internship
At the ripe age of 36, Venn Mediation co-founder Alnoor Maherali took on his first unpaid internship. The hours were reasonable and the company, MWI, had its own ice cream fridge. But most…
Go Towards The Heat
Conflict is a part of life whether we like it or not. And while many people shy away from it, mediators are trained to ‘go towards the heat’. Because every conflict has at least one point of…
Having Difficult Conversations with Friends and Family
These trying times serve as a reminder that the difficult conversations need to be had and sometimes that means we need a little
Mediation - A Process of Assisted Negotiation
Mediation can be thought of as ‘negotiation plus’ or ‘assisted negotiation.’ When talks get stuck, trained third-party neutrals can make the hard parts of the conversation easier. Mediators assist…
Mediation Styles - Choosing the Right Style for Your Dispute
Mediators are known for their commitment to their craft and to the quality of the service they provide. This has resulted in different schools of thought on how mediators can best serve their…
Mediator Moves - Enabling Talks and Busting Deadlocks
Conflicts or disagreements can get stuck and cause discomfort when the people in the conflict make opposing demands. But skilled negotiators and those who enlist the help of mediators can overcome…
Mediator Moves - Mediators ask the darndest things!
Mediators ask the darndest things!
Mixed Signals - What Are You Communicating When You Request Mediation?
When you request a mediation, what is it signaling to the other party and could there be implications on the outcome of your negotiation? At Venn Mediation, we view a request to mediate as a sign of…
Mythbusting - The Goal of Mediation is to Get to a Deal
Many mediators get into the business because they want to help people. And they often see reaching final agreements as the signal that they have achieved this goal. But good mediators learn to…
Mythbusting: Deals are Best Closed Quickly Before They Can Fall Apart
Mediators and negotiators know that not every deal is a good deal and that agreements can quickly fall apart if not carefully thought through. A key step in the mediation process is to ‘reality-test’…
Self-Determination in Mediation
A fundamental principle of mediation is that individuals get to make their own choices. Mediators understand that only the parties can know what outcomes will work for them and trust that people who…
The Discipline of Mediators: Keeping it in Neutral Without Getting Stalled
Neutrality of the third party is a fundamental value of mediation. So much so that mediators are often referred to as ‘neutrals’. At times, maintaining that neutrality can be challenging, even for…
The Value(s) of Mediation
The key values of mediation (self determination, neutrality, confidentiality, safety, and quality) guide the practice of mediators and form the basis for us providing the highest quality service to…
What Are the Steps of Mediation?
A mediation session, while being a space where people can tell their own stories, can be a story in itself. And like any good story, it has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Sometimes the story…
Why Cancel When You Can Mediate?
Cancel culture has mutated from a response to troubling behavior by otherwise inaccessible celebrities to a form of bullying against teens and youth. In the latter situation, the individual is…
Videos
5 articlesMediation for Business Disputes - Video Promo▶ Video
As small business owners, there are two things that ring true for us - 1) Every dollar counts; and 2) Relationships matter. When issues or misunderstandings arise with vendors, suppliers, landlords,…
Mediation for Prenups - Video Promo▶ Video
Mediation for Prenups
Salary Negotiation - Tips and Tricks from an Expert! - Video▶ Video
How to Advocate for Compensation
What is your best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA)? - Video▶ Video
Negotiation Preparation - Knowing Your BATNA
"AI" for the Holidays▶ Video
The holidays can be a great time to catch up with family. But for many people, they have one or two members of the family they just can’t see eye to eye with. Mediators have techniques that can help…
You do not need to have everything figured out.
A confidential introductory conversation can help determine whether mediation is an appropriate next step, with no obligation to continue.