Mediation is a vital tool in any corporation.  Disputes happen and companies would like to avoid the courtroom.  That is when mediators need to be called in.  Mediators play an important third party in charge of listening to each side and helping them come to a settlement.  There are a bunch of vital skills that you need to have and constantly improve to be a successful mediator.

Keep It Neutral
The first skill needed is to keep it neutral.  The reason a mediator is around in the first place is because they are a neutral third party and unbiased towards anyone.  Do not judge one party by what the other party is saying.  You may think one party is being stubborn and rude but that is not part of the job.  Your job is to listen and make an informed, unemotional decision.  Don’t let any influences besides the information presented sway your decision.  Do your best to separate yourself from the emotional aspect and you will become a better mediator.

Stay Calm
Another good skill when it comes to mediation is being able to stay calm.  You can work on this by defining what problems you may have before going into the mediation.  Get a list of things that may become roadblocks during the case and come up with ways to push past them.  Keeping calm yourself will also help the two disputing parties stay calmer then they would be if you seemed stressed.  Improving your ability to remain calm will make for smoother sailing in future mediations.

Active Listening
The next skill you should improve is your active listening.  The way to improve this is also by remaining neutral.  You need to keep a level head and observe each of the parties and listen to them as best you can.  Take notes and try and understand each side.  Listen, ask questions, and learn about each of the people.  This will help you gain more information over the dispute and thus help you make a more informed decision.

Establish Goals
A good way to make the process of mediation go smoother is by establishing goals before you even enter the room.  Knowing what each party is hoping to get out of it and what they are willing to settle at will make your job easier and will make each party happier.  By having a list of goals, you can see how well you actually did after the process is over.  Look at the notes and think to yourself whether or not the end results are even close to the goal end results.

Avoid Stand Still
Next, a good thing to learn is how to not get stuck in a stand still.  Keep the conversation moving and people talking.  Keep making progress between the two parties.  Nothing can kill a mediation meeting faster than hitting a brick wall.  You can do this by continuously getting the two parties to converse then slowly ease back into negotiations.  Often, the two parties will have a history of differences so they may become stubborn.  Keep them as calm as you can by knowing when to ease off a topic for the time being.  If you hit a standstill for too long, you may need to have another mediation meeting so each party can have a cool off period.

Be Assertive
The last thing you can do to be a good mediator is know when to be assertive.  You must know when to take charge of a meeting that is going nowhere.  Remember, mediation doesn’t need to end with both people getting exactly what they want.  Make sure each person has an open mind and is willing to budge a little for the benefit of both parties.

Mediation is a vital tool in business these days and keeps decisions impartial.  Being patient, listening, and making an informed judgment is the best way to be successful.  Keep decisions unbiased and fair.

As two of the top online portals for connecting mediation and arbitration attorneys with clients who need their services, Mediation.com and Arbitration.com have teamed up and announced a joint alliance with Collect Any Judgment (http://www.collectanyjudgment.com) to offer clients a guaranteed, legal, and effective method of business and consumer asset location.

While there are millions of dollars awarded annually through judgments in the U.S. courts, recent figures show that nearly 80% of those judgments remain uncollected.  Some of these judgments are essentially ignored, despite the fact that the person to whom the judgment is against has the money locked away in safe deposit boxes and bank accounts.  These accounts might be cleverly hidden or put in a family member’s name, but won’t stay hidden in the shadows for long, thanks to the recovery efforts and research conducted by Collect Any Judgments.

Not only does Collect Any Judgment seek out these accounts in order to recover what is owed to their clients, they are now able to pair with mediation and arbitration attorneys to convince the debtors hiding their wealth to pay what is owed based on court judgments against them.  In doing so, they have been able to help thousands of companies and individuals worldwide to recover their money.

Since mediation and arbitration are both often preferable to litigation in reducing conflict and resolving debt, this judgment collection service, combined with the expertise of the hundreds of attorneys that are part of the Mediation.com and Arbitration.com network, makes this new alliance a formidable force indeed for anyone who attempts to hide their assets when money is owed.

Watching a loved one get older and lose their independence is difficult for any family but can be especially difficult for a family that has multiple tensions and conflicts between its members.  When there are elements like greed, bitterness, or hostility involved, discussing something as important as elder care becomes a very slippery slope that can have devastating effects on the cohesion of the family.

Combine this loss of cohesion with the expensive process of litigation and you can have an outright war occurring between children and grandchildren who may or may not have the best interests of their parents and grandparents at heart. Lengthy court battles only serve to increase the tension and bitterness, causing an already stressful situation to become toxic.

That’s why mediation has become one of the best ways to solve issues with elder care. Through mediation, families can use a non-biased third party to look at everyone’s “side” and made a legally binding choice that is good for everyone involved, most especially for the elder who needs care in the first place.  When a non-biased decision maker steps in and is able to provide his or her expert opinion based solely on the facts presented and their ramifications, the family is able to reach a compromise and settle the dispute over elder care far easier.

Judges often appoint a mediator or require that the parties in conflict hire a mediator when there are issues related to elder care choices and decisions.  Some issues that can be discussed and arranged during elder care mediation are: housing, transportation, driving limitations/restrictions, caregiving division of duties, vacation planning for caregivers, financial decisions, improving relationships, and more.  Mediators can also assist with wills, trusts, and estate planning, as well as assist the family with all end-of-life decisions.

Elder Law Mediation is an increasingly popular form of specialized mediation.  It deals with the issues that can occur among families as their elderly parents, grandparents, or even aunts and uncles become less self reliant and look to their younger relations for support.  Any change in the existing dynamic of a family carries with it its share of “stressors”.  The following is a compilation of common issues that come up in elder meditation.

1. Guardianship
Deciding that an elder relative is no longer capable of taking care of themselves in one or more ways is seldom done by the senior themselves.  Mediation with the senior can help determine to what degree the aging relative needs assistance and establish necessary guardianship to carry out this assistance accordingly.

2. Determining Suitable Residence
Whether or not a senior relative is capable of staying in their home and to what level they need assistance to remain there is a decision faced by elders and their descendants.  Deciding if an assisted living facility or nursing home is necessary is a choice that few children want to make for their parents.  If one of the adult children takes the aging relative to live with them, how should that be reflected in the senior’s finances?  These issues frequently need to be worked out with a mediator.

3. Medical Care
Everyone agrees that they want to give their elderly loved one the best medical care possible but at times what constitutes that best care can be unclear.  Should two or more siblings have conflicting opinions about which option for medical care is best, a dispute can arise amongst them.

4. Conflict amongst Siblings
This is an all encompassing problem that can show up in many of the other areas of elder law mediation.  Here it refers to underlying disputes that have been around since childhood.  These issues, while seemingly buried after childhood can often reappear when handling issues like estate settlements and elder care, making it difficult to reach a harmonious agreement.

5. Financial Decisions
Figuring out how to handle the family finances can be quite difficult, particularly in situations where the senior members of the family didn’t openly discuss their financial situation and/or financial plans for the future.  Deciding how money will be spent or invested, and who will now be in charge of making these decisions is at the heart of a majority of family conflicts.  Determining how to pay for insurance, medical care and nursing homes also fit in this category.

6. Inheritance Issues
Beyond financial management for the ailing elder are the expectation of their passing and the subsequent dividing of assets.  Agreeing on inheritance terms can be quite difficult as the conflicts usually arise from two separate concerns, economic and sentimental.  Sentimentality can make it much more difficult to split the estate evenly.  Also at issue is whether or not a descendants’ current financial situation should impact the level of inheritance that they receive.

Involved in a dispute or difficult conflict with another person?  If so, you might be handling things the wrong way and adding to the conflict rather than resolving it.  Below are some of the top tips to having a difficult conversation with someone in order to minimize conflict as much as possible:

1. Be clear with your message and purpose.  Conflict requires openness and honesty before a resolution to it can be reached.  Be specific about why you are having the discussion and what you hope to gain from it.
2. Don’t assume the worst.  Often, conflict can be worsened because we enter into the conversation with our own ideas of the other person.  “They are selfish,” “they don’t care if they hurt me,” etc., are all mentalities that can hamper the resolution process and should be avoided if you hope to accomplish something with the discussion.  Don’t assume that the other person is spiteful, hurtful, or vengeful; assume that it is simply a matter of faulty communication and things left unsaid instead.
3. Make the other person feel safe.  When you enter into a conversation in attack mode, the other person involved will enter into it in defensive mode.  Nothing gets accomplished like this and communication is weakened by the emotional interplay occurring.  If you need to have a difficult conversation with someone, it is important that first and foremost you make them feel safe.  Let them know that you plan to listen to their side of the story and see everything from their perspective.  Only then can honest (and useful) communication happen.
4. Recognize and acknowledge emotions involved.  There’s a difference between ignoring emotions and avoiding becoming emotional.  When you ignore emotions and refuse to communicate them, you are setting yourself up to fail in the resolution process because emotions MUST be acknowledged.  However, becoming overly emotional (through tears, anger, raised voices, etc.) usually does more to hamper the conflict resolution process than help it.  Learning to walk the line between recognizing/accepting emotions and letting them get the upper hand is crucial.