Mediation Make or Break: How to Select the Right Mediator in a Multicultural World

At their most basic level, mediations are a series of uncomfortable conversations between opposing parties. The mediator is the conduit through which those uncomfortable conversations happen. As a result, it is crucial that the mediator have the cultural awareness to genuinely understand what is being said both verbally and non-verbally. Mediators also need the social-emotional acumen to empathize with all parties and have the intellectual agility to quickly digest the information learned from one side. They then need to almost immediately translate it to the other party in a way in which the intended sentiments are accurately conveyed. This skill set is highly complex and must be honed intentionally over time. 

What happens between the time the mediator speaks with one party and relays that information to the other side is crucial to the success or failure of your mediation. In this program, mediator and arbitrator Winter Wheeler will teach attorneys how to improve the odds for a successful mediation by using The Four Cornerstones of Mediation: (1) emotional intelligence, (2) cultural knowledge, (3) cultural immersion, and (4) genuine empathy.

This program will benefit litigators, insurance professionals, and mediators. 

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify when, how, and why lacking social-emotional intelligence and cultural knowledge can derail a mediation
2. Prepare and support your clients through the mediation process
3. Expose potential barriers to a mediator's ability to fully support litigants, prevent or make settlement more difficult, and fail to give the litigants a sense of having been heard and achieve emotional closure
4. Use social-emotional and cultural intelligence to positively and predictably impact the outcomes of mediations in terms of party satisfaction, and decreased instances of parties suffering from "buyer's remorse" after settlement