I was recently asked to pass a message from one party to another. Party A didn’t want to confront Party B. Reluctantly I agreed to be the go-between. And as usual, I turned out to be as much the enemy in the eyes of the recipient as the person who asked me to relay her message.

Talk about a tough conversation? It was impossible. So, I decided to check in with an expert on messaging: the daughter of a divorced couple.

Even though most divorce agreements state that the parties will not ask their child to pass messages between them, it is honored more in the breach than in practice.

She generously shared her five rules for message transmission. With her permission I am passing them on to you.

1. Prepare to be shot. No matter how hard you try not to be in the line of fire you will likely be a target.

2. Try to impress on the recipient that you are in no way responsible for coming up with the message. Try even though you’ll probably fail.

3. Empathize with the recipient. Let him or her know that you understand how they feel; how difficult it must be to hear what you have to say.

4. Get ready to listen to the recipient’s vent. Sadly, your messaging job isn’t complete until you have duly heard the recipient blast away at whomever you represent as well as yourself.

5. Finally, proclaim your neutrality. It is critical that you tell the recipient that you don’t have a dog in this fight.

The best advice that I can proffer, however, is this:  unless you’re a trained mediator, refuse to be the messenger. Just say no.

Sig Cohen