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Tips for the Governing Party from a Mediator’s Playbook

April 5, 2017 By Sig Cohen Leave a Comment

The recent debacle over repealing and replacing Obamacare might have been avoided had the President and Congress applied these six best practices in mediation:

1. Stop the Clock. Trying to get House approval of the American Health Care Act on the anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act ignored a central premise of mediation: No clock-watching. Setting a deadline might work as a negotiating tactic. But mediation isn’t negotiation. Reaching consensus among opposing parties takes time and patience, especially when hammering out a measure that needs majority approval. Imposing a cut-off date for passing such complicated legislation guaranteed failure.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog, Communication Tagged With: confiden, Conflict Resolution, Mediation, Point of View, Sig Cohen, transparency, Trust building

The Virtues of Small Talk

August 8, 2016 By Carolyn Parr 5 Comments

Some people think small talk is a waste of time.

I disagree.

In fact, we need more of it.

Small talk can have a big payoff.Anybody can do it. At any time. It crosses boundaries of race and age and class. My late husband, Jerry, used to wait by the curb on Monday mornings just to talk Redskins with our trash collector.

You can do it anywhere. In a supermarket, restaurant or beauty shop. Across the fence with your neighbor.

And small talk offers big benefits for a very small investment.

  1. Small talk enhances the common pool of human kindness.

    When my friend, Jim, visits his cousin in a nursing home, he always stops to speak to the other residents as well. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog, Communication, Community Tagged With: Carolyn Parr, communication, family communication, human kindness, intergenerational communication, small talk, Trust building

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