My mediation practice has been primarily focused in civil mediation, more specifically settling information technology disputes.  Disputes such as large scale IT system implementations which have gone sour between company and vendor(s), telecommunication disputes between small or large businesses and carriers, data center disputes on cloud computing where expectations were not met, and service level disputes not met by vendors and/or not understood by the company purchasing the service.   I’ve also been working with an excellent non-profit organization in Sumner County, Tennessee and found that I also enjoyed mediating the family cases referred by the courts.

After some careful thought, I’ve decided to expand my practice into the Family mediation arena, to include cases such as divorce, elder mediation, and juvenile cases.  I’m not new in this area, I’ve been mediating these cases with Sumner Mediation Services and have attended several training and am Approved by the Tennessee Supreme Court to mediate Family cases, just as I am approved to mediate Civil cases.

My hope is that my expanding my practice, I can be more of a service to my fellow community.

Please email me at Donita.Brown@iMediateIT.com, visit me at www.iMediateIT.com or call me at 615-504-0379 if I can help you with a Family or Civil Mediation matter.

There’s a lot of buzz in the conflict resolution field of “elder mediation”, but what exactly is it?  This post will clarify what elder mediation is and what it is not. 

What it is:

• Form of mediation that helps families resolve conflict due to care for their parents, or aging family adults. 

What it is not:

• A new form of mediation.  Even though this form of elder mediation is buzzing it’s not new; however, it is a growing need in most communities. 

There is not a special designation for mediators who are specially trained in this field in Tennessee; however, if you need to choose a mediator, look for someone that has received additional training. 

Here’s a great article for additional information on elder mediation.

As always, if I can be of any help with your mediation cases, please feel free to contact me:  615-504-0379 or Donita.Brown@iMediateIT.com.

Not all mediations will work.  Not all mediations should work, sometimes failing is the best result that could to both parties, because the parties will be forced to rethink their strategy and determine if mediation is a good choice for their dispute. 

Here are four reasons that can cause your mediation to fail.

1. Timing - Rushing into a mediation is not beneficial for either party or any of the parties (parties if more than two parties) and can cause the mediation to fail.  Most mediation professionals agree that it is best to mediation prior to litigation or arbitration, but that could be years between the event and the actually litigation.  In some few cases, mediation should occur very soon after the event that causes the disagreement, such as in elder mediation cases .  Understanding that timing is important in scheduling a mediation or offering mediation as an alternative will increase the settlement rate. 
2. Location – Choosing the wrong location for a mediation can cause your mediation not to work, especially if the location is hosted at a non-neutral site (such as the office of one of the parties).
3. Frame of Mind – If you are attending a mediation and if you know it won’t work, then it won’t. 
4. Mediator – Choosing the wrong mediator can cause the mediation to fail.  Not all mediators should mediate all cases.  Mediators specialize in certain types of cases for a reason, they have a background that can help a mediation succeed.  Choose a mediator that is well versed in your case.

Would love to hear your ideas on why mediations don’t work!  Please leave a comment with feedback.

Take care,

Donita Brown

Two events in Nashville on September 24th that I wanted to make all my fellow mediators aware of in the Middle Tennessee area.

Institute of Conflict Management at Lipscomb is holding a seminar on Mediating Life’s Loss of Capacity, September 24, 2009.  The session will certainly be caulked full of great information.  Seats are still available (I registered last night) and CMEs are available.  The seminar starts at 8:30am runs until 4:30pm at Lipscomb University.

Tennessee Association of Professional Mediators (TAPM) will present “Blinking on the Bench” at their quarterly meeting, also on Thursday, September 24th.  This meeting will take place at Lipscomb’s Hall of Fame Room at Alan Arena from 11:00am to 1:00pm.  You don’t have to be a member of TAPM to join the group for lunch!

Yours truly was featured in the Tennessee Association of Professional Mediator’s (TAPM) ‘Meet the Mediator’.  For those readers that are not aware of TAPM, it is an organization which “exists to promote mediation as a valuable and effective process empowering people in resolving disputes.”  It’s Tennessee’s mediation association, most members are practicing mediators in Tennessee.  TAPM offers opportunities for training for mediators as well as opportunities for mediators to come together to learn from each other.  At the last quarterly meeting Circuit Court Judge Clara Byrd, 15th Judicial District, presented “hot cases” in family law and Steve Cobb, Legislative Counsel to Tennessee Bar Association, presented the summaries of legislation from the 2008-2009 legislative session.

If you are looking for a mediation organization to join in Tennessee, I’d highly recommend TAPM or if you are looking for more information on mediation, check out TAPM’s website, they have several nice education articles available on the home page.

I’d love to hear if you find other mediation organizations helpful.  Leave a comment!

Thanks for reading,

Donita

www.iMediateIT.com

I wanted to post a quick update on the Reconciler’s Summit at David Lipscomb University.  Here’s an article from the Tennessean.

Thanks for reading!

Donita Brown

www.iMediateIT.com

This is part two of “What is Mediation” and is going to answer the question, “How Can Mediation Be Used in Information Technology?”  This is a series that I’ll be writing over the next few months and will feature such posts as “How Can Mediation Be Used in…..”   Each post will be a different way mediation can be used.  You get two for the price of one in this post, Information Technology for Project Managers and Telecom Professionals.

For those of us that have been in the Information Technology field for a while, resolving disputes is part of the job.  I’ve been a project manager, project director, and a manager of telecom expense management (just to name a few positions) and in each of these positions I’ve encountered conflict and had the opportunity to resolve several disputes.

Part of a Project Manager’s job is to resolve issues on a daily basis.  These can be as simple as working with a project team member and a functional manager to barter for time needed to complete a task.  Or it could be as complex as working with a project steering committee to determine if the project timeline should/will be delayed.  Mediation can be used in either of these two examples. 

In the first, where a project team member, project manager and a function manager are discussing the need for hours to complete a task, a project manager could play the role of the neutral and work with each side to understand the differences between what the team member is estimating the amount of time needed to complete a task and the amount that the function manager is willing to provide.  In this case this could be an informal mediation, casually completed.

In the second issue, Steering Committee is deciding if a project should be delayed, a formal mediation should probably occur between the Steering Committee and the Vendor completing the work (if a vendor is on contract).  This mediation, although likely not planned during the project planning stage, could help both parties understand any underlying issues that are causing any schedule delays and could help each side to work better in the future.

As a Telecom Manager I had the opportunity of managing a telecom expense management group at more than one company.  During this time I was privy to many of the disputes that telecommunication departments, telecom expense management companies, and carriers face.  Sometimes the relationships between the company purchasing the services for voice or data and the company providing can be adversarial.  This adversarial relationship can be due to unrealistic contract terms, unmet service delivery metrics, or many other reasons, which can lead to a myriad of disputes. 

There are many potential uses for mediation in the telecom space.  Mediations can occur between companies and their service providers to resolve disputes for missed service levels, contract disputes, credits to be received due to over billing, and the list goes on.  Mediations for these situations can be a formal session enlisting a third party neutral for larger disputes or using in house resources for disputes that are smaller and less complex in nature. 

Thanks for reading!

Donita

www.iMediateIT.com

Wanted to share with you information on an upcoming ADR training opportunity.  Lipscomb University’s Institute for Conflict Management will be holding a Reconciler Summit on July 26 – July 28.  It’s unique because the agenda is jammed packed with sessions for an unheard of price, $95 (priced just to cover the cost of the seminar).

I encourage to you check out this event!

Thanks for reading,

Donita

www.iMediateIT.com

Just what is Mediation?  Mediation, as defined by the Tennessee Supreme Court Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission  “A voluntary settlement process to help you resolve disputes. Mediation is an informal process where a mediator helps people with a dispute to reach agreement. The mediation process identifies important issues, clarifies misunderstandings, explores solutions, and negotiates settlement. “

Mediation can be used at any time during, before and after litigation has occurred, although the majority of mediations occur prior to litigation.  Mediation allows the parties to come to an agreement in their dispute rather than taking it to a third party, such as a judge.  

You probably mediate every day and don’t realize it. You mediate when a co-worker comes to you with a gripe about another co-worker and you play devil’s advocate or help them see the other side, or when your spouse and child can’t agree on where to go out for dinner.  Mediation is about helping people come to a resolution.  Consider it bridge building.  Mediation can be used to settle a dispute between members in a home owner association, between a hospital and a patient, a company and an employee, or many other situations.

I’d love to hear how you define mediation. 

Thanks for reading!

Donita

www.iMediateIT.com