Mediation Training - Approach & Overview

• Mediation Training - Approach & Overview
• The Certificate in Mediation Skills
• Mediation Skills for Managers
• Core Mediation Skills
• Managing Conflict in Working Relationships
• Human Behaviour and the Psychology of Conflict
• Essential Mediator Tools
• Advanced Mediation Training

We give people the skills and confidence to enter into and resolve their own and other people´s conflicts.

The key elements which are most consistently valued are

• Expert skills demonstration
• Theory that will change the way you think
• Skills that will change the way you behave
• One to one coaching
• Structured opportunities to practice & develop skills
• Insightful feedback on your mediation practice
• Excellent integration of your organisation´s culture, practices and procedures
• Accredited mediation training.
  

Overview of Mediation & Conflict Courses
Our trainers
Quality
Delivery
Evaluation
Resources

Overview of Mediation & Conflict Courses

Our range of courses is designed to offer your organisation a choice in how best to help your staff manage and respond to conflict.

You can match the level of skill or knowledge required to any particular management level or function within your organisation.

Managing Conflict in Working Relationships (1 day):

• Develop positive behaviours, skills and confidence
• Resolve your own and other´s conflicts
• Manage difficult behaviour & move difficult situations forward

• Resolve disputes and tensions
• Move people into positive behaviours
• Improve communication & co-operation

• Resolve conflicts
• Unlock impasses in joint meetings
• Resolve allegations of bullying or harassment

• Resolve complex and entrenched conflicts
• Manage anger and tears
• Mediate diversity and equality issues

• Change the way you think about conflict
• Understand what´s behind conflict
• Approach conflict situations differently

• Key mediator tools & techniques
• Developing conflict skills for the experienced people manager

• Bespoke training for in-house mediator teams
• Creative, flexible and challenging

Our short courses work well for front line supervisors and managers. This is where conflict can be nipped in the bud at the earliest stage and diverted away from time consuming formal procedures. The ´Core Mediation skills´ course works very well for HR advisors who want to mediate or want to advise or coach their managers through a constructive approach to conflict.

For those who you rely on to formally mediate for your organisation we offer a higher skill level and a stronger focus on process management. These longer and more challenging courses address the complexities of entrenched conflict. Our ´Mediation Skills for Managers´ course is well suited to middle managers who have to respond to more well-established conflicts and who may be the last port of call before a formal complaint is made. Our ´Certificate in Mediation Skills´ practitioner course is for HR staff and in house mediators. This intensive and challenging programme tackles conflict in difficult and complex areas such as bullying, harassment and discrimination.

We offer one day courses and workshops to raise awareness, give knowledge and information and help people manage their working relationships better.

For established mediator teams we offer advanced training and refresher sessions.

Our trainers

We provide leaders in the field. People who are committed to their practice on both a personal and professional level. For our people this is a way of life. Each of our trainers has a minimum of ten years experience as both a practitioner and a trainer. They are continually seeking to grow and develop in their work. Our trainers demonstrate their expertise live on the course. We enjoy what we do and take great pleasure in sharing our expertise and working with the enthusiasm that learning in this area brings. We are adept at dealing with resistance and obstacles to learning and support people in working through changes in their thinking, behaviour and practice. We support people through a powerful journey of both personal and professional development, often resulting in a profound shift in their thinking, behaviour and practice.

Quality

Our courses generally have a maximum number of 8 delegates. This allows us to individually tailor attention and support to help learners develop and secure ownership of the mediator role. We can provide courses for 12 or more, please contact us for details.

The course is accredited with the Open College Network (OCN) at level 3. We manage internal quality and moderation processes and are subject to independent external moderation and quality review from the OCN.

We orientate delegate´s prior to the course through the use of pre-course questionnaires to identify the issues, dispute and conflicts they face on a daily basis, as well as the skills they wish to develop. We build case studies around these questionnaires and target the learning at both an individual and group level. We provide reading lists and web links to help people prepare and get the most out of the course.

We want the content of the course to accurately and realistically reflect the challenges your people face. We like to meet and talk with your organisation about the issues you want the course to address. The course has an element of flexibility which can accommodate the organisation’s needs as well as the learner’s requirements on the day. We seek feedback from learners on the course and refine the course as we go to maximise the relevance.

Delivery

Our courses combine a powerful mix of trainer demonstration, skills practice, observation, discussion, theory, reflection and analysis. We also use DVD demonstrations of mediations and key skills. We may use DVD live to record and analyse learner’s practice and support feedback.

For our accredited programmes there are three elements to the training

1. Pre course preparation: to orientate and prepare

2. The on-course training experience

3. Post course study: reflection, taking stock and grounding the learning. Support materials provided.
   

We set a theory base for learners, using simple models that are grounded in practical experience.

We demonstrate the skills, tools and techniques of a mediator.

We model the principles, qualities and values of a mediator.

Learners are first run through relevant theory, offered a model or way of working, there is discussion and analysis. The trainer demonstrates skills and approach, then learners are asked to practice the skills directly. Learners are coached through their skills practice sessions in small groups and receive insightful feedback as part of process of reflection and self evaluation.

Evaluation

The course is evaluated in 4 ways.

1. On completion: evaluation forms are completed by delegates and copied back to the client
2. Daily: an evaluation at the close each day - delegates have a say on what works or not and changes they would like to see to the delivery
3. In the moment: the trainer reads the group or consults with them and responds to maximise the quality of learning
4. After the course: a six month review of the course´s impact and benefits.

Resources

Delegates are provided with a comprehensive workbook, containing all course materials and resources. The workbook contains additional materials

• examples of mediator phrases, questions and skills
• checklists for each stage of the mediation process, before, during and after
• sample scripts for key inputs by mediators
• information on the theory base of mediation
• an on-going practice development framework