HUMAN LAW MEDIATION

Human Law Blog has moved!

Just to let you know that the Human Law blog has now moved to my firm's main website which is at http://www.human-law.co.uk/Blog/.   

Playing the Resolution card - Linda Olden-Smith uses experience and flair to challenge intervention

A very interesting book on mediation has been written by Linda Olden-Smithwho is based in Texas and has conducted more than 1,450 meditations.

I have dealt with her personally and found her effecient, humorous and lively, no bad feats to have as mediator.

She claims she has discovered that there is a crucial focus beyond personality and agenda where true enduring and satisfactory resolution is found. 

She says that she  saw that this focus is only the starting point and in addition to that there is a critical need for precision treatment application to the specific conflict cues that are revealed in this crucial focus. 

She recognized that a more accurate perspective of what “resolution” actually is was needed as well. 

Finally, sherealized that these profound principles and practice had to be presented in a way that was most approachable to the common man not just to the privileged and highly educated intellectual communities. 

Why? Because at every level and everywhere in society today you can find some lay person and some trained mediators too, including family members, friends, co-workers, managers, clergy, teachers, psychologists, physicians, lawyers, judges and other professionals that may or may not have been trained in the current mediation approaches trying to apply earnest efforts to facilitate someone’s dispute and serve largely to interfere and not to productively intervene.

The book is certainly provocative and lively;  Linda is right to home on intervention because frankly it is something so difficult to do. Either we are too scared to do it or we do it too clumsily when we do it.

It introduces the Thought Resolution Protocol which is trademarked and crucial keys interweaved in the book.

It  also shows flair in that the book includes(helpful) Mediator Intevention Flash Cards which help with the intervention process.

A recommended read but not for the narrow-minded.

Redundancy on the rise - What are you going to do?

As Real Business highlights:

Some small business owners are being hit with lawsuits because they’ve failed to follow the correct statutory procedures when it comes to making employees redundant.

Small business insurer Hiscox says there has been a threefold rise in insurance claims during the last quarter from SME employers being sued by former workers for unfair dismissal. The firm says employers are leaving themselves exposed to significant claims.

According to Hiscox, the top three claims when it comes to redundancies are:

1.       Failure to follow collective consultation procedures and obligations – necessary where 20 or more workers are at risk and are proposed to be made redundant within a 90 day period.

2.       Employers not carrying out a fair and reasonable selection process - for example, not properly pooling people when choosing which people to make redundant.

3.       Employers making people redundant where the reason does not genuinely relate to redundancy.

From my perspective a key variable in not working things out is in the inability to accurately read and understand the staff. It is not just the law but the way the staff are handled. These issues are covered in my firm's mediation services.