Mediation and Practicing Project Management Skills

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Mediation and Practicing Project Management Skills

• Clay Springer, PMP
• Managing Director
• Four Points, LLC

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Adventures in Mediation

• Tremendous growth experience
• Never the same thing twice
• Low Reward, High Reward
• Success gets defined differently
• Lucky you live . . .

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For Today

• Provide an understanding of the Mediation Process
• Highlight Project Management Skills that are used
  during the process
• Flag some of the Pitfalls that may occur along
  the way
• Recap some techniques in Mediation that can be
  applied to your projects

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Mediation and Project Management

• Mediation shares several aspects with Project
  Management
• Mediation underscores the power and importance
  of soft skills
• Mediation skills serve to build stronger Project
  Leaders

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Conflict and Project Management

• Some degree of Conflict is present in all
  Projects
• Conflict isnt always a bad word
• Success is in managing Conflict
• Most conflict is managed through negotiation
• But sometimes the stakes are higher . . .

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A Look at Mediation

• Cooperative process to resolve differences
• Practical, relatively informal, and direct
• Empowers parties to retain control of their
  decision
• What Mediation isnt
• Imposed solutions
• One-sided
• A legal proceeding

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When does Mediation Work?

• BEFORE Court
• When Parties have difficulty working face to face
• When the Participants are ready

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The Mediation Process
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Positions vs. Interests

• INTERESTS
• Why it is Important
• RESPECT
• APPRECIATION
• REPUTATION
• SECURITY
• APPROVAL
• RECOGNITION
• SELF-ESTEEM

• POSITIONS
• What the Party Wants
• I want my money back
• I want a published apology
• I want them to stop spreading rumors
• I want the same position back

Mediation seeks to understand, but not
necessarily change, interests
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Setting the Stage
5 minutes

• Gets peoples head in the game
• Establishes trust in the people and the process
• Provides the ground rules for the session

• Skills for Project Managers
• Providing structure
• Establishing Boundaries
• Being Success Oriented

• Building Trust
• Removing judgment from the equation
• Reinforces your Role as Facilitator

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Advance Work
10 minutes

• Meet your Co-Mediator
• Review the Case Files
• Recap Similar Cases
• Agree on Approach

• Skills for Project Managers
• Preparation
• Surveying the Landscape
• Bonding w/ Team Leaders

• Clarifying Roles

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Summarizing Issues
5 10 minutes

• Each Party gets a turn
• Gets Parties thinking about solutions
• Reining in Parties
• NOT a gauge of potential success

• Skills for Project Managers
• Managing Emotions
• Keeping Parties on Point
• Keeping an open mind

• Creating ownership
• Note-Taking

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The Mediators Caucus

• Crucial component of the Mediation
• Should be done after every round
• Builds the relationship between the Mediators
• Opportunity to confirm whats being said

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One on One SessionsInformation Gathering
5 15 minutes each

• One or two Alternating individual sessions
• Equal opportunity isnt always equal time
• Getting both sides of the story
• Uncovering Relevant Facts and Information

• Skills for Project Managers
• Creating Rapport
• Documenting Facts
• Confirming Information

• Depersonalizing
• Focus on the Task at Hand

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One on One SessionsGetting at the root of the
Mediation
5 15 minutes each

• Inventorying the important stuff interests
• Open-ended and probing questions
• Confirming key positions and interests

• Skills for Project Managers
• Active Listening
• Knowing Personal Bias
• Dropping Assumptions

• Avoiding tangents

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NegotiationWhat the Parties can live with
5 10 minutes

• Tempering expectations
• Protecting interests
• Gauging comfort levels

• Tools for Project Managers
• Focus on Stakeholders
• Proposing options
• Timing, Timing, Timing

• Creating ownership

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Creating the AgreementWhat both parties will
walk away with
10 - 20 minutes (often joint)

• Often no more than a page
• Clarity with flexibility
• The agreement they own

• Tools for Project Managers
• Validating Scope
• Closure with Stakeholders
• Documenting appropriately

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Specific Techniques to Practice
Fact-Finding and Active Listening
Negotiation and Agreement

• Reframing
• depersonalizes
• underscores neutrality
• Reflecting
• gets feelings out
• shows you understand
• Open-Ended Questions
• (remember no therapy)
• where you find the iceberg
• gets Parties out of the shell
• Summarizing
• directs the focus of the conversation
• distills and confirms

• Identify Currency
• often isnt money
• provides options
• Pacing
• Tempo and emotion are linked
• Back in the Drivers seat
• Self-Checks
• Your solution, or theirs
• Keeping your stuff of the table
• BATNA
• Realistic possibilities
• Regenerate ownership
• Clarity
• The best agreements are short, simple, and
  straightforward

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Navigating Trouble Spots
Trouble Spot
Strategies

• Notice
• Acknowledge
• Deflate
• Temperature Check
• Break or Reschedule

• Anger
• Poor Communication
• Power Imbalance
• Impasse
• Cultural Differences

• Translate non-verbal
• Make it safe
• Specify
• Reinforce
• Confront

• Balance speaking time
• Role Reversal
• Saving Face
• Separate people from problem

• Partialize (chunk)
• Sidestep, defer
• Flag misperceptions
• BATNA

• Evaluate and confirm
• Empathy
• Watch non-verbals
• Respect

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Recap

• Each step of Mediation pulls Project Management
  Skills into Play
• Successful Projects are those where the
  Stakeholders own the Outcome
• Mediation Reinforces the Role of the Project
  Manager as Facilitator
• When your Teams feel that you are there for them,
  Winning comes easy

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Questions?
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Want to learn more?
Phone [phone]Email mcp_at_pixi.com
Phone [phone] Email cspringer_at_fourpointsh
awaii.com