Providing Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) services and training for over two decades has taught me a few things… maybe too many. When I started in this field there was not a listing in the phone book for mediators. Now, who even uses a phone book? A whole lot has changed and it has been a full-time job just keeping up with technology. What hasn’t changed is how little we seem to do to support new people entering the field of ADR.
In January 2016 I started a group called Mediators Mentoring Mediators because I had awful memories of the stress I experienced conducting my first few mediations. Those of us who are trainers and assessors of negotiation and mediation students work to develop training that will instill confidence, training that will provide a strong values-based foundation, layered on top with skills and techniques and a solid time-tested process to guide their work. It is what we do for them while they are with us in training.
Sometimes students leave training convinced they need a few thousand hours of practice before they can work with ‘real’ people; other times they leave full of bravado rather than confidence; in most cases they just leave. They leave and are left to fend for themselves trying to gain some invaluable experience without doing harm. It is pretty much the same way I entered this field twenty years ago. I have spent many years researching and enhancing the training experience and I decided it was time to focus on enhancing the post-graduate experience.
My goal was to create a strong, supportive, inclusive community of ADR Practitioners. A community that is welcoming to new practitioners. We may not be able to promise work in the field for all graduates, but perhaps we can create ways for them to keep refreshing their skills without having them take out a loan.
It turned out to be much simpler than I had imagined. Eleven lovely people showed up and I asked them what they hoped to get out of belonging to a mentoring group. Many of them were looking for other people to practice with because they wanted to apply for their Q.Med designation; others wanted to know how to start a mediation business; others just wanted to have access to a professional, seasoned mediator who could answer their questions as they arose. So I simply created a space for all of those needs to be met and I informed them that they would get out of the group what they put into it. They put in a lot.
When they wanted to know what rosters were available to apply on, I asked for volunteers to look into it and report back to the group. When they wanted more role plays to use for practice, I asked them who wanted to work on a role play manual. I attended every meeting and invited other mediators from the field for an “Ask the Sages” question/answer period. When mediator positions were advertised, I would provide letters of reference. When I had a mediation, workplace assessment, or investigation contract, I would explain to my client that I believed in mentoring the next generation and would they grant permission to have a mentee observe my work and assured them that they would sign the same confidentiality agreement as I. I provided coach training so they could coach in courses I ran to gain some experience.
Mostly they supported each other. Twice a year we had a potluck BBQ or winter season dinner. We created book lists and shared resources and training opportunities with each other. I would answer calls the night before their first mediation or assessment and remind them that they were ready and that I’d be available during and after their mediation to answer any questions. I provided them with templates for invoices and pre-mediation checklists, and a Facebook page for connecting with the mentors and each other.
The first year was the busiest and we met one evening a month. The second year we met approximately every quarter. Now we connect with each other for the sheer joy of it. I did open the doors in September 2017 for new members and then became too busy in my own work to maintain a regular meeting schedule. I will now work on creating a model where those who have benefited from the first mentoring group will co-create the next group. Of the eleven who are members of the first group, eight are working full time in the field, one has taken a Director’s position which she got partially because of the training in ADR and the two years of being mentored, one is retired and working in the field as it fits with her vacationing schedule, and one is now taking advanced training in Ombudsman work and a Master’s Degree in Conflict Management. All are fully supportive of the creation of ADR Learning Institute and have made themselves available to coach, or promote our education division. I learned as much from them as they ever learned from me. The field of ADR is improved because of their commitment to professional development, to each other, and to their clients. I highly recommend that other professionals in the field of ADR create mentoring groups.
