Business and Employment Mediation Training Program

Our basic training workshop in business and employment mediation for professionals is held at the offices of Mediation Matters in Bethesda, Maryland. This training is designed to provide both practical skills and a clear framework to help you resolve business and employment disputes. Our past participants tell us that this is some of the best professional training they have ever received.  We hope your experience will be the same.

―HR Magazine, January 1996.

Who should attend?

This workshop is for anyone interested in developing mediation skills for use in business and employment disputes. Prior mediation training is not required, but it is an opportunity for anyone who has had basic mediation training to expand his/her skills. The workshop is relevant  for attorneys and managers interested in workplace mediation, human resource professionals and persons responsible for staff development in their own organization, as well as private practitioners who want to expand their practice.

What does this workshop include?

The workshop, with a 400-page manual, covers the basic content areas of business and workplace mediation.  The training focuses on the stages of the mediation process and the skills involved in becoming an effective workplace mediator. The program provides a framework for mediating business and employment-related disputes, including mediating EEO and disability disputes. This training is not primarily a commercial or civil mediation training.  Our focus is on

• business, with attention focused on family businesses;

• workplace mediation, especially one-on-one employee grievances; and

• employment disputes, including discrimination related to age, race, and disabilities, and sexual harassment complaints.

We will use skill-based employment exercises and simulations selected for their relevance to real-life situations businesses and professionals confront.

The training will present a six-stage model of the mediation process and focus on the skills involved in becoming an effective mediator. Some of the many components in this training include:

• the anatomy of conflict
• the three core mediation paradigms for dealing with conflict
• mediation in the universe of dispute resolution
• legal vs. business perspectives on decision-making
• working effectively with attorneys in mediation
• generating options for possible settlement
• confidentiality
• caucusing
• co-mediation
• ethics and standards of practice for mediators
• writing effective memoranda and agreements
• professional organizations & development  

A distinctive feature of this training is extensive use of videotapes for instruction. The workshop includes a minimum of four mediation role-plays so that each participant can practice and develop his/her skills.
 

Carl D. Schneider, Ph.D... Over the past twenty years Carl has trained several thousand family mediators locally, nationally, and abroad. Currently Director of Mediation Matters, Bethesda, Maryland, Carl is a registered psychologist, licensed clinical Marriage and Family Therapist, Certified Mediator with the Maryland Council on Dispute Resolution and with the Supreme Court of Virginia, and an Advanced Practitioner Member of the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR). Carl is the former Director (1981-1989) of Divorce Mediation Service, a group practice of 16 mediators in the Chicago area, and former Director of the Mediation Program of Woodbury College in Montpelier, Vermont. He has been on the Board of Directors of the national Academy of Family Mediators, and has been the chair of the Certification Committee for the Maryland Council on Dispute Resolution. Carl is author of Shame, Exposure and Privacy (Norton, 1992) and has served on the editorial board of Mediation Quarterly. He holds a M. Div. degree from Union Theological Seminary in N.Y.C. and a Ph.D. from Harvard University.

Coaches: experienced mediators will assist with individual coaching for participants in small group role plays.
 

Time and Dates:

This is an intensive, experiential 30-hour workshop.  We will meet from 8:15 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Friday-Monday. Please plan  to be present for the full workshop.  Registration will start at 8:15 a.m. on the first day, and the workshop will begin at 8:30 a.m. We end the workshop by 5:00 p.m. on Monday.
 

Location:

The workshop will be held at the offices of Mediation Matters, 9816 Parkwood Drive, Bethesda, Maryland (click for directions).
 

What is the cost?

Early registration (a deposit of $175 at least 30 days prior to the workshop) is $925 (manual included). After that, the fee is $995.  The full balance is due two weeks prior to the workshop with no refunds beyond that point. 
 

How do I register?

Send a check for $175 and a completed registration form to: 

  

Mediation Matters

9816 Parkwood Drive

Bethesda, MD. 20814

Your registration fee is refundable, less $25 service fee, up to three weeks prior to the training.  After that, the deposit is non-refundable.  Registration for the workshops is limited in order to give proper attention to small groups and role plays.  Since many of our workshops fill quickly, we encourage you to register early.
 

Accommodations: 

You are responsible for arranging your own overnight accommodations.  If you would like assistance in finding nearby inexpensive accommodations, please contact us.
 

Meals:

We will provide a continental breakfast in the morning, lunch,  and snacks in the afternoon.
 

What is the attire of the workshop?

Feel free to wear clothes in which you will be comfortable. Our experience is that people often differ in what they regard as a comfortable room temperature, so you may want to dress accordingly.
 

Please join us:

We hope you will be able to join us for this fine professional training.   If you have any questions not answered by this letter, feel free to call us at (301/581-0330  or 1-800-905-2221 outside of the Washington DC area).

Carl D. Schneider, Ph.D.
Director, Mediation Matters