Enda is an IMI Certified Mediator and prior member of IMI’s Young Mediator Initiative. The below personal blog post from LinkedIn is republished in its entirety with permission of the author (original here).
I regularly deliver training and lectures on mediation for the William J. Clinton Leadership at Queen’s University Belfast and I’m often asked where is the best place to find more details on mediation.
This article is aimed at students interested in mediation and its primary focus is on people living in Northern Ireland/UK/Ireland. My background is in community and workplace mediation, therefore, this is not designed to be an exhaustive list of the websites/books/recourse available, but rather a list of some of the resources that I personally find useful. Apologies in advance to all those authors and owners of resources I have missed, and please use the comments below to add the resources that you find useful!
Firstly, as I’m an accredited mediator with both institutes, the Mediators’ Institute of Ireland (MII) and the International Mediators Institute (IMI) are a good place to start, and you can find a full list of accredited mediation training courses for continuing your mediation training. The Civil Mediation Council and Scottish Mediation are also both really useful points of reference for other training courses and general mediation resources. The organisations I can personally recommend for mediation training course are; TIDES, Mediation Northern Ireland, CEDR, The TCM Group, Core Solutions, PATRIR, Family Mediation (for more specific family focused mediation)
Online Resources/Websites/Organisations
- The Mediators Academy – A fantastic platform that also offers excellent masterclasses and online courses such as this Introduction to Commercial Mediation.
- Mediation resources from the UN Peacemaker that includes the United Nations, Guidance for Effective Mediation.
- The United States Institute of Peace Press (USIP) Centre for Mediation and Conflict Resolution that offers online courses such as the Mediating Violent Conflict: Micro-Course. The European Institute of Peace (EIP) also have some useful resources.
- Some of my favourite mediation publications are from the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD Centre) including their Guide to Mediation.
- Beyond Intractability – A great place for essays and teaching materials.
- The Berghof Foundation – The regularly updated online publication, the Berghof Handbook for Conflict Transformation is excellent.
- Mediators Beyond Borders International (MBB) – It’s worth becoming a member of this international organisation tying to build a more peace “able” world!
- Peace Mediation Essentials: Gender and Peace Mediation from CSS ETH Zurich and Swisspeace is a great overview article on the importance of taking the gender-specific context of conflict and peacebuilding into account.
- The Better Way has a useful short video series looking at workplace mediation.
- If your into Podcasts, the IMI have compiled a great list that you can find here.
If you at all interested in peace mediation you should already be a member of Craig Zelizer’s Peace and Collaborative Development Network (PCDN). Among many things, the network has career recommendations, as well as huge lists of scholarships and funding opportunities. It was through this network that I originally came across the Rotary Peace Fellow programme which selects up to 100 professionals each year from around the world to receive funded fellowships to study conflict resolution at one of the Rotary peace centres.
Books
- The Mediators Handbook, now in its fourth edition is a must for any mediator.
- The Mediation Process. Practical Strategies for Resolving Conflict (now in its 4th edition so the earlier editions are still available online), this big book by Christopher Moore is worth having as a useful reference point on your shelf.
- Getting to Yes the classic by Roger Fisher and William Ury, and their follow up Getting Past No are obvious must reads for anyone interested in conflict resolution and I personally really enjoyed Ury’s latest book, Getting to Yes with Yourself: And Other Worthy Opponents which in may ways offers a more personal reflection on his work.
- Mediation Skills and Strategies: A Practical Guide A short but useful read.
- The Little Book of Conflict Transformation is well worth buying from John Paul Ledearch along with his other books and in particular The Moral Imagination and Preparing for Peace.
- The Dynamics of Conflict: A Guide to Engagement and Intervention Another classic read by Bernie Mayer.
- Working with Conflict. Skills & Strategies for Action I find the conflict analysis elements of this book particularly useful.
- Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most The most useful book I’ve found on how to deal with difficult conversations and I also really like the Little Book of Dialogue for Difficult Subjects: A Practical, Hands-On Guide.
- The Conflict Pivot: Turning Conflict into Peace of Mind by Tammy Lenski
No article on mediation would be complete without mentioning the work of Ken Cloke. You could pick up any of Ken’s brilliant back catalogue but one of my favourites is Mediating Dangerously: The Frontiers of Conflict Resolution.
Workplace Mediation Books
- Managing Conflict: A Practical Guide to Resolution in the Workplace (David Liddle from the The TCM Group).
- The Definitive Guide to Workplace Mediation and Managing Conflict at Work (Clive Lewis).
- The Essential Guide to Workplace Mediation and Conflict Resolution: Rebuilding Working Relationships (Nora Doherty).
- How to Resolve Bullying in the Workplace: Stepping Out of the Circle of Blame to Create an Effective Outcome (Alan Sharland from CAOS Conflict Management)
Let me know if you find this useful. My intention is to use this article as a resource for my students, so please feel free to add the books, websites, organisations or podcasts you find most useful in the field of mediation in the comments below.
Enda is a Programme Director with the William J. Clinton Leadership Institute. He has been involved with conflict resolution for 18 years and delivers negotiation and mediation training at Queen’s University Belfast to companies and organisations nationally and internationally.