I can honestly say 2012 has been a more eventful, colourful year than any in recent memory; and I can truly say that we are not the same organization we were a year ago. I believe everyone has had more than their fill of the word “transition”, so we all promise not to belabour it. Suffice it to say it was necessary, it puts us on a stronger footing than we’ve ever been on and the “Charitable “ shackles are falling, affording us unlimited new possibilities.

It did, however, take its toll on both the Board and our staff, who devoted so much of their heart and soul – not to mention indescribable amounts of time to make this all happen. There were times of frayed nerves and growing frustration. One might even say fear. But we never lost hope. I am totally blown away by the professionalism of this entire organization. My thanks to everyone.

As we turn to new possibilities in the year ahead, our Executive Directors are already refreshing our Strategic Plan, allowing for new services, new initiatives, new courses, new alliances and new goals. They are eagerly looking forward to doing what they wanted to do in the first place. In other words, it is going to be fun again.

Policies, guidelines, business strategies and goals will all be tweaked in the coming months. They won’t be significant changes, but will better align with ADRIA, which is now not encumbered with the restrictions of being a federally registered charity.

The first thing, you undoubtedly noticed, is the new format of the newsletter. This is in response to the survey we sent out to members this past autumn, wherein people liked the newsletter, but said it was too long, or not easy enough to select just the articles you wish to read. With this new format, you can now scroll down each article and read just the first few lines. If it interests you, you can click on it and read the rest of what interests you.

Please let us know what you think of this more digital-friendly newsletter by contacting either Pete Desrochers or Duncan McGregor. As for the survey, the results are also in this newsletter, as we had promised. This is your chance to see what others thought of the same key issues we asked you about. Your Board has reviewed what you told us, and this will be front and center in our deliberations.
 

Respectfully Submitted, Chuck Smith President

Erika Deines
Executive Director
Education

From Erika Deines / Executive Director - Education

We have had a strong start to the autumn with good registration in our courses in both Calgary and Edmonton.  In fact, due to demand, we scheduled additional ADR110 courses in both cities.  We are once again looking at the possibility of offering some courses in Red Deer.  We had two new courses for the Oil & Gas Sector in Calgary in the autumn - both of which received very positive feedback.  Another new course, the Mediation Practicum, looks set to start next month.

Weekly practice sessions have started up again in Edmonton in November and we are looking at making arrangements in Calgary for something similar.  We have welcomed close to a dozen new coaches to our roster this year.
 

From  Pete Desrochers / Executive Director - Membership

I read something a month or two ago that really pulled at my heartstring.

If you could fit the entire population of the world into a village consisting of 100 people, maintaining the proportions of all the people living on Earth, that village would consist of :

 57 Asians
 21 Europeans
 14 Americans (North, Central and South)
  8 Africans

 There would be:
 52 women and 48 men
 30 Caucasians and 70 non-Caucasians
 30 Christians and 70 non-Christians
 89 heterosexuals and           

Bridging the Distance Committee Update

You may vaguely remember from a few newsletters last year that the Bridging the Distance Committee is looking at addressing some of the needs of the rural ADR community.  We had a bit of a delay in our activities due to the reorganization which also included a survey (we wanted to avoid survey fatigue) as well as other issues.  But we’re back now and inviting you to help us understand and, hopefully, meet some of the needs of rural ADR practitioners.

To that end, we sent out a survey to help us understand your interests and concerns.  It’s a short survey and it offers you some text fields to give input should you desire to let us know more about the issues being asked.  Participation is voluntary but we’d really appreciate your input in defining this committee’s direction in how it can best serve you.  If you haven't filled it out, please take a few minutes to do so.

We welcome new committee members at any time.  We meet via teleconference to bridge the distance. 

Submitted by: Monica Kreiner
 

The Promise of Mediation - Charles Hill

The keys to releasing the power of mediation lie with you, the parties. Unlike judges or arbitrators, mediators possess no decision-making power to resolve disputes. The promise of mediation is that you and only you, the participants, have the power to fashion a resolution to your conflict. Mediators are facilitators whose sole task is to assist the parties to reach resolutions both can live with. But how do we release that power?

Those considering mediation must accept open communication as a fundamental requirement of successful mediation. Oftentimes people embroiled in conflict have broken off communications as a way of avoiding escalating tensions and experiencing yet another unpleasant outcome.
 

Workplace Bullying - The Silent Epidemic / Part 2 of 3
By Mike Hanlon

Regardless of their styles or methods, perpetrators of workplace bullying have specific goals. They are to paralyze the target, to control the emotional climate and to effectively destroy the self worth and perception of worth of the target. In short, they wage open psychological warfare on another person, designed to destroy them emotionally and professionally.

Who are the perpetrators? Typically they are people who have risen to some level of supervisory or other level of power within an organization and have the ability to exert some level of control over others. They may be seen by their bosses as task oriented, a go-getter, a results driven individual, often seemingly in line with the organization's goals and objectives.

Public Consultation - More than an Open House
By Laura Renouf

A previous ADRIA lunch in Calgary with Judy Hoad was an opportunity to learn where your skills can be applied in the political/public arena. This arena surrounds our lives daily and with a multitude of issues and opportunities such as dogs and parks, cycling lanes, long term planning, land use and development, etc. The issues themselves however do not only bring conflict. How the public consultation and engagement process is managed may also bring conflict and opposition when in fact the process is trying to engage, inform and learn with the stakeholders. Curiosity and clarification skills, and BATNA and WATNA skills are clearly applicable in the process as well as ADR principles such as relationships and communication.
 

Marketing Tip:  Who Are You Marketing To ?

Often when I speak with people about marketing professional services, I discover that their idea of targeted marketing is to run an ad in their professional journal - not the journals for the professions that their prospective clients read - no, the journals of their own profession !  Worse are the people who just place ads willy nilly, deploying the well known "shotgun" marketing approach.  If either of these define your marketing plan then read on.

What is your niche ?
First you need to determine what area of mediation you want to specialize in.  Many mediator rush to court0referred programs because they feel that all they need to do is stand in line for work to be handed to them.  They quickly find out that they can't live on mediations that pay $75 - $250 per mediation.  But what if you are fluent in a foreign language or are a specialist in same-sex separations ?  Could you guarantee yourself that segment of the market ?

Instructor Coach Workshop Held at Sylvan Lake

On Wednesday October 3^rd, 33 ADRIA instructors, coaches and new coaches attended a day long Education Workshop in Sylvan Lake. Most attendees arrived the night before to enjoy a social evening and catch up with each other. The next day, was packed with information sessions, exercises, and question and answer periods.  Interspersed throughout was a discussion on adult education by the invited facilitator, Trudy Gahlinger. The entire Education department was present, headed by the Executive Director Education Erika Deines, with Student Liaison Josie Cale and Equivalency Officer Kathleen DeWitt. The attendees had a chance to hear about the changes to the organization (AAMS to ADRIA) and what impacts this change has had on education, some of the new policies affecting instructors and coaches (including a new fee structure) and some of the possible future changes and directions to education. There was also time for questions, comments and suggestions.

The feedback from attendees has been very positive. The Education department extends its thanks to all those who were able to take a day out of their busy schedules to attend. ADRIA plans to make this an annual event with the next workshop to be held in September 2013. For those unable to attend, additional session will be scheduled in Calgary and Edmonton, to review the recordings made of the morning sessions at Sylvan Lake and to answer questions. Exact dates will be announced soon.
 

Conflict Resolution Day in Red Deer

Conflict Resolution Day (CRD) is an international event initiated in 2005 to increase public awareness of alternative/appropriate conflict resolution and its benefits. Typically the third Thursday of October is designated Conflict Resolution day by mayoral proclamation in the communities involved.

This year an event for CRD in Red Deer, coordinated by Alberta Justice, was held at Parkland Mall. The organizations and services which participated were Legal Aid, the John Howard Society, Central Alberta Child and Family Services Society, Alberta Family Mediation Society, Family Justice Services, ADRIA, and the Women's Outreach Society. There were also CRD bookmarks donated by the Energy Resources Conservation Board and pens donated by the Law Information Centre.

The ADRIA table was staffed by three local volunteers: Sandra Smyth, Rick Assinger, and Alasdair MacKinnon. The ADRIA Board extends its thanks to Sandra, Rick and Alasdair for their contribution in spreading information about ADR and in representing ADRIA so well.
 

Law Connect 2012 in Calgary

The Calgary Public Library (CPL) holds Law Connect every year in order to provide information to the public regarding the law and legal services – it is a ‘one-stop legal shop’ for access to legal resources and information. Law Connect 2012 was a partnership between CPL and the Pro Bono Law Society, Calgary Legal Guidance, Norton Rose who provided a team of lawyers, and the Canadian Bar Association Alberta Branch. This event includes a Legal Resources Fair where the public can get information from over 25 community legal services organizations, Career Conversations where legal professionals provide information about their careers, a Non-governmental Affidavit ID Support Clinic, Educational Films, and a Legal Grounds Advice Clinic with free legal advice given by volunteer lawyers were also provided.
 

Time Again for the Annual "Stella Awards" !

For those unfamiliar with these awards, they are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued the McDonald's in New Mexico, where she purchased coffee. You remember, she took the lid off the coffee and put it between her knees while she was driving. Who would ever think one could get burned doing that, right? That's right; these are awards for the most outlandish lawsuits and verdicts in the U.S. You know the kind of cases that make you scratch your head. So keep your head scratcher handy

Here are the Stellas for this past year

*SEVENTH PLACE*

Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store.

The store owners were understandably surprised by the verdict, considering the running toddler was her own son.

Start scratching!

Seeking Mediators Who Work on Land Issues - Contract Opportunity

Would any ADRIA members who are also members of IRWA and/or CAPL or any mediators who work on land issues please contact Kathleen at equivalency@adralberta.com.  We have been contacted regarding training programs and we are looking for members with specialized knowledge in this area.
 

Jim McCartney Appointed to ADRIC Board

ADRIA member and past AAMS President, Jim McCartney, was recently appointed by the Board of ADR Institute of Canada to be one of the two “Directors at Large”. He attended the National AGM/Conference and Board meetings held in Halifax October 25 – 27. Jim continues to be a member of the C.Med/Q.Med and the C.Arb/Q.Arb standards committee and a member of the Arbitration Rules committee.

ADRIA itself was represented by Alex Paterson, who was appointed by the ADRIA Board to represent Alberta.
 

Many ADR Institute of Canada (ADRIC) members have already benefited from specially negotiated rates on Professional Liability and Commercial General Liability insurance brokered by Marsh Canada Limited.

ADRIC has now arranged for preferred insurance rates for your home and auto insurance needs too. This is a cost-saving benefit available to you as a member, your spouse, and dependent children.