Tom Valenti is a Chicago-based conflict resolution specialist offering mediation, arbitration, and facilitation services and training.  He also is a humanitarian activist who is a co-founder of Mediation Beyond Borders.  He co-leads the Athens Migration Dialogue Project, which helps local communities to design, organize and conduct dialogues that address difficult and dangerous issues, such as migration and violence in schools.  He has worked to help manage conflicts and train people in the Middle East, India, and Afghanistan among other places.  He is a mediation trainer and adjunct professor teaching mediation. 

He’s also one of the people who responded to my request for people to describe how the Real Practice System checklists can be helpful.  I said that people could write as little as a paragraph, and a bunch of people have done so.  He wrote a longer response, which he agreed to let me post separate from the summary that I plan to write based on the various responses I get.  So here’s his take. 

 

Reflecting upon John’s invitation to share possible uses of checklists, I can see, for my practice, the incorporation of real practice checklists into our work as a private practitioner and as an adjunct faculty teaching the mediation course at the Northwestern University School of Professional Studies.  The checklists hold immense potential for enhancing the quality and effectiveness of these roles.  These checklists serve as valuable tools to guide our actions, ensure ethical compliance, and foster continuous improvement.  In this response, I will address various ways these checklists can be utilized across these two domains.

Practitioners

Enhancing Conflict Resolution Practices:  Practitioners can use these checklists to update their websites and protocols for mediation sessions.  They can ensure that their websites are informative and user-friendly, making it easier for potential clients to access essential information.  Additionally, by paying more attention to parties’ intangible interests, practitioners can bolster the fairness and transparency of their mediation sessions.

Decision Fatigue Mitigation:  Decision fatigue can impact the quality of mediation sessions.  Practitioners can employ checklists to minimize this by structuring their sessions efficiently and ensuring that critical decisions are made with clarity and purpose.  This is particularly applicable to the common practice of using Zoom or other platforms for mediation sessions.

Session Planning/Design:  Practitioners can refer to checklists after preliminary conversations to make sure that a comprehensive – or “from the balcony” – approach has been captured in our design.  This approach, using the checklists as a “collaborator,” can lead to the development of best practices and innovative strategies.

Reflective Practice:  For those of us who do not regularly meet in reflective practice groups, retrospective self-assessments, facilitated by these checklists, can provide practitioners with valuable insights into their mediation cases.  By analyzing their approaches, they can identify areas for improvement, learn from their experiences, and refine their skills over time.

Faculty

Incorporating Checklists into Curricula:  Faculty members can integrate real practice checklists into their courses as required or recommended reading assignments.  These checklists serve as practical resources that bridge the gap between theory and real-world application.  Faculty can provide the accompanying bibliography to give students a deeper understanding of important issues and ideas for writing course papers.

Student Engagement:  Assigning students the task of tailoring checklists for their real or simulated cases can be a highly instructive exercise.  This activity encourages students to critically analyze and adapt the checklists to address the unique complexities of their cases.

Debriefing and Self-Assessment:  After conducting mediation simulations, faculty can employ the checklists’ self-assessment questions to guide debriefing sessions.  This approach encourages students to reflect on their performances and identify areas for improvement.

 

In conclusion, the real practice checklists offer a versatile and valuable resource that can elevate the quality of mediation and conflict resolution practices.  They enable us to continually improve our work, whatever it may be.   I hope and believe that as time passes, we continue to explore innovative ways to utilize these checklists, which will contribute to the ongoing growth and professional development of the mediation field.