Mediator in a Box is a product I am absolutely in love with. Recently, a leader who took my short workshop that gives you an experience using the Box, sent this picture together with this comment:
“My Mediator in a Box is mounted on the wall next to the fire extinguisher and first aid kit. That seemed the most appropriate place for it.”
The two sisters who created Mediator in a Box, Clare Sprowell and Marla Sloan, invested 7 years of their lives and many dollars designing and then producing this beautiful gamification of conflict resolution.
Then, they gave me the honour of being the Canadian distributor. There are only about 500 of these Mediator in a Box games left. Once they are gone, they are gone.
So, if you’ve heard me talk about them before, now would be the time to purchase one. They are also insanely low priced, and although I’ve considered raising the price from the original $38, I’ve held back.
The passion in me for this Box is a massive WHY. I’ve seen it work and it brings justice to a broader audience than only those who can afford mediation. It’s easy to use, it replicates the process we teach at the Justice Institute and, it works.
What is there not to be excited about.
What especially lights my fire is when whole teams or organizations purchase the Box. Recently, one organization purchased 48 of them. Another organization purchased 32. Someone else I met, who took my Mediator in a Box workshop, bought 5 of them on the spot – to share with her 5 supervisors – who in turn have their own teams.
There is something so energizing about equipping leaders to change the conflict cultures on their teams. I’m starting to do this more and more, with both Mediator in a Box and with my 1-hour course on How to Have Difficult Conversations.
There is nothing more fantastic, to me, than a leader who recognizes that empowering their people with conflict resolution skills benefits their staff, the clients they serve and ultimately the culture within which we all situate ourselves.
As we find our societies descending further into the chaos of winter, it is a small grace to know others are finding out these secrets to meaningful relationships and problem-solving.
I’ve seen intractable conflicts resolve through skillful means of a process that helps people talk with each other. I’ve seen it when I volunteered to mediate civil claim cases in the Alberta court system (cases under $7,000). I saw skillful means and heart-felt resolutions when I ran the first criminal court diversion program (also in Alberta) – bringing together victims and offenders. This was also not the most heinous crimes, but I witnessed miracles when someone charged with vandalizing a home or a vehicle could step up and take responsibility (and see the impact of their behaviour) and witness a victim’s flood of relief to find out they were not a pre-meditated target.
I saw skillful means between nurses, amongst neighbours, bosses and direct reports, indigenous nations, multicultural families.
My career as a mediator has had me touch into most every sector of society – non-profit, corporate, schools, etc.
In all these cases, how we speak with each other matters.
It really, truly, honestly, please believe me…
Matters.
Sending you love from here.
“Every conflict we face in life is rich with positive and negative potential. It can be a source of inspiration, enlightenment, learning, transformation, and growth-or rage, fear, shame, entrapment, and resistance. The choice is not up to our opponents, but to us, and our willingness to face and work through them.” … Kenneth Cloke