Positive Attitude in Mediation

Nancy Hudgins has an excellent post for mediation advocates on her Civil Negotiation and Mediation blog entitled “Adjust Your Attitude: Go Positive!”

Nancy writes

Mediation calls upon us to use a different skill set. One that is more collegial, cooperative and collaborative. Best to leave the attack dog persona at home.

I couldn’t agree more.  In my experience, the cases that settle have parties that adopt a reasonable, objective and cooperative approach.  They realize that mediation is not adversarial and that acting like a bulldog/shark/warrior is counterproductive.

I recently entered a mediation where the plaintiff had the defendant dead to rights.  An iron clad promissory note, a clear default over a period of months and no affirmative defenses other than falling on hard times.  But the plaintiff and their lawyer realized that you can’t get blood from a stone.  They worked with the defendant to renegotiate terms that all could live with.  The plaintiff has to wait a bit longer to get his money but he felt it better than sending his lawyer to the courthouse to file post-judgment motions and seek garnishments and liens which might turn up nothing.