What's the Point?

Aug, 2019

For mediators, often pursuing a second career: what is our purpose? Our cause? Our why? How do we define "success"? How do we find what we are looking for?

Mediation's a bit like riding a new kind of bike

Aug, 2019

‘I have been doing this for the last 40 years. I would prefer to continue to do it as I have always done. There’s no need for this extra help. In fact, people would think I had gone a bit soft, or that I couldn’t manage it myself. And not many people do it anyway. It’s more costly too.”

A Negotiation Emergency?

Jul, 2019

As we head for a "do or die" Brexit in the UK, John Sturrock reflects on the lyrics from the song "Duke's Travels" by Genesis and the poignant resonance in our complex situation.

Neil Armstrong called it on information overload

Jul, 2019

It is 50 years this month since Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon. The release of rare footage in the much-acclaimed film Apollo 11 and the just released Armstrong, following on from last year’s movie First Man, reminds us just how extraordinary the achievement was.

Still set on making mediation mainstream

Jul, 2019

When I was a law student in the late 1970s, teaching on subjects such as housing law, social security and even employment law was a minority activity, if it existed at all. That these topics became mainstream was significantly due to the work of the Scottish Legal Action Group (SCOLAG) whose journal was both radical for the times and a source of information about these and other areas of law. Then, as is still the case now, access to justice was difficult for many who were economically, socially or otherwise disadvantaged.

Mediation in a Changing Climate? - From Consensus to Confrontation?

Jul, 2019

Three weeks ago, I was in Alaska with my wife, en route to a mediation conference in Banff, Alberta. We were on a cruise ship in Glacier Bay National Park surveying the staggering Margerie Glacier: our onboard nature guide told us that temperatures in Alaska had increased by 4 degrees in a generation, glaciers were receding and the permafrost was melting.

Bringing Mediation into the Mainstream

Jul, 2019

Being a mediator brings surprises along the way. For me, I was presented with what turned out to be the biggest challenge of my professional career last November when the Cabinet Secretary for Health in Scotland appointed me to conduct a review of allegations made by staff (through whistle-blowers) of bullying and harassment in Scotland’s geographically largest health service, NHS Highland.

Special Core News: Bringing Mediation into the Mainstream

Jul, 2019

Announcing the launch of the report Bringing Mediation into the Mainstream in Civil Justice in Scotland by Scottish Mediation, the result of several months of work by an expert group co-chaired by John Sturrock.

Still set on making mediation mainstream

Jul, 2019

John Sturrock's article in The Scotsman on 1 July 2019, reflecting on mediation's journey and on the celebration of 500 editions of the SCOLAG Journal.

Mediation: A Look Back and a Look Ahead

Jul, 2019

John Sturrock's article in the 500th Edition of the SCOLAG Journal.                                                                                                                            

Summer Core News

Jun, 2019

Mediation Journeys - the Summer Core News is full of interesting reflections, news, articles and blogs.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Our leaders need empathy to solve the Brexit puzzle

Jun, 2019

John Sturrock's article in The Times on Monday 10 June 2019.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

1000 Days of Mediation

May, 2019

"Back in 2001, the delivery of more than 1,000 days of mediation would have seemed like a pipe dream, even if we had thought about it. Back then, the target for our small start-up business was simply to introduce mediation to commercial and civil disputes in Scotland." 

Process and Empathy are Critical for Success in Political (and other) Negotiations

“In negotiations of all kinds, the greater your capacity for empathy – the more carefully you try to understand all of the other side’s motivations, interests and constraints – the more options you tend to have for potentially resolving the dispute or deadlock.” These are wise words from negotiation guru, Deepak Malhotra of Harvard Business School. He goes on to conclude that “a lack of empathy usually guarantees failure.”

...Malhotra’s words may provide at least a partial diagnosis of what has gone wrong with the UK’s Brexit negotiations.

Identity is a part of humanity that may threaten our future

Jun, 2019

"This is the place on earth where there is the most significant formation of glaciers. But even here, they are receding. Climate change, temperatures increasing at twice the rate of the rest of the world, the data gathering can’t keep up. I ask you all to think about what you can do to change things.”

Moving to mediation makes for earlier resolution

Apr, 2019

John Sturrock reflects on his time as an advocate at the Scottish Bar and asks: could at least some of these cases have been mediated, had mediation been available?

Originally published in The Scotsman on 15 April 2019.