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Playing Legos With Robert Creo

‘Not long ago, I was visiting my alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, during the traditional Friday afternoon free-beer happy hour. I noticed a group of students unloading a mass quantity of Legos from boxes. The Legos were set around a clear area in the middle of the room. It was obvious that they were ready to engage in a communal and improvisational building project.

It stuck me how appropriate the Legos analogy is for not only for training mediators, but in the conduct of the mediation process itself…

… So Lego masters, here are some simple construction principles:
Take in all the colors, shapes and sizes
Honor creativity
Honor flexibility
Honor Improvisation
Stage and Sequence
Be open–not attached to outcome
Don’t be afraid to hold back some pieces
Don’t be afraid to tear down all or part of the structure
Don’t be seduced by the easy path
Don’t be afraid to use the unique or riskiest pieces
There will always be leftover Legos
Don’t be afraid to play with Legos at any point’ [read more]

                        author

Geoff Sharp

Geoff Sharp is a Commercial Mediator from Wellington, New Zealand. Geoff works in the Asia Pacific region, including New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand and Pacific Islands. He is a mediator resolving business problems. He is a fellow of the International Academy of Mediators and mediates complex and hotly debated litigation covering… MORE >

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