Another new mediation blog I am following: Mediator in the Making

Diane Levin, old-time and pioneering ADR blogger, has moved to a new blog: MediationChannel.com. (I blogged about this noteworthy blog-home change here.) Last week, she alerted her readers to a new mediation blog saying:

A new mediation blog has moved into the neighborhood. mediatorinthemaking.com covers “adventures in learning the practice of mediation”.

Published by an anonymous blogger, identified only as “a newly trained mediator seeking experience wherever I can find it, learning quite a lot as I put my new skills into practice”, this days-old blog already shows promise with “The future’s so bright“, a post that announces the release of U.S. News & World Report’s listing of best careers for 2008 — and the fact that “mediator” makes the list for the first time.

Levin knows the identity of the blogger but says:

Although like a good mediator, I will keep that information to myself, without giving anything away I can tell you that this individual is bright, talented, and promising to be one of the mediation field’s success stories.

Following that high recommendation, I added

mediatorinthemaking.com to my Google reader and am looking forward to regularly reading the new blogosphere entry.Recently Mr./Ms. Anonymous began a blog series: Mediation Musings: On Listening. The series begins with an example of the all-too-often disintegration of communication between two e-mailers. Anonymous tells us:

Each person reads the other’s words and listens to their own interpretation. There is no opportunity for dialogue in the moment. Each personstews in their frustration, typing and perhaps retyping their response as the steam builds. There is no eye contact, tone of voice or body language to aide in understanding or fostering empathy. Rather, each is left to decipher the other’s message through their own filters. A misunderstanding, which could quickly be identified and resolved in live communication, turns into a rift threatening the relationship and rather challenging to mend. After all, how often do any of us take the time to write back to someone, “I don’t think I quite understood what you just said. Could you elaborate?”

Anonymous waited for the right moment and jumped into the e-fray. Read the post to see what Anonymous did—and follow the new blog's series to see the how listening in this situation and others can change the spiral of miscommunication.

Thanks for the tip, Diane. The rest of you hop on over and check out our new neighbor.