by admin on August 24, 2007
Some observers have noted that mediation could be useful to homeowners and lenders who are caught in the grips of the current foreclosure problems in the residential housing market. Finding a solution that keeps people in their homes and a flow of payments continuing to lenders can be in the best interests of both parties. Neither party “wins” in a foreclosure action.
In any mediation, the presence of all the parties necessary to commit to an agreement is vital. In the foreclosure context, a potentially tough obstacle is the ownership of these loans. Most are owned not by the local servicing company but by remote investors who own bundles of loans. At one time, the necessary parties to an effort to change the terms of a loan could be a homeowner and a bank representative working in a home-town branch. If, instead, the entity that has the ability to modify the terms of a particular loan holds many loans, services them through another entity, and has no presence in the area where the home is located, the challenge of bringing the right parties to the table may be as great as finding a resolution in their best interests.
by admin on August 20, 2007
Merv Griffin, known best as a talk show host and game show impresario, died last week. His talk show, “The Merv Griffin Show”, was on the air for 20 years. An Associated Press story published last week said that Griffin attributed his success as a talk show in part to his ability to listen. “‘If the host is sitting there thinking about his next joke, he isn’t listening,’ Griffin reasoned in a recent interview.”
Merv Griffin hit on an important theme for effective communication: when you are listening to another person talk, you must truly listen. Attentive listening allows you to hear not only what the other person is saying, but how it is said — in tone and in body language. Also, the most important words may be those we expect to hear but aren’t said at all, and whose absence may send a very important message.
The challenge for the effective talk show host is to listen carefully to pick up on the most interesting and entertaining information that a guest is conveying, instead of simply preparing his own best joke.
Similarly, the challenge to a party to a conflict is to resist the temptation to prepare a stinging comeback, a pithy rejection to another’s proposal, or an impassioned rebuttal to criticism while the other party is talking.
The mediator has a two challenges. First, she encourages the parties to forgo the verbal sparring and concentrate on moving towards resolving their conflict. Second, she keeps her focus on listening to and understanding all of the messages that the parties are sending, in order to help them achieve resolution.
by admin on August 13, 2007
“Act as the owners we are” are the words of Elisabeth Goth Chelberg, a Bancroft family member. In an article by Joe Nocera in the New York Times, “How the Bancrofts Blew It”, published just after the deal with Rupert Murdoch was approved by a divided Bancroft family, Ms. Chelberg talked about her attempts ten years ago to motivate fellow family members to take a more active role as the owners of their family business. The family’s approach over the years to the care and feeding of their company may be of keen interest to business advisors and a valuable cautionary tale.
But more striking from a mediator’s point of view is the reaction Ms. Chelberg received when she tried to rouse her family to do more than accept management’s perspective without question. She, and her cousin William Cox III, who was also criticizing management’s performance at that time, were “scorned and vilified.” It was years before they could even attend family meetings again. When the Murdoch offer was made, other cousins, including Crawford Hill, attempted to raise the same concerns.
This time around, Ms. Chelberg said, things were no better. “We all tried to work within the system, but there was no system to work within.” Conflict and criticism can be difficult within any organization (whether a family business or something else entirely), and change instills fear and anxiety in many people. But the price paid for simply refusing to discuss differences and ostracizing those who raise uncomfortable issues can be steep. Almost any structure — from regularly-scheduled, comprehensive family council meetings to mediation sessions called only to address a specific issue in a time-sensitive manner — is better than none.