Mediation Skills Training Course at the Bar Council - 3rd Oct until 7th Oct 2012

Mediation Skills Training Course October 2012

Mediation - role play in session

Mediator "mirroring" one of the parties

"Mirroring" in action

The wonderful participants

Mediator setting the Agenda

Me and Faizal

Last week was a very busy week for me. I was asked by the Malaysian Mediation Centre (MMC) to be the Course Leader and the Lead Trainer for a 5 days Mediation Skills Training Course at the Bar Council, Malaysia. The course ran from 3rd October until 7th October 2012. The thing I like about the MMC is that they give you a free hand to run the course as you deem fit. I decided to rope my colleagues and friends to help me out in the Mediation Skills Training Course. All of them are Certified Mediation Trainers and like me, we are all doing it pro bono. We are not paid a single cent. All the monies collected from the Training Course go to MMC for the upkeep and the maintaining of the Centre.

The people who came and helped were Wong Lu Peen (she was there the whole of first day as she already had plans to travel to overseas the following day), Marcus Hwang, Tejinderpal, Puan Hendon (Tejinderpal and Puan Hendon have been helping me since Day 1 of the Course), Serene, Chan Kheng Hoe, Nacha, Sumathi, KL Choy, Tay Bee Choo and Christine Khor. Serene, KL Choy, Bee Choo and Christine are from outstation. Due to the spirit of volunteerism and camaraderie, they made the extra effort to be with us at the Training.

During the Training, Bee Choo (from Johor Baru) and Christine (from Penang) stayed at my place. After the Training on Day 3, I took Bee Choo, Jennifer, my father and our friend, Catherine Eu (former Executive Director of the Bar Council, Malaysia) to Jinjang (Kepong) to try this unique steamboat porridge dinner. Amongst the dishes was a plate of “live” prawns. The prawns were still moving and active. You have to literally and physically put the prawns into the pot of hot steamboat porridge. You can’t get the prawns any fresher than that. Without a doubt, the prawns were simply delicious. On Day 4, Christine Khor joined us from Penang. Catherine Eu invited us over to her place for dinner but we had a better idea, we asked her to join us for seafood dinner in Port Klang. We went to this place called “Klang Seafood” and had crabs, “sotong”, fried “hokkien mee” just to name a few. It was real fun having Bee Choo and Catherine over at our place.

When it comes to food, I digressed. Let us get back to the Training. We had a wonderful group of people comprising of senior lawyers, marriage therapist, psychologist and a medical doctor as participants. As Puan Hendon remarked in her closing speech, this Training was conducted in a different style compared  to the previous trainings. In this Training, we played games, had short exercises, several role plays and we showed seven (7) different video clips. The clips are fun videos featuring flash mob, baby laughing and also “gang-nam style”. We wanted to keep the Training exciting and lively for the participants. It was our intention get them on their feet and keep them moving. We even had a “set-up” sketch where my secretary, Michelle Martin played the role of the “rude lady” who kept on interrupting me while I was conducting the Training. It was all done in good fun with a specific purpose. If you want to know the purpose, come and join us in the next Training.

Besides having fun, the Training was also quite a personal challenge for me. On the last day, I had food poisoning and was throwing up. Later on, I discovered that a number of participants also experienced the same thing. However, as they say, “the show must go on”. I am thankful to Bee Choo, Christine and a few others who were constantly checking on me throughout the day. My thanks also go to Marianna Tan and Faizal who showed genuine concern. They are from the Malaysian Mediation Centre and have been a great help throughout the Training. In that Training, I also took my final bow as that was my final training given as a member of the Malaysian Bar. A lot of nice memories and I made a lot of good friends. Thank you everyone!

Mediation Skills Training Course at the Industrial Court - 18th -22nd Sept 2012

Distinguished participants

"Mediation Skills and Techniques" book presentation

The Malaysian Mediation Centre (MMC) conducted a 5 days Mediation Certification Course at the Industrial Court, Malaysia recently. It ran from 18th September 2012 till 22nd September 2012. The venue was at the Industrial Court itself in Kuala Lumpur. The trainers were Nacha, Meg and myself. Nacha and Meg did most of the work while I handled the topic on techniques or better known as “Dealing with Stubborn Behaviour”. I informed the participants that I intend to replace the negative word “Stubborn” with “challenges”. Why? Because challenges can be overcome! The participants were made up of the Chairmen and Chairwomen of the Industrial Court (“Industrial Court Judges”), the Registrar, the Deputy Registrar and the Assistant Registrars. They came from Kuala Lumpur, Perak, Sarawak and Johor.

The feedback from the participants was positive. I think most of them enjoyed the course very much. I wish I could share more techniques with the participants but because this  is a Certification course, there were a lot of grounds to cover apart from mediation techniques. As usual, the training would not have been possible without the support of the wonderful coaches like the ever obliging Puan Hendon, the ever friendly and helpful Tejinderpal, the witty Wong Lu Peen, Sumathi and a few others. For the record, the trainers and coaches were not paid. All monies collected go to the MMC fund.

Rachel Tan who is now with Thomson Reuters Malaysia (Sweet & Maxwell Asia) made an appearance with copies of my book. The Industrial Court bought seven (7) copies of my book to be distributed to the various Courts in Malaysia. Thank you so much for the great support. All of us had a great time and hope that we will be able to conduct more of these trainings in the future.

Mock Mediation at the 8th National Employment Law Conference 2012

Wong Lu Peen giving an excellent presentation on Mediation

The Role Players

Role Play in progress

One of the hardworking people behind the scene, Amirah from MySeminars

I just got back from doing a role play (mock Mediation) dealing with sexual harassment at the 8^th National Employment Law Conference 2012 held at the Swiss Garden Hotel & Residences (27^th June 2012). The conference was held at the new wing of the Swiss Garden Residences which looked really nice and classy. The conference was organized by MySeminars. The organizing team was headed by Amirah Alkaff (I do apologize as I have forgotten to take a photo of her for the blog!) who had done a splendid job in getting more than 100 participants.

I was there rather early as I wanted to give the morning traffic a miss and it could also be a real challenge to find a parking space at Swiss Garden. Being early, I decided to go for the buffet breakfast at Level 6 of the Swiss Garden Residences. If you ever have the chance of having breakfast there, I would strongly recommend their “nasi lemak”, especially the “sambal” which is close to excellent. They also served pretty good coffee at the buffet breakfast. As for their egg station, I must comment that their omelette is one of the smallest omelette I have ever seen. I think they should use more eggs and add more ingredients!

The morning started with a presentation by my fellow Mediator and a good friend, Wong Lu Peen. She did a great job in introducing Mediation and talking about conflict management in the workplace. Lu Peen also took the opportunity to promote the Malaysian Mediation Centre and my book, “Mediation Skills and Techniques” at the Conference. Thank you, Lu Peen.

Immediately after Lu Peen’s presentation, we did the role play or “mock Mediation” called “Way to go, baby”. I played the role of Harry, the alleged sexual harasser while my other fellow mediators, Sumathi Murugiah played Sally, the victim and Tejindar Kaur played the role of the Mediator. Even though, we had the script but we made up our lines as we go along. Apart from making the role play educational, we also wanted it to be entertaining as well. There were a few laughs coming from the participants. I believe the participants enjoyed the role play. As this role play dealt with sexual harassment, I wanted to conduct a small test to see if the participants could trigger if I slipped in an innuendo or two. At the end of the role play, I told Sally (Sumathi Murugiah), “We have worked very well “hand in hand” with each other for the last 15 years”. Immediately when the participants heard “hand in hand”, there was laughter as those words immediately triggered the participants’ imagination.

The Conference was a good one and well attended. Congratulations to Amirah Alkaff, the other Amirah (whom unfortunately I did not get the rest of her name) and all the other team members in organizing a splendid Conference!

Invitation to the Book Launch

The Malaysian Mediation Centre (MMC), Bar Council has very kindly organized the book launch for me. Besides organizing the launch, the MMC is also hosting it. I am deeply honored and touched by MMC's very kind gesture. Lim Chee Wee (President, Malaysian Bar) and Datuk Zaman (Chairman, MMC) without any hesitation agreed to launch the book. I have volunteered and served in the various Committees in the Bar Council for many years now. I did it because I believe in contributing to the Bar and I have never in my life expect anything in return. To have the launch at the Bar Council means a lot to me and for them to organize it too, that is like the icing on the cake! Thank you MMC and Bar Council, you guys are fantastic! Special thanks should go to Marianna Tan, Faizal and Khairul from the Bar Council who have put in great efforts in getting the launch moving. Also, a special mention should be given to Catherine Eu (former Executive Director of the Bar Council) for her valuable insights. Thank you, everyone.

If you like to attend the launch, please drop me a line at Seumas@MediationSkills.org. I will be more than happy to have you as a guest.