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Collaborative practices that both advance shared visions for mutual gain and resolve disputes are regularly featured in the news.  A selection of news articles below highlight:

• the benefits of collaboration in a wide variety of applications including research, health and medicine, science, business and government; and
• mediation which is used successfully to achieve resolutions in an array of disputes from complex multi-party government, community and commercial issues to simple neighbourhood conflicts. 

We hope these cases and stories will provide insight into the types of successful outcomes that are possible at an individual, company, organisation or government level and encourage you to contact us for advice on how we may assist you. Bookmark this page for new articles which are added on a regular basis.

Want to find out more about us and what we do?  Learn new communication strategies and tips for free by signing up for our bi-monthly Newsletter "Getting to Agreement" which provides practical "how to" articles that you can put into practice in every issue.   Topics include our regular communication focus, collaboration, mediation, negotiation strategies, questions and answers from subscribers and clients, recommended reading, case studies and website updates.  Every issue has a specific article dedicated to an aspect of communication and is full of practical "how to" tools and techniques for communicating more effectively and achieving satisfying outcomes.  Click here for a free sample of our  Newsletter and start improving your skills today.

After reading the news here, check out all the FREE resources on our Downloads page for more articles and tips on topics such as dispute resolution, collaboration and communication skills.  If you have further questions, or require more information and advice on how we may be of assistance in your particular situation, we invite you to contact us directly on 1300 36 22 33. 

• Promoting Collaboration not Competition among Employees
  Mary Baker, President of ATA Engineering answers questions about  the company's collaborative culture and the benefits it offers.
• The Challenges of Innovation
  A 37-year veteran with IBM says indifference, hostility, and isolation are among the major obstacles to a healthy innovation environment.  A collaborative approach to innovation helps provide the energy and emotional support that new ideas need in their very early stages.
• Collaboration delivers for manufacturers
  UK:  The manufacturers’ organisation EEF’s Innovation Monitor, the first of its kind, provides an up to date picture of the breadth of companies’ innovation capabilities and activities.
• Insects & viruses could hold key for better human teamwork in disasters
  In a new and novel study, scientists are looking to ants, bees and viruses for ways to improve human collaboration during disaster relief efforts.
• Face to face collaborations have the best chance of success
  Highlights the role of trust in business collaborations based on a study by Cisco.
• Collaboration & local skills policy in the UK
  This story shows the value of collaboration between local authorities.
• Internal communicators assist collaboration
  Highlights 4 key principles to building a team using communication as the glue to enable mass collaboration.
• The Shelf: The Final Supply Chain Frontier
  A report underscores the need for retailer-supplier collaboration at the shelf level.
• Five things Don Tapscott has learned about collaboration
  Wikinomics author Don Tapscott believes transparency is power and the benefits of collaboration outweigh its drawbacks.
• Bay Area hospital collaboration reduces hospital-acquired infections
  The collaborative effort of 39 hospitals highlights the benefits of being able to learn from each other and adapt best practices despite fierce competition for market share within their communities.
• Hospitals & Doctors Work Together to Improve Patient Care & Bottom Line
  This story highlights the benefits of creative collaboration in health care including enormous opportunities for cost reduction and improved patient care.
• Wisconsin Hospitals Trim Waste & Improve Care
  Highlights the 'Collaborative Care' model in a medical centre and outlines the benefits for both patients and staff.
• IN-CAM Outcomes Database: Collaborative research database to benefit complementary & alternative medicine
  An innovative collaboration for a mutually beneficial medical research database.
• Collaboration on cancer in fish may offer insights into the disease in humans
  Collaboration between research workers studying human and fish cancers holds great promise for increasing understanding of the relationship between environmental toxins and liver cancer in man.
• Agreeing to disagree: Collaboration can be an option to settling business disputes
  Collaborative dispute resolution practices save relationships and transactional costs.
• Practical approach could slash litigation costs
  Discusses the need for resolving commercial disputes quickly and efficiently and notes mediation is a very reasonable response to the costs and delay involved in conventional litigation.
• Law Society offers to mediate as school bullying case falters
  The ACT Law Society has offered to mediate between parents of bullied school children and the ACT Education Department to avoid a potential legal stoush.
• Independent arbitration could work
  Independent mediation and arbitration - not courts - a better way of resolving industrial  disputes in Australia.
• Legal maze can cost all
  Mediation rather than long drawn out legal battles the way to settle disputes in NSW construction industry.
• Attorney calls for more talk less action
  Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland has urged government agencies to be less reliant on litigation by using alternative dispute resolution (ADR) as a way to reduce legal costs and the burden on the court system.
• Changing the habits of a lifetime
  We are previously experiencing a re-invigoration of the whole topic of alternative dispute resolution.  Public statements and policy initiatives of the new Attorney-General have certainly contributed to that re-invigoration.
• Toll told to be realistic
  Toll Holdings was told to take a 'reality check' about its chances of winning a court fight against the ACCC and urged to use mediation to resolve its dispute over its undertakings following its acquisition of Patrick Corp.
• Mediation the key to classroom harmony
  Teacher says good mediating skills are essential as children bring issues from home to school and it is quite common to break up fights in the playground and classroom.
• 'Mediation vs Lawsuit'
  A pilot program at a US hospital has as its goal to try to work out disputes or concerns of patients with doctors using a mediator instead of going to court. The program won't take away a patient's right to go to court...
• 'Abington Hospital starts mediation effort'
  In an effort to reduce lawsuits related to medical liability, rising malpractice insurance rates and a loss of doctors to the system, a mediation program has been established...problems can be addressed before turning adversarial and costly...
• 'Angry society turns to the law'
  An increase in neighbourhood intervention orders reflects a society of angry people, too quick to choose litigation over old-fashioned good manners. Mediation is an opportunity to ...
• 'High costs of justice for companies'
  Costs of the litigation process for significant commercial disputes are simply not sustainable and well beyond the reach of ordinary Australians. Large institutions with their large law-firm representation can basically bring the proceeding to an end..
• 'Mediation the future, says Hulls'
  Traditional processes such as discovery and interrogatories...were "not always advancing solutions to problems, but certainly advancing the bank balances of lawyers. As the overall number of disputes continues to rise...one has to question whether...
• UK: Mediation scheme to help in copyright disputes'
  A UK trade group has launched an initiative to encourage mediation instead of litigation in intellectual property disputes.
• 'Workers scrap strike threat after marathon talks'
  The long-held threat to disrupt maintenance work on Qantas aircraft was averted yesterday after a six-hour mediation session ...
• 'Church bodies bury long-running dispute'
  Mediation and handshakes have ended a five-year racial vilification battle...two parties were able to resolve the matter after seven hours of mediation...in a very friendly environment... "The mediation brought two communities to a closer relationship...
• 'Are we no longer neighbourly?'
  Last year the Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria mediated in 15,757 disputes ... the Christmas holidays are the peak period for neighbourhood disputes.
• 'Strange looks from over the fence'
  Neighbourhood disputes over privacy have increased sharply...Communication is the best way to ensure disputes do not escalate into dangerous situations..."Be open. Try and discuss the concerns you are having."
• 'When it's not like the brochure'
  Glossy brochures can lead to unrealistic expectations, and when it comes to travel, the best laid plans often go astray. It's important to know how to proceed if your holiday is a disaster.