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Introduction:
Nancy Ferrell, a mediator with the U.S. Community Relations Service, talks about trust being the only commodity that a mediator has to offer.
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This rough transcript provides a text alternative to audio. We apologize for occasional errors and unintelligible sections (which are marked with ???).
Trust as a Commodity
Nancy Ferrell
Private mediator and trainer
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[Full Interview]
Question:
So you met with individuals and groups?
Answer:
The group meetings were more to create trust with me. They would know me, they knew that I was really interested in what was going on. Interested enough to know what their group was about and spend time with them. I guess the one thing that I came to believe, was that trust is really the only commodity that we have. If you don't establish trust with the parties, and that's all the parties, if you can't establish trust with them, you don't have anything to offer them. Part of that was establishing that connection and that sense that I really do care about what is going on and I'm going to listen and I haven't come here to fix you. The trust issue, I think, is a critical element that is hard to teach. Somebody could be very trustworthy and yet if they don't project trustworthiness there are some people who will look at them and go "I wouldn't trust them." It's hard to do mediation because it is the only commodity that you have.
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