Written by MCT Marketing Director, Eric Sachs, with help from MCT co-founder, Carolann Mazza

Recently, the Iowa Collaborative Divorce practice group held their second annual Collabfest Midwest. This program, open to professionals from around North America, really highlights the power of collaboration and expanding your professional network outside of your local community. We also want to give a special shoutout to My Collaborative Team member Kristen Boldt who is one of driving forces behind the Collabfest Midwest program. Thank you for all you do to advance the Collaborative Process.

Now, in staying with this theme of collaboration and sharing our knowledge with professionals from around the world, My Collaborative Team co-founder Carolann Mazza provides some of her main takeaways from her time at Collabfest Midwest and the items we can all utilize in our practices.

TAKEAWAYS

I had the great good fortune to attend the CollabFest Midwest, hosted by the Iowa Collaborative Divorce practice group. It was a full day of fun, learning, and connecting with fellow Collaborative professionals from other states.  I learn something new in every Collaborative training/seminar that I attend.  Here are a few of my takeaways:

• Clients are investing in their families instead of in the conflict.
• They are paying for us to get out of the way.
• Teamwork, Teamwork, Teamwork!
• Communication among professional team members is key.
• Inclusion versus exclusion.
• 2015 IACP Client Experience Survey Results (higher than 95% satisfaction, higher than I thought).
• Professionals in other states face the same issues we do (i.e., pushback from clients on using neutral team members).
• The more mental health support clients have from the beginning eases the divorce process for them.
• The importance of practice groups is that all Collaborative clients hear the same message.
• The power of the process is that as a team, we can come together and work through various personality disorders and help them come together for the benefit of their children.
• Oftentimes the answer to a challenge is to connect with the other professionals.
• The value of the coaching aspect can go far beyond the divorce.
• Transforming legal problems into opportunities for personal growth and positive change.
• Behavior----->Feeling----->Needs (meet the needs, not focus on the behavior which are the symptoms).
• Beliefs are just thoughts we think are true; we acquire most unconsciously; we believe other people's beliefs that we do not agree with are not truth yet we believe our beliefs are truths even though others do not agree.
• Different is not wrong (using the Enneagram diagram)
• Be open to being wrong.
• By choosing empowering beliefs they/we can change our reality for the better.
• Your history is not necessarily your future but it is based upon your choice.
• Jack Canfield (E+R+O= Events---->Response----->Outcome)
• We don't have relationships with other people; we have relationships with the stories we have created about other people (THIS IS SO PROFOUND TO ME!!)
• We can choose to give up the practice of blaming someone when something goes wrong.
• "Hatred is like Gorilla Glue" Philip J. Daunt