Written by My Collaborative Team President, Edward S. Sachs, ACP

I consider myself to be a highly trained Collaborative Professional who is at the top of his game.  On Thursday at our Advanced Training and again on Friday at Happy Hour I learned one huge lesson:  

THERE IS STILL SO MUCH TO LEARN!

We had the pleasure of hearing David Fink, Emily DeFalla and Kerry Wallis take us all to school with their Advanced Paradigm Shift presentation.  And then Emily joined us on Friday to further the discussion.  On Thursday we were confronted by three great California Collaborative attorneys who didn’t talk about the law once, touched briefly on our Collaborative ethics and then explained how the keep to a successful Collaborative matter is to listen to your clients and figure out what makes them tick.

We learned about providing the clients and the professional team with psychological safety in the Process.  On Friday when I talked about a current case in which the wife has needed substantial emotional support from the team, Emily took us even further into our need to continually question why.  Why do you feel that way?  Why do you feel you need that outcome?  Why? Why? Why?  

They opened my eyes even further to understanding that no matter what role we play in the Process, we must always keep the client’s emotional issues up front.  We can’t solve their concerns or reach their goals without first understanding and addressing “the elephant in the room.”  And if people are getting divorced, there is almost always an elephant present.

As Jeff Wasserman so eloquently put it on Friday, “If you aren’t attending the MCT Advanced Trainings and Friday Happy Hour, you are missing out on some of the most advanced Collaborative learning available.