About John Ford
Testimonials | Experiences in Southern Africa
John Ford, BA LLB (UCT) is an experienced workplace mediator and soft-skills trainer.
John studied law at the University of Cape Town before moving to Namibia where he practiced from 1988 to 1995. Initially, he focused on representing survivors of human-rights abuses. After Namibian independence in 1990, his focus shifted to labor and employment law.
John moved to California in 1996 and trained as a mediator. He has since successfully mediated hundreds of workplace disputes and has worked with numerous teams to help them deal successfully with conflict.
John has provided training to thousands of employees at all levels in the workplace, across a wide range of industries. His workshops focus on the development of soft skills such as communication, negotiation, facilitation, conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, customer service and mediation.
Currently, John teaches negotiation and mediation at UC Law SF (formerly UC Hastings). He has taught organizational collaboration online through Creighton University, organizational conflict management through JFK University, and mediation to graduate business and psychology students at Golden Gate University.
He is a past president of the Association for Dispute Resolution of Northern California (ADRNC) and was the managing editor of www.mediate.com from 2000 to 2010. Currently, he is a member of the Association for Conflict Resolution, ADRNC and the Society for Human Resource Managers (SHRM).
John was the trainer of a two-day Mastering Workplace Mediation seminar for members of the New Concept Human Resources Association (NCHRA) for 10 years. It is this training and his passion to make the world a more peaceful place that has inspired him to write his book Peace at Work: The HR Manager’s Guide to Workplace Mediation.