Blog

Hard problems, easy solutions

13/11/2017

The problem might be hard, but the solution can be easy. That’s a central insight of a solutions-focused approach. If we get too tangled up in thinking about the problem, analysing it and talking about it, we might miss the simplicity of doing something different – which may well be unrelated to the problem in any obvious way, yet improve things quickly. A nice example here, in this Guardian Weekend column by Oliver Burkeman.

What’s the best question to start with in a workshop or coaching session?

30/10/2017

Our opening words inevitably contain assumptions, destiny-filled assumptions which can shape the rest of the conversation.

What if we start with ’What’s the problem?'. That assumes a problem, which we’ll now have to talk about and then try to solve.

Bulgarian solution-focused practitioner Plamen Panayotov proposes, ‘What question brought you here today?’

The Solutions Focus Book

What’s the impact of visualisation on motivation?

24/7/2017

A participant on a recent webinar cited a study he’d heard about, saying that visualising a goal can be counter-productive to one’s motivation. Apparently, there’s a danger of feeling that you’ve already accomplished your objective, so you put less effort into doing it ‘again’ for real.

For a solutions-focused practitioner, this seems more about the danger of extrapolating too much from a single research project than about the value of visualisation. There’s obvious value for an individual or a team in the clarity gained by visualising the goal. The depiction of the Future Perfect in detail also provides useful signs by which to measure progress. And it encourages reflecting on the benefits of the various aspects of the goal – which again will provoke and boost motivation. I’m not sure how you would gain those benefits without somehow visualising what’s wanted in glorious detail.

Nor is the Future Perfect visualisation the end of the typical coaching process. First, in a detailed articulation of a vision, we not only see it, we speak it, unearthing more and more detail. And then we also explore resources and consider the next small steps. Those additional elements should be more than enough to avoid any loss of motivation.

The Solutions Focus Future Perfect

Have a look at all of our SF TOOLS on one page.

I’d love to take a solutions focus, but I can’t let go of the problem

12/6/2017

Many clients have difficulty in letting go of their problem. It’s not surprising. They have lived with the problem for a while; the problem is giving them trouble and it’s worthy of respect. Yet the solution-focused practitioner pops up to say the problem may have nothing to do with the solution – and remind them that it’s the solution that the client wants. That may make sense logically, but from the client’s perspective that can be tough to accept emotionally.

Solution focused conversations

The logical thread of better conversations

5/6/2017

We are all familiar with tricky conversations in our organisations - the ones you put off for as long as possible or perhaps never have at all. But suppose you could handle these conversations in the best way imaginable, what difference would that make?

What difference would it make it to you, to your team and to your organisation? Each conversation has an impact on your ultimate results, as there is an inevitable logical thread between you, your team and your organisation’s performance.

Difficult Conversations

5 Top tips for building your resilience | Janine

24/4/2017

“A good half of the art of living is resilience.”
― Alain de Botton

It’s tempting to think that resilience is a fixed personality trait, maybe even something that we are born with. But be reassured, the ability to bounce back from failure and to cope with everyday difficulties is something that can be learned and developed by anyone.

Here are five top tips that can help you build your resilience.

The Solutions Focus Resilience Management Pocketbook

I hear your pain

27/3/2017

People sometimes suspect that Solutions Focus practitioners underestimate the seriousness of their clients’ issues. People have problems, dammit, lots of problems. And these problems profoundly affect them. They are troublesome, nasty, frightening. So don’t ignore our complaints or our pain, as you start questing for solutions, they say.

No need to complain about people complaining | Paul

20/2/2017

Complaining is natural. For some people I know, it is virtually an art from. And complaining clients is not something that is going to stop a good solutions-focused practitioner in their tracks.

Ranting and venting of steam can have their place within an SF conversation. It's OK for people to have feelings (of any type) and to express them. As a webinar participant put it neatly the other day, ‘we all experience the Present Imperfect' .

People complaining are mostly going into detail about aspects of their issue that they don't want. If you listen carefully, you can find or deduce a strand in there too about what they do want - and which they are willing to address.

Our task as coaches, therapists or consultants is to discover that strand and amplify that part of the conversation.

© Simpsoncrazy

Sleeping with President Trump

16/2/2017

One of the most important ideas in Solutions Focus is that the problem is not necessarily related to the solution. And this notion seems odd to many people. They wonder how can you get to a solution if you don't start with a problem.

A first step may be to imagine various issues where there is no problem.

Bringing it all back home | Janine

17/10/2016

Business people often complain that they bring the trials and tribulations of work home with them. During weekends and evenings, rather than fully engaging in social activities with families and friends, they find that their minds wander back to the office and the problems and challenges piled up there.

Given that we care about our work, this isn’t too surprising. We take it seriously as it’s important to us. At the extreme, we let our jobs define who and what we are. Yet we also care at least as much about our families, our communities and our valuable free time.

Let’s re-consider this equation.