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.

How can a coach come up with useful questions on the spot?

7/8/2017

How do you know what to say when a client answers your question? Most of the time you did not know what your client was going to say. That was why you asked the question.

Knowing what to do next at that precise moment has a great deal to do with paying attention to language. And what we say will depend on our assumptions.

The Solutions Focus Positively Speaking

Is Solutions Focus a science, an art or a craft?

10/7/2017

At a recent conference, SF practitioner Chris Iveson reminded us that SF is neither a science nor an art, but a craft.

It’s a craft that may take practice, but it is basically simple. There are a few things we need to do as coaches or therapists. And it is a good idea to learn to do them well.

Then we can easily be tempted to add on various optional extras, which we hope look good. Yes, that is very tempting.

Or we may prefer to keep our practice pared down and minimal. And if that is possible, we can do so with an appreciation that the rest is decoration. The pure craft is enough.

The Solutions Focus Book

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.

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.

Taking it personally | Janine

14/11/2016

How often do people tell you not to take things personally? It's one of those annoying generalisations that seems highly significant yet whose meaning is elusive.

In a recent coaching call, my client announced that she didn't want to take things so personally. She said her husband had repeatedly asked her not to take work issues so personally, as he felt it generated anxiety and negativity that was destroying their relationship.

Competencies and strengths: how useful are these ideas?

4/7/2016

The fashion for competencies in organisations has been overtaken by an enthusiasm for strengths. This is thanks to the impact of positive psychologists. But what are their respective uses for organisations? Is it competencies for recruitment, then strengths for development?

Can we use both? Or may we be better off - from an SF perspective - with neither?

Getting more resilient – A useful distinction between everyday stress and high-stakes pressure

20/6/2016

There’s a direct connection between resilience and other qualities that we recognise as positive and desirable in people. Courage, for example, is displayed when people feel strong. And that strength is the same as the feeling of resilience to the pressures that surround you.

The question then is how to deal with pressure. And it’s worth making a distinction between stress - the stuff of everyday life that you must constantly deal with, and pressure - the special, peak moments when you are on the pitch and the crowd is watching as you take the penalty.

You feel the stress only at the times when you lack the immediate resources to handle and deal with the contingencies of everyday life. Pressure is when the consequences are ramped up and there is (apparently) more at stake, with more people caring about the outcomes.

You may want to take extra measures to equip yourself for pressure, such as training, coaching, practicing with simulations. The key to dealing with everyday stress is your collection of coping tactics. These may be different from your special strategies for managing pressure.

The connection between them is that you should maintain yourself in good condition against the everyday stresses, so that you have plenty in reserve for those heightened, high-stake moments of pressure.

Finding what works for the elderly | Paul

4/4/2016

If elderly people are moved into sheltered accommodation or care homes, they suddenly face many problems, often including a sense of dislocation. It would be easy to discuss or investigate how bad this problem is, exactly what troubling effects it leads to, and other problem-focused lines of inquiry. Another option would be to do something worthwhile to give the new residents more of the feeing they want - of something familiar.

I was talking with Dutch colleagues, who told me of one care home which took photos of their residents' old front doors, printed them life-sized and used them to cover each of the residents’ respective new front doors. The residents found this helped them enormously. Very neat! What could better prompt that feeling of being at home (given that you no longer can be), than returning each day to your own front door?

Heard any interesting examples of solutions thinking recently? Please let us know...

Positive Psychology and Solutions Focus - a start to compare and contrast | Paul

8/7/2011

Positive Psychology (PP) and Solutions Focus (SF) are different enterprises. Their practitioners are aiming at different targets. The nature of PP is academic, the pursuit of understanding; SF is about the pragmatic application of a set of principles and tools, perhaps best described as finding the direct route to what works.

That may highlight a difference in disciplines, yet there is a great vista of common ground – particularly when you look at practitioners who label themselves as within the PP and SF camps. Many of each are professional coaches, which makes it possible to compare and contrast the approaches within that specific field. We can observe how each group is taught and how each practises, for example.