What happens when you accidentally give people a taste of Solutions Focus? | Paul

​I was running a two-day course in Facilitation Skills, teaching a bunch of tips and tools, especially those neat processes into which you can put pretty much any content.
 
This particular format was a series of rotating pairs. It was near the end of the programme, so I quickly made up a few questions which each set of paired partners could ask each other.
 

The activity ran smoothly and the participants raced back to their chairs to make notes. ‘What were those questions we just asked?’, they demanded. ‘What do you remember them to be?’, I parried - still in facilitator mode.

It so happened that my questions were all flavoured with a solutions focus. That’s because SF is the way that I think, even though in terms of the format we were learning the wording of the questions was irrelevant...

 
These were the questions:

• What was a highlight of the course for you?
• What was something that you realised about facilitation?
• What was something that you were pleased to have realised about yourself?
• What are you particularly keen to put into action?

 
Beyond the way that the activity ran, the participants had noticed the effect of those questions. They said that they had created a very positive and motivational feeling. And that was the difference that made a difference for them. 
 
Knowing how to create this difference is far from obvious. Asking 'What are you particularly keen to put into action?' seems pretty similar to asking the blunter ‘What are you going to do?’. Yet the impact is not the same. Which I guess is good news for Solutions Focus practitioners. It means that there are still plenty of people to whom to introduce SF. Where are you particularly keen to start making a difference today? 
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Advanced Facilitation Masterclass in London

28-29 September 2017, 10am - 5pm
The Poor School, 242 Pentonville Road, Kings Cross, N1 9JY