A ‘threshold concept,’ as our friend and colleague Andrew Rixon explains, is a core principle that a learner must grasp to truly master a new topic. These concepts are often counter-intuitive, so much so that students can be reluctant to accept them.
What, then, are the threshold concepts for someone learning Solutions Focus?
It turns out there are quite a few! But here’s the big one: the problem and the solution may have no logical connection.
At home, you often lose your slippers. You wonder, ‘Why does this keep happening? What’s wrong with me?’ Or even,’ What makes slippers so elusive?’ But all of that thinking does nothing to warm your feet. Instead of agonising over the mystery of vanishing slippers, you could just pop on a pair of socks.
At work, you’re leading a team that isn’t performing well. You could hire consultants to uncover the root causes, perhaps there are five dysfunctions at play. Or, using a Solutions Focus approach, you could skip the deep dive into problems and instead try a small, productive change. For example, one of our clients found that simply starting team meetings with a positive check-in of ‘What’s gone well since we last met?’, led to a surprising improvement in morale and results.
Accepting this threshold concept means realising you don’t need to fully understand a problem – why you keep losing slippers, why your team is underperforming – as long as you know what you want: warm feet now, a team hitting its targets this month.
It’s natural to feel like you should analyse a problem before moving forward. But it can be costly and frustrating to get stuck there. You may do better to take a step towards what you do want and enjoy the new state of affairs, when the problem has quietly disappeared or no longer seems to matter.