The Solutions Focus

Management for Engineers Adisorn Tanprasert

Introducing The Solutions Focus

• Is a proven, simple, effective approach to change

• Is being applied increasingly in a range of organizational and business contexts including coaching, facilitation, consulting and change leadership

• Offers novel and useful perspectives in any situation where change is wanted and people are involved

The Solutions Focus

is a methodology based on:

• Finding what works and doing more of it

• Finding what doesn't work and doing something different

• Finding and using resources

• Building on successes

• Taking great care to simplify issues as far as possible, but no further

Advantages of the Solutions Focus approach

• It's a quick and direct way to find a significant action that generates change towards what you want.

• It's interactional rather than psychological; resource-based rather than problem-focused; proven by research - with its deep background of decades of practice in the people professions.

• It's based on drawing out know-how, resources, skills, success stories and ideas for action that fit the context at hand

Solution Focus’s Pioneers.

• Solution Focused practice has its roots in the therapeutic approach devised by Insoo Kim Berg and Steve de Shazer at BFTC Milwaukee. The approach values simplicity in philosophy and language and aims to discover "what works" in a given situation, simply and practically. The focus on solutions (not problems), the future (not the past) and on what's going well (rather than what's gone wrong) leads to a positive and pragmatic way to work with organisations and individuals.

Three main tenets of solutions focused work.

1. If it ain't broke, don't fix it

2. Once you know what works, do more of it

3. If it's not working, do something different

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

By 'broke', we mean that somebody in the organization wants

something to be different. We start to work with the people who want something different and are prepared to do something about it

- not the others.

Once you know what works, do more of it.

• If you note when the solution is happening already, whether spontaneously, by accident, or even only in part, you have priceless knowledge

If it's not working, do something different.

• Although we usually make progress by using tenet 2, occasionally something else is required. It sounds simple, doesn't it? And it is. But simple is not the same as easy, and we are still surprised by the lure that problem talk holds - for those who want differences in their lives and organizations, and for those whose job it is to help them

Keeping it SIMPLE

A key aspect distinguishing aspect of SF is simplicity - in terms of philosophy,

language, directness and presence. We have characterized solutions focused practice by the six SIMPLE principles

Staying simple - and SIMPLE

is the key to maintaining a solutions focus. The key lies in keeping things as simple - and

SIMPLE - as possible. But no simpler.

six SIMPLE principles

Solutions - not problems

In-between, not individual - the action is in the interaction

Make use of what's there - not what isn't

Possibilities - from past, present and future

Language - simply said

Every case is different - beware ill-fitting theory

Solutions Focus’s Tools

These principles can be used in many ways. One of the most common is in the form of our six Solutions Tools:

– Platform - where are we starting from? – Future Perfect - what if the problem went

away overnight? – Scaling - where are we now? – Counters - whatever helps us forward – Affirm - what's already going well? – Small Actions - tiny next steps that make

big differences

PLATFORM

FUTURE PERFECT

AFFIRM

SMALL STEP

10

5

0

S C A L E

COUNTER

DATABASE

References.

• Yoshio Kondo, Companywide Quality Control: Its Background and Development, Printed in Japan translate by J.H. Loftus, 3A Corporation, July 1995.

• Paul Z. Jackson and Mark McKergow., The Solutions Focus: The S.I.M.P.L.E Way to Positive Change., Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2002

• Mark McKergow., The Solutions Focus: Keeping It SIMPLE in the Learning Organization, Published in a German translation by Mag. Sonja Radetz as 'Der Lösungfokus in der Beratung - Keep it simple", Lernende Organisation (Vienna) No 10 (Nov/Dec 2002), pp 28-33.

• Thomas L. Barton, William G. Shenkir, Paul L. Walker., Making Enterprise Risk Management Pay Off: How Leading Companies Implement Risk Management., Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2002

• Kendy Rossi, Tricia Lustig & Mark McKergow, A Comparison of Appreciative Inquiry and Solutions Focus, 200

Useful WWW.

• Sites relating to solution focused therapy: Brief Family Therapy Centre, Milwaukee - the home of Solution Focused Brief Therapy Bill O'Hanlon's Possibility Centre Michael Durrant including an excellent selection of SF links ISTC Harry Korman Joel Simon, New York State, USA Brief Therapy Practice, London - training, educational applications, conferences Solutionfocus, Denmark - training, therapy, events ILK - Institut für lösungsfokussierte Kommunikation, Bielefeld - therapy, training, coaching, supervision Eileen Murphy Consultants - SF training, particularly for schools and community projects in the UK Brief Therapy North East - a regional network for Solution Focused practitioners working in the North East of the UK www.masterswork.com, DVDs and videos of leaders in SF and social construction, inc Matthias Varga and Steve de Shazer

• The Solution Focused Therapy listserver provides a forum for discussion of solution focused therapy and related ideas: How to subscribe to SFT-L

Useful WWW.

• Other organizations using Solutions Focus in the workplace that we know and recommend www.solutionsurfers.com Peter Szabo's site with Skaleboards and much more Weiterbildungsforum Basel - Coaching and coach training in Switzerland with Peter Szabo www.solution-focused-management.com, Belgium. Louis Cauffman's 8-step Dance of solution focused management. www.syst-strukturaufstellungen.de/ Matthias Varga von Kibéd and Insa Sparrer's institute for Systemic Stuctural Constellations and Solution Focused work Institute for Systemic Coaching and Training in Vienna, runs conferences and trainings on all aspects of systemic work www.korn.ch/team-process-modules/index.htm Hans-Peter Korn's 'Playground for Team Solutions' - an interactive hyper-show Ben Furman's Reteaming homepages (Finland) FKC Mellansjö school - The most SF organisation in the world? Charlie Johnson's Solutions Group (USA) Tony Grant, University of Sydney Coaching Psychology Unit Lynn Johnson, Solutions Consulting Group Fletcher Peacock Enterprises: Solution Focused Communication, seminars and talks, based in Quebec, Canada. Includes information in French. Loesbar, platform for SF coaching in Switzerland with Daniel Meier http://www.agens.as - AGENS Positiv Utvikling SF and other positive approaches in Norway Solutions Solutions John Sproson, SF training for sales people and others http://www.handlungsspielraeume.com Kati Hankovsky, team and individual SF coaching & training, also in German and Hungarian