Solution Focused Practice

This paper reviews different options for helping people faced with a difficult decision. This can be a particularly challenging context, where the standard solution focused (SF) approach of leaping into the future may not be instantly effective. Ten options for using SF methods to work with decision and dilemma situations are identified. Readers will not be short of possibilities when working with clients facing tough choices.

For years, I have been working as a social worker and family therapist with people suffering from mental problems. Taking a Solution Focused Approach, I have been hired by the local Jobcenter to mentor them and help them cope with challenges of being lonely and isolated, without education or work, and for some of them with no hope for the future.
The mentoring model as formulated by Solutionsbywulf, Denmark, have been developed and shaped during the last 4 years and it still growing and changing, being organic and dynamic. By 2016 the average mentee were between 20-29 years and diagnosed with either schizophrenic, depressive, anxiety, stress, isolation or a mix of all. Most of them lived in their own flat, although some were homeless. Half of them men and half of them women, and none of them were in employment, only few in education. The strength of our mentoring model is the flexibility in the activities and interventions, and a holistic perspective on the client, which brings back humanity in social work.

The idea of leader as host came to me very suddenly on 16th February 2003, during a seminar by Matthias Varga von Kibéd and Insa Sparrer. It seems to me that the metaphor of leader as host offers a view on leadership that is at once rooted in millennia of practice and at the same time is something new and timely. Such metaphors are very important in my view – they offer a rich and broad set of ideas about leadership in a way which allows interpretation into many different reallife situations. Rather than a prescription, such metaphors offer us a way to engage with often difficult situations and quickly alter our thinking to come from another place. Building on the existing ideas of heroic and servant leadership, I hope you will find inspiration of a very practical kind in the metaphor and practice of the host.

Sind Führungskräfte anders? Dies Frage stellte sich mir als erstes als ich mit Peter Plöger über einen Gastbeitrag in diesem Buch sprach. Ich coache seit 1996 Führungskräfte aus der mittleren und obersten Führungsebene zu den verschiedensten beruflichen Fragestellungen, unter anderem auch im Rahmen von Karrierecoachings zur beruflichen Neuorientierung oder beruflichen Weiterentwicklung. Meiner eigenen Erfahrung nach handelt es sich hier um " ganz normale Menschen " , die im Karrierecoaching ähnliche Lösungen suchen, wie alle anderen, die in den Fallbeispielen in diesem Buch beschrieben werden. Aber natürlich ist dies auch mein Blick auf meine Kunden, mit denen ich vertraut bin, und so bin ich mir nicht sicher, in wie weit die " Normalität " auf meine Wahrnehmung zurück zu führen ist und in wie weit darauf, das Führungskräfte in der Karriereberatung wirklich nicht so anders sind. Um Ihnen einen eigenen Eindruck zu ermöglichen, stelle ich nach einigen allgemeinen Überlegungen im Folgenden hauptsächlich Fallstudien vor. Die Katze beißt sich in den Schwanz Die Lösungen und die Unterstützung, die sich Führungskräfte bei einem Karrierecoaching erwarten, sind denen von " Nicht-Führungskräften " ähnlich. Die Unterschiede scheinen mir, wenn überhaupt, in den Herausforderungen zu liegen, vor denen Führungskräfte stehen. So ist, zum Beispiel, das Netzwerken mit dem Ziel der beruflichen Neuorientierung für eine Führungskraft, die sich noch in ungekündigter Position befindet, schwieriger als für einen Mitarbeiter ohne Führungsverantwortung. Gerade, wenn die Führungskraft eine Aufgabe bekleidet, für die es ein ganz spezifisches Anforderungsprofil gibt, birgt dies einige Schwierigkeiten: Die Mitglieder der Führungsebenen in diesem Bereich kennen sich durch die verschiedensten Gremien, Konferenzen, etc. und die Buschtrommel kann schnell dazu führen, dass ein Wunsch nach Veränderung der Position schneller bekannt wird, als der Führungskraft lieb ist. Zudem ist die Auswahl an geeigneten neuen Positionen für Führungskräfte geringer als für Mitarbeiter ohne Führungsverantwortung. Umso wesentlicher wäre wahrscheinlich das Netzwerken, was wieder durch die oben genannten Umstände erschwert wird. Ich habe schon häufig Führungskraft gecoacht, die schon recht lange dieser Katze zusahen, wie sie sich in den Schwanz beißt. Klare Karriereplanung Große Unternehmen werben schon meist im Vorstellungsgespräch Bewerbern gegenüber mit den Entwicklungsmöglichkeiten, die sich engagierten Mitarbeitern in diesem Unternehmen bieten. Inzwischen gibt es auch in vielen Unternehmen vorgezeichnete Laufbahnen, die entweder in die Richtung der Übernahme von immer größerer Führungsverantwortung oder auf eine Spezialistenlaufbahn zielen. Fachkräften in der Spezialistenlaufbahn wird die Teilnahme an Fortbildungen, Konferenzen zur fachlichen Weiterentwicklung ermöglicht. Im Führungskräftebereich werden eher Coaching und auch Führungskräfteentwicklungsprogramme dazu eingesetzt, diesen

In February 2007, Kirsten Dierolf had the opportunity to visit Prof. Rom Harré at Georgetown University to sit in on some of his classes and produce an interview. Mark McKergow and Kirsten Dierolf had been interested in discursive psychology and the Wittgensteinian connection for a while -this interview was the first live contact which led to many interesting developments like Wittgenstein scholar Danièle Moyal-Sharrock's and Rom Harré's visits to SOL conferences and a more informed understanding about where SF fits in the overall landscape of philosophy. Rom Harré and Fathali M. Moghaddam have just published a new textbook, Psychology for the Third Millennium (Sage Publications 2012, reviewed elsewhere in this issue) in which many of the ideas in this interview are delineated in much more detail: a fascinating and very relevant read.

This team coaching process summarizes the experiential and experimental demo conducted at the2019 SOLworld Conference inBudapest. Based on the responses of the participants and other feedback, the team coaching model using theDOQ (Dialogic Orientation Quadrant)is elaborated in detail, with useful inquiries and processes.

Zusammenfassung in deutscher Sprache Dieser Artikel beschreibt die " Eckpunkte " lösungsfokussierte Beratung nach Steve de Shazer und Insoo Kim Berg und des Brief Family Therapy Centers in Milwaukee. Auf einen kurzen Überblick über die Geschichte lösungsfo-kussierte Beratung und die für diese Beratungsform typischen Vorgehens-weisen folgt eine Kurzeinführung in die Philosophie lösungsfokussierte Be-ratung und ein Überblick über die vielen Anwendungsfelder lösungsfokus-sierte Beratung.

Viktor E. Frankl put forward a revolutionary approach to
psychotherapy known as logotherapy, referring to the Greek
word ‘logos’ for ‘meaning’. The following article outlines the
basic assumptions and ideas of Viktor E. Frankl’s logotherapy starting with the Frankl’s concept of man and his
philosophy of life. Furthermore, it delivers insight into
resources of the human spirit such as will to meaning, task
orientation, conscience, self-transcendence, self-distancing
and humour – logotherapy’s medicine chest. The article
explores what ‘meaning’ in the context of logotherapy means
and ways to discover meaning by use of improvisation, individualisation, dereflection, modification of attitudes and
guideposts to meaning. In the course of this article some
parallels and differences with reference to Solution-Focused
thinking are mentioned as a basis for further exploration.

Source: InterAction - The Journal of Solution Focus in Organisations, Volume 2, Number 1, May 2010, pp. 27-47(21)
Publisher: SFCT

We present a potential new view of solution focused brief therapy (SFBT), based on the development of descriptions in therapy conversations. This version of SFBT leaves out many accepted aspects of the model, so far, including: tasks, end of session compliments, exceptions to the problem and compliments.  We address the issue of theory in solution focused practice and make a distinction between theory as mechanism and explanation – a ‘scientific’ approach, and more philosophical theory which can act as a useful guide to attention for practitioners. We point to potential connections between this view of SF work and recent developments in the field of enactive cognition and post-Wittgensteinian philosophy of mind, including narrative philosophy.

Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is routinely practiced in schools throughout the UK by Educational Psychologists (EPs) and school based counsellors with children and adolescents. Reasons for this include: (1) brief commitment requirements necessary to affect change; (2) an emerging evidence base endorsing its effectiveness, and (3) congruence between SFBT and social constructionist approaches that challenge limiting beliefs about the agency and potential of young people with Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties (BESD).
This case study reflects on the effectiveness of a three session SFBT episode with a young person with BESD in one secondary school using the Child Outcome Rating Scale (CORS) and Goal Progress Chart (GPC). Small gains were found in CORS measures and sustained improvements in measures of GPC were recorded from baseline to endpoint three months later. Although these results do not provide unequivocally support for SFBT, the benefits may have been offset by the young person’s experience of a bereavement during the therapeutic period.
The study endorses the utility of SFBT when working with adolescents with BESD in schools, but also highlight limitations in the use of the CORS instrument to evaluate progress. Suggestions are made as to how these limitations may be overcome.

The current paper looks at Solution Focused (SF) work in a novel way – as an aesthetic (what makes it beautiful?) as opposed to a method (how do you do it?). This term comes from the art world, where different schools of painting can be described as having different aesthetics.  Starting with a definition of the term, I propose five elements of an SF aesthetic: brevity, client autonomy, radical acceptance, staying at the surface and valuing small differences.  While these are not present in every piece of SF work, they are things that we strive for, qualities that bring me (at least) satisfaction, cheer and reasons to continue to support, promote and develop SF

Exciting and transformative changes are taking place in the field of peace and conflict work. By expanding current paradigmatic thinking, more holistic interpretations of peace, methods for transforming conflicts, and implications for peaceworkers are being introduced. However, contrary to its intent, much of peacework is still predominantly conflict-focused. This runs the risk of contributing to further imbalance in conflictive systems, and missing important opportunities for transformation.
This thesis seeks to counterbalance that tendency by providing an alternative approach to conflict analysis. Drawing on the epistemological framework of transrational peace philosophy and its corresponding method of elicitive conflict transformation, and combining this with assumptions underlying solution-focused practice, the proposed approach encourages practitioners to make experiences of peace the primary point of focus. To this end it asks: How can elicitive conflict transformation and solution-focused practice be brought together to enrich the current practice of elicitive peacework in constructive and innovative ways?
Based on cross-disciplinary, literature-based research, coupled with a personal exploratory case study, this thesis expands on current practices by contributing a peace-focused approach. Augmented by practical application, conclusions are drawn which support the idea that a peace- focused approach may lead to more constructive processes than what has historically been the result of the dominant, problem-focused approach.

Janet Bavelas is an active Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of Victoria, Canada. She was co-author of Pragmatics of Human Communication (1967) with Paul
Watzlawick and Don Jackson and has conducted experimental research on face-to-face dialogue and communication for half a century, authoring dozens of papers, chapters, and two
further books. Janet was at the Mental Research Institute around the time of the birth of Brief Therapy and is now again producing groundbreaking research in this area with SFT colleagues, doing microanalysis of therapeutic conversations. She was an invited speaker at the SFCT research conference Orienting Solutions 2013, at the University of Hertfordshire, UK.

New York, 2013 Heidelberg et. al.: Springer. 345 pp. Review by Kirsten Derolf F rank N. Thomas ends his book saying: "My goal for this book is to provide a resource for supervisory excellence. It can only be realised if one acts -' Act always so as to increase the number of choices' (von Foerster, 184, p. 308)" and he fully achieves this goal. This book offers an incredible wealth of resources for supervisors (and not only for supervisors).

Nowadays everybody owns a cell phone and knows how to text. This is a new format of communication, where the cell phone (and almost any digital media) puts time and place out of order and thus gives us an opportunity to text 24-7.
In my practice as coach and social worker, I received many text messages from clients, and I discovered, that sometimes it took them hours to formulate and construct a text message. I then became curious about, how my responses could be helpful for the clients: how could I respond in
another way, that just by a quick reply as “oh, let’s talk about this when we meet next week”. I designed a master-thesis on this topic and have microanalysed 12 text dialogues by focusing on
questions and formulations.
What happens in the client’s responses when the coach asks questions
based in Solution Focused assumptions, and what impact does the coach’s choice of formulationshave on the text dialogue?
This article will attempt to answer these questions and present some ideas on how to use text messages as a dialogical tool in practice. Furthermore, the article will point out the benefits of using text dialogues and offer perspectives on where it can be used.

Group. It explores how leadership development using a 360° feedback process is traditionally conducted and offers a Solution Focused perspective as an alternative. The SF 360° process is described in four steps. The probable effects are described and contrasted to traditional systems.

This paper discusses how creating a temporary learning community using a Solution Focused approach (SF) can effectively engage participants from the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) community, with students of business studying in Higher Education (HE) while still satisfying the requirements for the latter group’s academic assessment towards a Masters degree.Policy makers for the last three decades have increasingly introduced measures to support SMEs but business owner managers frequently say they need answers to their business challenges in the context of their ‘life world’ and spurn HE management programmes such as MBAs. HE institutions cite the SME community as very difficult to engage yet continueto maintain institutional barriers. Some scholars say that efforts are not made in HE to align programmes with owner managers needs. Recently entrepreneurship education has become a burgeoning field of practice and study in HE. Withinthis field, SF approaches are ideal for engaging both business owners and students within learning communities and a partial account of a Masters programme that utilises SF is offered as an illustrative case. SF approaches in this educational context are then discussed as desirable by comparison with the critical literature regarding entepreneurship education.

Large scale changes and transformation are usually long-term journeys especially in public sector and archiving systemic change requires builders mindset. In this article I introduce two tools I use with clients and client organizations when building transformative learning and agility inchange.

The dominant approaches to addressing trauma within the context of peace work are inconsistent with its primary aim, which I believe is to elicit and amplify peace. Many methods used for dealing with the effects of trauma focus on identifying root causes and the problems associated with these. I believe it is inherently violent to ask someone to dive deeper into the details of their trauma for the purposes of helping to transform it, especially if there is another way of doing so. What I am proposing in this article is an alternate way. One which focuses on the hopes, resiliencies, inner strengths, and resources that are always present, yet which can be overlooked, especially when dealing with trauma — a peace-focused approach.

We present a potential new view of solution focused brief therapy (SFBT), based on the development of descriptions in therapy conversations. This version of SFBT leaves out many accepted aspects of the model, so far, including: tasks, end of session compliments, exceptions to the problem and compliments. We address the issue of theory in solution focused practice and make a distinction between theory as mechanism and explanation – a ‘scientific’ approach, and more philosophical theory which can act as a useful guide to attention for practitioners. We point to potential connections between this view of SF work and recent developments in the field of enactive cognition and post-Wittgensteinian philosophy of mind, including narrative philosophy.

Viktor E. Frankl put forward a revolutionary approach to psychotherapy known as logotherapy, referring to the Greek word 'logos' for 'meaning'. The following article outlines the basic assumptions and ideas of Viktor E. Frankl's logother-apy starting with the Frankl's ...

SolutionSurfers describe the experience gained in 15 years of training Brief Coaches. The focus is on congruency between content and method and delivery and enabling the participants to learn by actively exploring and developing their own content of learning: " Learning by doing ". A description of SolutionSurfers workshop on respectful ways of " not answering participants' questions " held at the SFCT trainers conference in 2011 illustrates these principles.