All Blog Posts (254)

My Dutch book on SF Leadership [Oplossingsgericht Leidinggeven] has been nominated in Holland as Managementbook of the Year 2012.

I am looking for an English publisher, so if you can help me, please let me know!

 I have managed to get a slot in on Local FM radio to discuss Solution Focus coaching. 

I am going on air on 8th February 2012.

Any tips please?

Carey Glass, one of the editors of InterAction, posed this question to us all after publication of the article in the latest InterAction bt Christine Kuch and Susanne Burgstaller - Their article is available at…

The workshop is coming closer so this is a last chance to decide if you want to combine a visit to wonderful Copenhagen with a wonderful solution focused experience through a two day workshop in SF conflict management 24.-25. of January.

Send me a mail if you are coming from abroad - theres a special deal for non-residents.

More info about the workshop: …

Kalimera dear fellow SF practitioners

We are happy to announce that the registration for the SOL Summer Retreat 2012 on Hydra is now open and early bird fees are available.

You find all details here: http://www.solworld.org/events/kalimera-sol-summer-retreat-2012-hydra-may-17-21-2012

We are all very much looking forward to sharing, taking a break,…

I tried to make a summary, if anybody could add, this would be great

Microanalysis%20and%20SF.docx

In a brilliant introduction to his presentation on Microanalysis, Harry Korman told his audience, “Give me feedback or I die.  When I look at you I need you to nod.”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

... So I felt great about our training.

I checked in daily, and I was comforted to see it was not just an impression of mine :)

On the final day, I was happy to see that on a scale from 1 to 10, where 10 was meeting all their learning goals, beyond their wildest expectations, and 1 the opposite of that, they rated themselves to be 8.5 or more (some at 8.5, others at 10) on that scale.

I was…

Dimension Time Cost Operator

Dimension Time Cost Operator (DTC) – A TRIZ tool for for seeing problems differently exploring ideas of extremes in size, time and cost. The DTC Operator can work to release…

If you are ever lucky enough to be handed one of my business cards, as well as my pretty face on it you’ll see a question:  it asks, ‘What do you want?’ 

It does so because this is a central question in any solution-focused (SF) conversation.  As a question it may seem an obvious one to ask in many contexts – it is difficult, for example, to imagine getting very far as an organisational consultant or as a coach without it.  

But in other settings, such as medicine, that’s not…

I was very honoured to be asked by Heike Schemmel to host a discussion group on the 'evolution of SF Theory' at the recent EBTA conference in Dresden, October 2011.  The invited participants alongside me were Gale Miller, Rayya Ghul and Kirsten Dierolf.   Also participating were Michael Durrant, Michael Hjerth, Carey Glass, Jenny Clarke, Bertil Andersson,  Wolfgang Gaiswinkler, Klaus Schenck and Aviva Suskin-Holmqvist.

I have had the session transcribed.  You can read it by clicking…

I was privileged be the moderator for the final morning of this year's EBTA conference, Frames and Beyond, where Ken Gergen and Gale Miller were invited to be key note speakers "Looking from a philosophy perspective".  Here are my notes from their talks.

Ken Gergen – Co-Founder & President of the Board of the Taos Institute       

The Taos Institute is a community of scholars and practitioners working at the intersection of post-constructionist theory and…

Further to blog 21 Sep 2011. Is there any sf practitioner out there, who would be willing to assist me to set up a group in Manchester

Hi everybody, I am trying to find out if there is an SF coaching / training activity/group in manchester.

Thirteen intrepid coaches, consultants and managers joined me on the first online SF Professional course this summer.  Running online in conjunction with the University of Milwaukee Wisconsin (with its historic links to Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg), the programme featured sixteen weeks of readings, discussions, exercises, coaching practice and a project – just like…

Background

Members of the SFCT UK and Ireland group discussed dealing with team conflict in an SF way. We referred to an article on this topic as a stimulus for discussion. Despite the low numbers the call enabled a valuable discussion.

Initial thoughts

The consensus was that, the typical SF approach is itself a very good way to deal with conflict. We (those on the call) thought that it is first important to enable people to air their concerns in a controlled way…

“Great acts are made up of small deeds” - Lao Tzu, Chinese Philosopher

How do you effect change and maintain the operation…? 

Some of you may be the type of person to pull out a toolkit at first sight of a drawer knob dropping off or other domestic issue. To my discredit, I can always find something more interesting to do and many jobs build up before begrudgingly, I do them.

However, when our bathroom door hinge recently developed a very…