All Blog Posts (254)

“Where a minute before a handful of tech guys could agree on almost nothing, it took us only five minutes to identify the future perfect on which we all agreed.” Niklas Tiger. Managing Director of Hi5, Sweden.

How many meetings have you been in where you have tried to tackle a problem in a team and it just kept going round in circles?

The following is a true story related by Niklas Tiger, Managing Director of Hi5, an IT organisation in Sweden that provides outsourced IT…

Hi Community,

I am looking for some ideas / references for a future perfect sequence that I want to do with a large group of approx. 400 people. I have only a timeframe of one hour! So of course we will travel on the surface. But this can/should be a start of something that follows. Who has done such a thing, and has any ideas how to do it in a exciting, funny way?

Thx, Markus

A couple of weeks ago Paul Z Jackson posted the following message on Facebook: "champagne on ice for 10th anniversary celebrations of The Solutions Focus.... many small steps to get this far..."

To which I replied: "Won't ask what you are proud of, nor what you are grateful for, nor how you did this, nor who helped you and how you've made good use of it, let alone ask you what you will do more of (or keep doing), or what you will do differently. Nope won't do all of…

My latest SF book, "Mr. Bear Wants to Be Loved: And Other Stories to Make Change Easier, for Children & their Parents" is now out and available for purchase on Amazon.

This book was born as a challenge: how to introduce Solution-Focus in terms so simple that even a

6-year-old would understand.

True to its objective, it…

Dear SOLutionists,

as most of you are aware of, France is not exactly the Promised Land when it comes to SF. We are about to change this. First contacts have been made, and our next step is an information day of practical work where we will brainstorm, get to know each other better and do, guess what, practical work.

If you happen to pass through Paris on december 12, you are very welcome to join us! Although the final objective is to get SF going in France and…

I've just translated an article that I've wrote for the Danish Ministry of Education into English. It's about a project involving teachers and their teaching and learning environments in general regarding working with innovation in the field of education.…

The Better Interview Process

As promised I bring you some writing from the Oxford workshop "a SF approach to working with large groups".

Or... to be honest I actually break my promise but for the better.

So many good conversations with great inputs followed during, inbetween and after the workshops (I ended up doing a Opens Space on same topic) so I've decided to put on whatever I write regarding working with large groups on:…

Hi

I'd like to invite anyone who does SF(B) work in Africa to join the ning group SOLWorld-Africa. Please share your experiences and stories. Also, let us know whether you know of any national associations for SF practitioners and if so, in which particular African country. Thanks, Svea

Wow - Elke, your workshop was so motivating. I love the way you explained to us how you work. You instantly "translate" what your coachees says into a picture with duplo figures. You use all the SF elements like treasure chest (strengths), cup (preferred future), tiny pieces of paper (little steps) etc. I can imagine that your clients benefit a lot from the way you work with them. 

You really motivated me to try something new. Wow. Thanks a lot, cheers, Julia

Dear Liselotte and dear Karolien

your workshop was great. You gave a very concrete and easy-to-apply example of how to apply SF in an organization. I will put the four steps of the conversation tables soon into practice

1. appreciation round "what is already there?"

2. future perfect "one step into future"

3. on which domains do we want to focus?

4. three little steps

Thanks for sharing! Your workshop was a great KISS example. Keep it short…

Dear Jesper

such a funny start into the conference. I loved the way you invited us to welcome all the countries.

And the way you made us share what "keeps us awake at night" - your questions really make curious and invite to join the experience. I also loved the idea of "No. 1 best hope" on the sheets of paper which were then thrown in the air. Would like to know more about your wonderful exercises :-)

Best regards, Julia

Dear Aoki san

your blinking glasses which make us see great things are a great idea to use in small and big groups. I will try it. Thanks. Deep bow, Julia

Dear Monica and Brenda

WOW!!! Your workshop was really interesting and very practical. I love the team-building exercise with the marble (great metaphor: marble = preferred future) and the plastic channels. See how people work together to get the marble (their preferred future) together in the basket.

I'm looking forward to try it out! Great stuff - your workshop.

Best regards, Julia

Dear Jenny and Shakya

your workshop gave me great ideas of how to do it. Before the workshop I thought that I have to explain to participants and clients what I do. Now I dare to explain less and just do! Funny, much more playful and effective.

My take away from your workshop was: do SF instead of talking about it. Little steps. Give example - even if I'm the only one.

Thanks for your great workshop!! Best regards, Julia

I hope all of you at the conference are enjoying yourselves. My thoughts are with you all.

Owen Charnley