The Solutions Focus

Sign up to our newsletter and get our free guide. It's packed full of tools and techniques for engagement, resilience and performance within organisations. eepurl.com/hp-F6z

Our new website is live! Explore the latest updates and don't miss your chance to download our complimentary solutions-focused SPIRAL feedback model. This tool has been gaining popularity among leaders looking to elevate performance through quick, well-timed conversations: https://www.thesolutionsfocus.co.uk/Getting-the-Best-from-Feedback/

We have put together 33 powerful solutions-focused coaching questions – all wrapped up in the OSKAR model. Simply click the link, add your details and download for FREE!
Use the link 👉 https://bit.ly/392eyME

Our new website is live! Since our last website update, we've clocked up many pioneering SF programs with our clients and enjoyed the transformative conversations we've sparked along the way. From face-to-face workshops to virtual programs and back again. Click the link to explore: https://www.thesolutionsfocus.co.uk - we'd love you to share your thoughts and insights with us!

The Solutions Focus | Transformational Change for Business Unlock the potential of your team with our solution-focused approach. Achieve more with fewer resources, less effort, and reduced stress.

Looking forward to this! Early bird tickets still available too.

What a way to start the bank holiday weekend! Our lineup for both days of the conference is now live on our website! ➡️ https://ukasfp.site-ym.com/page/conf2024

You still have time to grab your early bird tickets!

If you’d like to read and be the first to keep up to date with what we’re up to, then subscribe to our newsletter here:

The Solutions Focus The Solutions Focus Email Forms

The single most powerful change you can make in your organisation is improving the relationship between managers and their staff. When the relationship is not so good, performance will lag, and people will be demotivated. If something is not done, this will even spread to your best staff, and your organisation will find itself trapped in a downward spiral. You may already have a performance management system, maybe with regular conversations between a manager and direct reports. Your system may work reasonably well, but it could almost certainly be significantly improved. And better performance conversations are the key to transformational results.

Today is World Gratitude Day. Take a moment to consider what you’ve enjoyed and are grateful for in the past few days. We wonder if you have told anyone about those meaningful pleasures and small triumphs? Research shows that what we pay attention to - and how we then describe things can make a big difference to our well-being.

Performance reviews offer the perfect opportunity to build relationships and inspire people to step up.

Yet managers tell us it’s often difficult to get people talking. And team members say that it can feel clunky and awkward chatting about themselves.

It’s as if we forget what we know about having constructive conversations the minute it’s formally labelled as an ‘appraisal’ or ‘performance review’.

🌟We know open questions encourage people to talk, so we might begin the dialogue by asking... ‘Tell me about your performance over the last 6 months’.

Objectively a neutral question, it’s sometimes taken as an invitation to share what isn’t working, taking us down the tunnel of ‘performance review doom’ - what’s failed, an inquiry into that failure, and a resultant feeling of inadequacy and lack of motivation to improve.

Insoo Kim Berg, one of the founders of the solutions focus approach, advised us to ‘meet people in their resources’. We can do this by starting the conversation with an exploration of what’s gone well...

🌟'What specific achievements do you want to share?’ or 'What do you suppose your colleagues have noticed about your good performance?'

This radically shifts the discussion that follows. The tunnel of doom opens up into a landscape of possibility and progress.

When you depart from the conventional inclination to offer advice or impart wisdom, the art of asking questions empowers you to guide dialogues in a direction that truly resonates.

Here are a few solution-focused examples, the first two in workplace settings, the third for a family member:

"Given your experience, what do you know about how we might optimise the current project timeline?"
▶ By inviting the team member's insights, the manager invites them to take ownership of their work and contribute to strategic planning.

"What must we get right?"
▶ Here it’s the team member who stimulates collaborative problem-solving, urging colleagues to express what’s important to them and jointly craft effective solutions.

"I'm curious about what you're hoping for from this family gathering, and what you'll be looking out for that will let you know it's a safe place for you to be."
▶ In this scenario, the family member creates a safer space for open communication, encouraging the other person to express their desires and talk about what's important to them.

By choosing curiosity over counsel, and asking curious questions, can be a gateway to transformative dialogues that enrich every facet of our lives.

If you want to learn more about Single Sentence Interventions and other useful solutions-focused tips, subscribe to our newsletter here: eepurl.com/hp-F6z

We have a fantastic group of coaches and professionals joining us on Tuesday (5th Sept and 12th Sept) for our 2-day Career Coaching with a Solutions Focus programme. If you'd like to join them, and us, click the link and we look forward to seeing you then! https://bit.ly/3Jgnwo1

Just a few days before we kick off our latest Career Coaching with a Solutions Focus programme (Tuesday 5 September and Tuesday 12 September).

It's a virtual two-day programme, with a week between sessions for you to digest, apply and come back with your questions and reflections. It’s a great programme to build your own confidence, while observing, listening and reflecting with your peers. That’s just what we think! Here's some takeaways from previous attendees:

🌟 5 things participants said about the course 🌟

“a framework that I can use immediately” (SK)

“I’m more clear about what career coaching can be” (JHC)

“inspiring and empowering” (PP)

“whether you’re an experienced SF practitioner or not, it is definitely time well spent! 👍” (A.A)

“the course invites different perspectives - so many different ways to do well’ (JC)

Career Coaching with a Solutions Focus_5th and 12th September, 2023 You will take your career development conversations to the next level with this 2-day online SF course. Tuesday 5th and 12th September, 2023

Just a few hours left to take advantage of the early bird offer for our ‘Career Coaching with a Solutions Focus' course where you’ll take away:
👉A versatile set of solutions-focused coaching tools that can be applied to your career coaching conversations.
👉Direct tactics and effective questions to get clients on track for their career progressions.
👉Case examples of how these methods have been applied in leading organisations across the world.
👉Guaranteed development and a confidence boost - wherever you have started from, you will take your coaching skills to the next level.

Career Coaching with a Solutions Focus_5th and 12th September, 2023 You will take your career development conversations to the next level with this 2-day online SF course. Tuesday 5th and 12th September, 2023

Grab our Career Coaching with a Solutions Focus Early Bird offer before it disappears tonight and save £75! https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/career-coaching-with-a-solutions-focus-5th-and-12th-september-2023-tickets-549287903907

Quite often clients, colleagues, friends, can get stuck and wedded to knowing what they don’t like or want to do. And when people know what they don’t want, how do we turn that into something useful? How do we get them through the gateway and onto the train moving forwards?

The platform tool is a really useful and quick technique for getting people to think about what they do want, and we often use it in solutions-focused careers coaching conversations.

Platform building gets people to shift from the ‘problem axis’ to the ‘solution axis’. The platform provides the starting point for a constructive conversation. Here's what this might look like in a career coaching scenario:

‘I don’t want to be doing this role for the next 5 years.’

‘What do you want instead?’

‘I’d like to have moved from HR administrator to HR officer within the next couple of years, and be working in a fast-moving environment.’

‘What difference will that make?’

‘I’ll be progressing in my career, which is very important to me, and working in an environment that’s more suited to my temperament.’

With these two questions, the client has moved from confusion to clarity, providing a solid platform from which they can now continue their journey. Magic! 💫

Solutions Focus is a more direct route to helping people get what they want, by identifying and building on their own knowledge, strengths and positive experiences. The crucial idea of the solutions-focused OSKAR coaching method is that the client is the expert in their own life. This is why we love it so much. Sounds too simple?
Download our FREE ready-to-roll coaching model + 33 powerful coaching questions, and give OSKAR a try. Link in the comments 👇

It's been a busy few weeks for The Solutions Focus, packed with events and training, including delivering our SF Leadership Coaching Programme. This is turning into a cultural transformation for the entire team within a local authority - creating ripples of excitement and optimism for all.🙌

Early Bird tickets for Career Coaching with a Solutions Focus are available for the next few weeks. You can save £75 by booking now!

Taking place on Tuesday 5 September and Tuesday 12 September. It's a virtual two-day programme, with a week between sessions for you to digest, apply and come back with your questions and reflections. It’s a great programme to build your own confidence, while observing, listening and reflecting with your peers. That’s just what we think! Here's some takeaways from previous attendees:

🌟 5 things participants said about the course 🌟

“a framework that I can use immediately” (SK)

“I’m more clear about what career coaching can be” (JHC)

“inspiring and empowering” (PP)

“whether you’re an experienced SF practitioner or not, it is definitely time well spent! 👍” (A.A)

“the course invites different perspectives - so many different ways to do well’ (JC)

Career Coaching with a Solutions Focus_5th and 12th September, 2023 You will take your career development conversations to the next level with this 2-day online SF course. Tuesday 5th and 12th September, 2023

Our upcoming Career Coaching course is for coaches aiming to add career expertise to their portfolio. We'll help you identify your past successes and use them as a foundation to build momentum towards your preferred future.

Most coaching courses are overloaded with concepts that prove difficult to apply in daily work. We'll show you how to use every idea in practice, while you bounce ideas off your peers. As we build your confidence, we'll also work with you (and your prospective clients) to identify well-chosen small steps that can make a big difference.

Using a Solutions Focus approach, you'll find a more direct route to helping you and your clients get what they want, by identifying and building on their own knowledge, strengths and positive experiences.

If you're ready, join our 2-day course on Tuesday 5th & 12th September from 9.30am - 4.30pm. And don’t forget to grab our Early Bird price!

Career Coaching with a Solutions Focus_5th and 12th September, 2023 You will take your career development conversations to the next level with this 2-day online SF course. Tuesday 5th and 12th September, 2023

The Solutions Focus approach to Change:

1. Clarity - What's wanted.
2. Resources - What you have in place already that can help facilitate that change and
3. Progress - What small steps need to be made to make change happen.

Simple!