A message to Paul Z Jackson at Solutions Focus

Posted by  admin —August 22, 2008
Filed in Being Present, Facilitation, How Stuff Spreads & Changes

Thanks to Paul Z Jackson at Solutions Focus, my approach to workshop facilitation has changed (and I think improved) throughout 2008.

I have read his book and attended Solutions Focus training in Melbourne this year (thanks to Andrew Rixon for bringing it together).

I wrote a post called ‘Which Conversation Do You Choose” about my observations of groups who take a solutions focused view in a workshop. Here is the picture to capture the essence of this observation …

Here is a message I sent to Paul Jackson, reflecting on solutions focus and my work …

Hi Paul. How are you?

Thought I’d drop you a line whilst I travel on this Geelong bound train.
Solutions Focus has become a core part of my approach in facilitating workshops. Here are some random reflections …
  • I am using the postcard size images from the Centre for Creative Leadership to help participants identify more closely with Future Perfect. The cards also help them to communicate the essence of what they want to see.
  • I have woven the SF process into a series of Household Sustainability workshops where the goal is resource conservation. I get paired interviews (in workshop #1 of 5) going to help establish the platform for change and these work a treat. It is quite amazing the confidence they get from giving each other affirmations about past change (sparkling) moment.
  • In these workshops I end Future Perfect (in Workshop 2 of 5) with an envelope activity where participants write a letter to themselves dated 1 month after the final workshop (#5). In this letter they write from ‘Future Perfect’. They open and read the letter at the end of the final workshop and follow with a whole group discussion – it resulted in most people saying that Future Perfect had been mostly achieved already … AND … when they wrote the letter (2 months before) FP seemed almost impossible
  • Finding counters also helps participants to see that they already have the skills, capacity and resources to take action … they reporting feeling relieved at this realisation. It also helps the group recognise that the answers to their home sustainability questions can be answered by them and their own peers. They relaise that they do not need an expert to tell them what to do.
Anyway, thought Id share some of my learnings with you. Cheers, Geoff.

As I think about my past 2 weeks where our family has been sick and injured as a rather large reporting deadline looms, I turn to Solution Focus to help find the upward spiral toward future possibility. One part of that strategy is to be more mindful and to take the time to write this post.

Geoff

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