I stood and up and invited my colleague to walk out of the room. She looked surprised and a bit anxious, but complied. We were practicing a role play on solutions-focused coaching in a workshop run by UK consultants Paul Jackson and Janine Waldman.
I was determined to shift things, break up the fussiness of the conversation, and happy to try something different. We walked in circles outside the training room. Then my coachee drew to a halt, she needed to stop and think. The walk wasn’t helping. Which forced me to confront the more fundamental issue, what I was really thinking was “uh oh, this isn’t working, where the hell do I go now”.
The one rule was don’t get stuck on ‘the problem’. Advice from Einstein, William James and Wittgenstein loomed over us from posters on the wall: “wisdom is knowing what to overlook”, “the solution does not care where the problem came from”. My partner was quite articulate about her problem, and I was struggling for an alternative conversation. We had prompt cards, and a day’s worth of good advice. Another poster – ‘when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging’. But they are of little value when you are caught in the high beam intensity of a one-to-one coaching conversation.
We eventually we stumbled on a solution. The saving grace for me was being able to hold in my mind the profoundly simple three step version of the template for solutions-focus:
“what do you want?”
“what have you got?”
“what next?”
In challenging moments, everything else flies out the window.
I had also noticed something a bit shocking during the day. I had a gift for highlighting weaknesses, noticing gaps, and picking the hole in a rationalisation. I can see where someone was refusing a step forward, or failing to make an obvious connection. In solutions focused language, treating someone as something to ‘be fixed’. A fabulous gift, but of little value in solutions focus coaching (and, more dangerously, in just plain getting on with people). The most powerful and profound concept, linking to appreciative inquiry, is to work from ‘what they’ve got’ not from what is missing. The ‘got’ includes knowledge, skills, past experiences of success, networks, resources, ideas…anything that supports a solution. My parenting might have benefited from this insight when my son was ten years younger. I was keen to ‘improve him’. But, from his perspective, my frequent advice felt a lot more like constant criticism. Paul noted a psychology experiment when shredding someone’s work had the same impact on productivity as just ignoring them. A simple nod and a thankyou produced results that were almost three times higher than the other negative strategies (Dan Ariely: A Taste of Irrationality).
The approach contrasts a solutions focused approach to a problem focus. One of the exercises clearly demonstrate the improvement in the flow of discussion when one shifts from problem to solution. My initial caution was the implication that, in all our interactions, we just have to look on the bright side of life. Where much of my work is allowing people to voice and work through moments of concern, and uncertainty. I don’t believe it is true though easy to misinterpret the language, especially that word ‘solution’. Paul and Janine made a point of distinguishing the approach from the mere ‘positive psychology, and ‘strengths’ approaches. The method is strongly aligned with appreciative inquiry, but the language is simpler and therefore easier to use and teach.
Paul’s model, developed in detail in his book with Mark McKergow has five steps.
Here is my version of them.
Platform: develop a clear statement of the change being sought, expressed in positive rather than negative terms (‘a culture of respect’ not ‘an end to bullying’). Then build a detailed description of the desired end state, in simple, concrete and practical language.
Scaling: do a rating of where you are now on a 1-10 scale in terms of the end state (working with groups, I mostly use a line-up for this, getting people to stand on the point where they rate their current status).
Counters: (like casino money, I assume) Identify the resources already available that would contribute to the desired end state (skills, events, people, know-how, activities, strengths, previous successes, practices, networks etc. I find it useful to use a ‘Grounded Questions’ approach (see blog on Mark Strom) to dig into these resources. For example, “thinking about examples where someone has already demonstrated respect in our organisation, of whom are we really proud?” This can be a very powerful conversation.
Small actions: Invite people to take lots of small actions to improve our position on the scale. See what produces the best results, then consolidate these. (Its like evolution: generate lots of diversity and mutations, then select from these).
Affirm: Lots of affirmation and appreciation along the way – on specific behaviours and clear results not vague and general praise (eg “that was a really clear and succinct presentation” not “you are fantastic”).
Sources:
Paul Jackson and Janine Waldman www.thesolutionsfocus.co.uk
The Solutions Focus: Making Coaching & Change SIMPLE Paul Z Jackson and Mark McKergow
Positively Speaking: The Art of Constructive Conversations with a Solutions Focus Anne Waldman and Paul Z. Jackson