How Might You Overcome A Difficult Challenge?
Obtain enlightened and imaginative solutions, with our less conventional Solution Focus (SF) Approach.
Here’s How
Solution Focus (SF) is a simple (not simplistic) and incisive way to resolve difficult challenges. It is a human, inclusive and motivating approach that enables people to resolve difficulties that can often overwhelm them.
We have coached teams with SF since 2004. It is simply the most powerful tool we have ever used and has given consistently excellent results in large and small scale contexts, e.g. organisational change, major projects and conflict resolution.
To give you a feel for how SF can change situations in your company, we have adapted a quote by Nelson Mandela given in 1995 during the Rugby World Cup. He was referring to the power of sport to effect change. We have substituted “Solution Focus” for the word “sport” in his quote. We trust this great statesman would not mind us adapting it in this way – it is how we feel about SF:
“Solution Focus has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. Solution Focus can awaken hope where there was previously only despair.”
If you want to find the cause of why the motor has stopped and the ski lift is not moving (a “hard” engineering problem), Solution Focus is not the right tool. SF is for messier challenges that involve people, with their different viewpoints and styles of working. We ask what people want to happen, not seek root causes. We ask what is different, not what is wrong. We seek resources, not weaknesses. We encourage interaction not introspection. We encourage small steps not large action plans.
When we first discovered Solution Focus in 2004, we were sceptical that it could work. Yet we used it and found that it did work very well. In difficult circumstances and conflict situations. It can resolve complex challenges often more effectively and certainly quicker than other approaches. It can work for you too. If you haven’t heard of it before, be assured it is well tested and researched.
To make it work effectively we build a climate of trust and we have a very clear focus on outcomes and action, driving the team to achieve results that often surprise them.
As a recent client wrote, “Yes, the outcome of the workshop is still on top of our agenda and we had our first follow up round with the team last Friday. Projects are being picked up, the atmosphere is for sure different and much better than before the workshop and the mindset is more positive. We are still experiencing the results of the fruitful day we spent all together!”
Learn More:
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- See our Case Studies on the right, to download, watch or listen.
- Scroll down to discover the features and benefits of our workshops.
- If you work in an organisation and are considering a workshop to resolve a difficult challenge, E-mail us for our twenty questions document, to help you to think through your outcomes and plan your workshop, or let us know a convenient time to call you to discuss it.
- Cyber security is a major challenge across organisations. We use Solution Focus to help leaders understand the threat and risk to their company as a whole and how they might best deal with it.
Solution Focus Case Study Podcast
Download to listen on a mobile device (right-click and select “Download”)
Please listen to this podcast of John Pelton, now Programme Director of the Palace of Westminster refit in the UK, as he discusses how Solution Focus and Yes! And helped him to tackle a very difficult challenge on the HS2 (High Speed Train2) project and achieve a target of around £1.5 billion in savings. Learn how Solution Focus can help you engage people, minimise resistance and achieve your outcomes quickly.
We apologise for the intermittent “creaks” on this podcast, it was the internal structure of the building in which we recorded the interview, not our joints.
To read a transcript, click here Tough Targets – JP interview transcript. Guaranteed creak free.
Improve Collaboration With Solution Focus – Case Study
In this case study, we explain how you can encourage collaboration and enhance energy, with a Solution Focus approach. The article also explain the tools of Solution Focus for those who do not know them.
Download the case study Improve Collaboration With Solution Focus to learn how we worked with a leader to resolve a team challenge.
Resolve a Complex Challenge – Case Study
A leader wanted to facilitate a workshop on the topic of the Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) of indigenous peoples. She feared that facilitating a workshop on this contentious issue in a problem focused way could lead to disagreement, hostility and broken relationships.
Download the case study Resolve a Complex Challenge with Solution Focus to learn how we worked with her to resolve her challenge.
Cyber Leadership – Article
Cyber security involves your whole company and your supply chain. Is your company protected from the cyber threat and do you have plans in place to reduce the impact if the worst happens?
Read our Manage Cyber Security Threats page or download the Manage Cyber Security Threats Article and read about the threat to your whole business and how you might prepare and respond.
Cyber Leadership – Workshop
Yes! And provides Cyber Leadership workshops to help executive teams formulate their response to a cyber attack that threatens the whole business.
Download the Cyber Workshop Brochure to learn how Yes! And can facilitate your team to protect your business.
Learn More
Register for our regular articles and to gain access to our library of over 180 articles. We guarantee never to share your details with anyone.
WHAT WE DO
Coach Your Team
We facilitate and coach your team to use their own skills, knowledge and capabilities to tackle the challenge.
Develop a Trusting Environment
We create a positive and trusting environment that encourages people to express their views and ideas.
Have a Realistic Approach
We encourage achievable short term actions not a mammoth action list to abandon on contact with the day job.
Support Implementation
We can coach you and the team in short, flexible, interventions to maintain the energy and focus to make progress.
Document Evidence
We fully document the output of each workshop in your favoured format, recording all decisions and actions.
Provide Flexibility
We fit around your needs, from one, half day workshop, to a set of workshops; with two people to hundreds.
HOW YOU BENEFIT
Engaged People
Develop and implement solutions with greater energy and deal with difficulties in implementation more easily.
Full Participation
All of your people contribute with commitment and honesty and develop an outcome they believe in.
Implemented Solutions
Your team believe they can deal with the challenge, make progress and execute your plans.
Sustained Momentum
Sustain the momentum of your implementation with minimal impact on your operation.
Convinced Stakeholders
Clear evidence lets you build a business case quickly and sell your solution to decision makers more easily.
Maintained Operations
You ensure minimal disruption and less stress for your people by fitting work around your operation.
A CASE STUDY
Multi National Multi Media Company
We worked with a leadership team responsible for software testing in four sites in three countries in Europe and Asia. The separate country teams had formed one organisation after a recent merger. Their challenge was to align different tools and methods at different sites, with multiple cultures and different nationalities.
We designed and facilitated an initial two-day leadership workshop, three further meetings for country teams, and a final multi national meeting of leaders and their reports, where they agreed strategy and presented this live to some of their clients in an information fair rather than through presentation.
See how we are different from consultancy: Click here.
Learn More
Register for our regular articles and to gain access to our library of over 180 articles. We guarantee never to share your details with anyone.
Our facilitated approach differs from traditional consultancy
How Might We Resolve A Complex Challenge?
Design your preferred solution and initiate steps to progress towards it. Our tailored Solution Focus (SF) approach is ideal to tackle challenges with many stakeholders and interconnected issues.