Solution-Focus: an important distinction
30 June 2010 in Musings Write by Paolo Terni
Recently Katalin Hankovszky shared the following thought by Liselotte Baeijaert:
Solution Focus is not about finding THE solution for a problem, it’s about a useful interaction that leaves the client changed: with more hope, with more creative ideas, with a feeling of competence, with a clearer view on possibilities.
I think this is an important distinction that goes a long way in making clear what Solution-Focus is and what Solution-Focus is not.
2 Comments to: Solution-Focus: an important distinction
What do you think?
ABOUT
Dr. Paolo Terni is a Professionally Certified Coach with the ICF (International Coach Federation) and the author of the book “Coaching Leader: how to transform individual talent into business results” (Guerini Editore, 2007, Milano, Italy). He has also written many papers on the impact of current psychological research on consulting and coaching practices – his writings have been published in the book Doing Something Different: Solution-Focused Brief Therapy Practices (Edited by Thorana Nelson, 2010, Routledge, NY), in Inter-Action: the Journal of Solution-Focus in Organizations, and other Journals. Dr. Terni has trained extensively in the US (Coach U, NLP Master Practitioner @ University of California at Santa Cruz with Robert Dilts) and is bi-lingual (English and Italian).
Dr. Terni is an expert in Solution-Focused Coaching (certified by Solutionsurfers, Basel, Switzerland), in
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WHAT'S IN A NAME?
A friend of mine asked me why I chose the name briefcoachingsolutions for my website.
Easy: it is the shortest description for what I do.
Solutions: that is what my clients arrive at: solutions. For their goals, their needs, their problems. They arrive at better solutions. Faster. With less effort. Solutions sustainable in the long run because they are based on what is already working in the clients' situations
it is also the description of my approach: solution-focused.
Coaching: that is the tool I use to help clients...
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I agree that SF is not about finding THE solution, and it is about changing the client in positive ways, but it is also about finding a solution even if that solution is not found in the coaching or therapy session itself. If the positive changes in the client did not lead to behavioral changes SF would be little more than a way to feel good.
Dear Rodney,
thanks for your insightful comment.
I agree with you: SF is not about “feeling good”.
It is about finding behavioral clues to a solution for whatever the client is working on.
As you point out, the solution can be found by the client even after the session.
Our job is simply to highlight what the client is already doing that it is useful and to provide a safe & supportive environment for the client to be able to explore options and to put together those behavioral cues in a meaningful manner.
It as if the client claims to have no food in the house, and then we go with him through his pantry and fridge and we put all different kinds of food in front of him – he has the ingredients, he has the skill, we do not provide the recipe, that is up to the client.
Thanks again for your thought-provoking comment,
have a great day!!
Paolo