Reviewed Piece of SF work: Katja Kiiski

SF Group Supervision

(January 2015 – May 2016) The group consisted of four participants working in a three-year project dealing with Social and Health Care. Solution Focused supervision was especially ordered for the last year of the project to support project implementation and assessment, goal achievement as well as strengthening the team before the end of the project. On one hand the process proceeded as usual, on the other hand as the project lasted eight months longer than planned, many unexpected matters occurred, especially in the thoughts and feelings of the participants and the supervisor. This process brought optimism and future orientation into the situations of unexpected changes, uncertainty and conflicts. One of the main goals of the group was to strengthen the team and the Solution Focused approach of the supervisor helped a lot in making the change. It was great to see, how the team got stronger and how their way of thinking changed, despite of continuing uncertainty.

Candidate Summary:

Going through the ASFIO review process was a really great, encouraging, positive and affirming learning process for me. For me it was a very rewarding opportunity to reflect my own work and how I choose my working methods with my clients. At the end, after 17 months of structured working as a supervisor for a team of four people, I really understood the power of Solution Focused approach. This was summarized very well by the client: “Wish we would have had a Solution Focused supervisor from the beginning of our project. Thank you for the Solution Focused process! We were able to deal with really contradictory feelings, but in a constructive way”. A really powerful aspect of the review meeting was hearing how my reviewers Marika Tammeaid and Riitta Salminen appreciated my work at a very detailed level. That made me feel very professional. I liked their comments how I constantly reflected my work during the process, how the client was always on the agenda, how I was able to improvise and how my supervision looked so strategic. Even though I knew all this on one level they helped me to value my work in a new way.

Lead Reviewer Summary:

Katja has a very strategic approach as a Solution Focused supervisor and in this piece of work she showed strong skills in supporting team resilience in a demanding situation. I was impressed in her ability to tune in team members to fruitful self-reflection and towards a common goal. She was able both to create a safe environment for the team members to face conflicts and uncertainties and then turn the communication gradually towards solutions. A wide variety of creative SF tools were in use in supervising sessions and the team got even extra tools for they daily work.

Second Reviewer Summary:

I was impressed of Katja’s great reflective and creative way of working. She is a good listener with appreciative approach and a lot of intuition. She attended to the client’s agenda and goals. She was open to adjusting her own action according to the group and several shifts in direction. She was very open and direct in her communication with the group. Katja asked for feedback and checked constantly if the process was proceeding to right direction. Katja was aware of her own role as supervisor and asked for permission to share her own experience with the client. Katja is using a wide range of SF tools and approaches skilfully. She shows confidence in working with strong emotions. Her piece of work shows the strength of solution focused approach.

• Lead Reviewer: Marika Tammeaid
• Second Reviewer: Riitta Salminen

About The Candidate:

Katja Kiiski is a self-employed coach, supervisor and consultant. She is a Master of Social Sciences and he has studied and completed a degree in coaching and supervision at Helsinki University Centre for Continuing Education. Katja has used solution focused approach almost ten years first in many developmental projects and recently in coaching for workplaces, groups and individuals.