Reviewed Piece of SF work: Sieds Rienks

Improving performance and atmosphere in a Health Care Institute by using Solution Focus ap-proach and methods.

Description: In the period of April and May 2020 we did a wonderful project in Healthcare Netherlands. We were asked to simplify the working routines in a big psychiatric clinic ( mainly ambulatory, not clini-cal) and to make it more fluent and easier to use by workers and patients. Getting that the chance for better results and outcome could be much bigger than before our project. More satisfactory for the workers and a severely reduced waiting list for the clients/ patients.

We questioned everybody what they would like to be the best outcome. That was:

• Improvement in their entrance routing for clients
• Improvement in their registration and administration for clients
• Improvement and congruency in their patient flow for all teams
• Improvement in their meetings ( participation, atmosphere and flow )
• The best outcome and flexibility of their internal routing for patients

In those two months we did individual questioning, big workgroups ( 12 and more) and a smaller group to finish the job and to write the new procedures and routings. In fact the summary of all our questioning and detailing individually and in teams was:

1. Do we have a good picture of the future ?
2. Do we see each role, talent and competency in our team ?
3. Do we see where we stand now ?
4. What do we need to move on ?
5. Did I hear a go ?

So it became a good and helpful project. They were eager to DESIGN a new way of working and really created the best OUTCOME to come:

• The need for change was known, visible and tangible ( at any level)
• They knew the contours of their best future
• They took great steps for improving data, logistics, managing en finance
• They took decisions on communication about progress
• They really wanted change ( as a team)
• They presented solutions and quick wins ( not by us, by themselves!)

Candidate’s Summary:

There were three major evaluation points I did discuss with Peter and Brian as my lead reviewers.

1. The mixture of SF with other approaches like Agile, Lean and Six Sigma, NLP.
2. The use of scaling questions in a group
3. Being me !

Only the last one ( being me! ) is described in this summary . If you need more, please tell me.

Here we have a problem. I am me. Grown up, experienced, senior, maybe just old ( 71 !) and a good reputation in my country. Plenty of work, plenty of knowledge, a remarkable CV and more. That is wonderful, but there really is a hiccup. For instance when we are involved in a company or an institute they do ask for me, in person. They know that I am a strong believer in SF , that I know very much about health care, government or politics, or marketing or more. But to be frank, SF is not about me. We built our organisation to spread the SF approach, to tell the story of SF . We want to help people. And we do have a lot of very good and experi-enced consultants, trainees and even “Masters” to do the job. So the story is not about me. It is about our belief that SF is the best approach for people to participate in change. And yes in a way I am dominant in the process. I am really sorry for that. I do not want to, In fact I want it the other way around. But that is not easy.

Customer Quotations:

Client 1: It was amazing to see how quickly we could implement some improvements in that specific field. The questioning and the workgroups lead to a substantial result for them. Some significant improvements were quickly implemented.

Client 2: Very good. They always listened first. And then they came with the right plan to go on. It provided a method, simple and not complex, to do everything in a methodic, but less formal way.

Reviewers Summary:

From Peter Röhrig (Lead reviewer) Excerpt

So, what impressed me most was the strong sf spirit Sieds brought into the process – which turned out to be highly infectious not only for the participant’s engagement in the workshops and meetings but also for their everyday work. Sieds created an atmosphere of fun and energy in an institution suffering from a crisis – so much, that the mental health workers became enthusiastic to use sf with their patients.

Second Reviewer:

From Brian Jennings, 2nd reviewer Excerpt Sieds was able to build a platform for change with the staff at the centre building confidence and trust in a process of interviews and workshops in which the staff surprised themselves by discovering the strengths they already had to achieve their desired future by mapping alternative routes for registration and support of clients in ways that proved an accelerated and higher quality of care for clients and remoti-vated staff

• Lead reviewer: Peter Röhrig
• Second reviewer: Brian Jennings

About The Candidate:

Sieds Rienks is a SF change agent pur sang. He was psychologist, manager, medi-ator, speaker, coach and leader all his life. He supports many change programs for many organisations. Most of them on the top level of corporates, hospitals, health care or government. Even now he is 71 years old, he still influences people in many organisations. And he is deeply attached to young workers in start-up organisations. And always, always his approach is Solution Focus.