Anton Stellamans & Mark McKergow ↗
Introduction by Mark McKergow This talk is vitally important in taking a more detailed and inclusive view of Solution Focused (SF) practice. While some are content to insist that there is no theory in SF, this is not a view which will help us expands and develop the field and engage with academics and thinkers from other fields.
Miklos-Gyorgy John Brooker
SFiO - Solution Focus in Organisations · The Principles of an Undercover SF Warrior Click above to Listen on SoundCloud Introduction by John Brooker This session is titled “Principles of an Undercover Solution Focused Warrior”. Drawing on the Seven Virtues of Bushido, the traditional code of the samurai, Miklós György explores what it means to use Solution Focus in problem-focused environments. But what drew me in were the stories he tells. Stories of using a Solution Focus approach while living rough on the streets and in tough schools, environments that are naturally problem focused.
Haesun Moon
Synopsis Haesun Moon’s “The Loving Organisation” session explored the profound impact of integrating love, expressed as empathy, compassion, and care, into the workplace. This session, inspired by the work of Apruv Gupta, MD, and Kristin Bodiford, Ph.D and grounded in Khalil Gibran’s quote, “Work is love made visible,” aimed to elucidate how such emotions can be a driving force in organisational settings, particularly in healthcare but applicable to other sectors as well.
Paul Z Jackson
Synopsis At the SOLWorld Unconference, ‘Exploring How Solution Focus creates sustainable organisations’, Paul Z Jackson led a session to explore what SF distinctively offers for treating organisations as sustainable entities that aim to persist and evolve. The outcomes of this exploration add to the more familiar idea of SF Projects, which merely conclude.
The group discussed organisations as living systems that adapt continuously to survive, challenging business paradigms that often prioritise quick profits and short-term political gains. The dialogue pointed out the dangers of such shortsightedness, suggesting that sustainability and adaptability are essential for long-term success and stability within the broader ecological and societal contexts.
Mark McKergow & Anton Stellamans & Jonas Wells & John Teager
SFiO - Solution Focus in Organisations · 3 Big Solution Focus Questions Click above to Listen on Soundcloud Photo by Todd Quackenbush on Unsplash.
Introduction by John Teager A very special and enduring bond was established when Anton Stellamans, Jonas Wells and Mark McKergow met, for the first time, at the SOL World Conference in Sweden in 2004. This opportune bringing together of philosophy, anthropology and rabid curiosity led to an immediate connection and a natural conversation on how Solution Focus, and the groundbreaking work of Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg, could be evolved and brought into organisations and society more widely.