Ania Smolka Synopsis The open space session facilitated by Ania Smolka on designing ‘sustainable leadership’ programmes was an intensive exploration of ideas on integrating sustainability into leadership practices across various organisational layers. Ania asked three teams to consider the challenge and we show their outputs below. As well, one of the teams highlighted the concept of Regenerative Leadership (subtly different from Sustainable Leadership). Below, you can download a PDF article on the relationship between this concept and Solution Focus.
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.
Lance Fortner & Tara Gretton
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Introduced by Tara Gretton Lance Fortner’s voice and tone testify to his deep empathy and respect for others. The topic of schools, especially the challenges faced by children and young people, can be daunting. Yet, Lance’s approach is marked by a profound understanding of everyone he speaks about, a quality that shines through in his role as a solution-focused counsellor in a school in Heidelberg, Germany.
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.