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The event was a turning point for the institute which is now regarded as one of the best research performers. This progress is attributed by the customer to the inclusive nature of the strategy day that engaged so many people in a vision of future possibilities. The day allowed an acknowledgement of past issues on a solutions axis by asking ‘What do we need to get right?’ before harnessing the power of creative imagery through documentary storyboards and presentations of the Future Perfect.
These future visions were then fleshed out in central themes for the new strategy and with the crucial next steps to be taken beyond the meeting. As the customer reflected “We got what we wanted from the process - what people want from this institute and not just what they don’t want”.

The SFCT review process is simple, and so it should be as simplicity is an important part of being solutions focused.  Simple is not easy though, in fact sometimes the very opposite. My review process was a journey and at times a difficult one with as much in the leaving there was in the moving forward.
Shaun first took the role of coach, helping me to structure the written review and help my thinking on how best to approach it. Inevitably there are subtle nuances and forgotten ‘in the moments’ that are hard to convey in writing but the practice of revisiting reliving and capturing the experience is so valuable to inform my future practice.
The SF Clues provide an SF skeleton for a conversation and the conversation that Carey, Shaun and I had fleshed out not just my thinking on this project but my future development as an SF Practitioner.

Hearing 2 experienced consultants enthusing about the clues they had seen and what they admired was a powerful experience. For me the crucial place of affirming came alive from this part of the review. At the same time, suspending any thoughts of defending the work was important to allow an open and honest reflection and acknowledging those times when I had dipped below the surface and tried too hard in anticipating not following the client’s needs.
Learning to let go, to stand with the client and believe in the client are areas for me to work on and indeed I have since and will continue to do so.

In this review, what became apparent was that Phil sees himself as on a journey in transforming his own practice as a consultant to becoming a Solution Focused thinker and practitioner. As for all of us part of this journey involves letting go of “certainties” about consulting that we might have depended on (eg being the expert consultant) and testing the water in new ways. His written piece reflected this journey and was a mixture of solution focused practice with other approaches. What emerged through the conversation was his desire and determination to keep walking in an SF direction, a determination informed by his openness to reflection, and his integrity in his own practice.  This moderation process has reaffirmed to me that the action is in the interaction and I wonder whether conversation is a more powerful medium for creating useful interactions than the written word. It may be faster, but by the nature of it, is it more useful?

I would echo Carey’s reflections, and much of what has convinced me that Phil’s work with the client represents a Solution Focused piece of work has emerged in the middle and end part of our conversations over the last few months, with the actual paperwork just the beginning. I am also impressed by the self-awareness and commitment to reflection and improvement that Phil brings both to this piece of work and to his clients.
The work itself is impressively full of clues from the very beginning, especially in the first pages which outline how Phil used a Solution Focused approach to establish a clear platform and structure for the day, that in itself helped the client to start to move forward. The day itself seems to have been very useful and successful for the client, and I am impressed with how Phil managed to bring a beginner mind and stay on the surface throughout the day and keep a not knowing stance.
As discussed in our resource gossip, and as seems to be a consistent theme in all the SFCT pieces of work I have had the good fortune to review so far, my reflection and learning as reviewer is leaving wanting to hear even more about how the day has been useful since for the client. This is very useful learning I will take for my own Solution Focused work. As always reviewing is a great two way learning process, especially in conversation form.

Lead Reviewer: Shaun Lincoln
Second Reviewer: Carey Glass

Phil Aspden is a director of Summerhouses: dialogues at work. Having spent 20 years in senior management and leadership posts in the public, private and charitable sectors in the UK and Africa he established Summerhouses in 2006 with the simple proposition of finding ways to improve the quality of conversations in organisations of all types.
Trained and experienced in the use of Solutions Focus; Appreciative Inquiry; Action Learning, World Café, workplace mediation and Open Space he continues to spread the message through his coaching and consultancy that genuine, open and honest dialogue is the most effective development tool we have.