Why is Solution Focused attitude so popular and requested in business as well as in a private environment?

I stand on two legs in my private life and in my professional life. I have clients from two basic areas. As a coach and trainer, I work with companies. With managers mostly (from middle management to directors or presidents) or sales persons. And as a therapist and coach I help individuals in their private areas.

And what is interesting, is seeing the same thing happen in both areas:

A big surprise and at the same time a relief, when we do not talk about their problems, but we devote all our energy to talk about solutions.

The client (and it doesn't matter if they are the president of the company, a self-employed person, or the mother on maternity leave) before they meet me, they are usually quite bothered by the analysis of the problem.

A thorough analysis of the problem usually makes the client an expert on the "problem", but not an expert on solving it.

You become such a "problem expert" when you can answer these kinds of questions: What exactly is the problem? When did it happen? What's the worst thing about it (or even worse - about ‘her’ or ‘him’)? Who is to blame? Why can't it be solved? What is stopping me from solving it? ...

Regardless of whether clients engage in such analyses or not, it turns out that it is much more useful to pay attention in solutions. These solutions may not be hidden in the analysis of the problem at all.

Imagine a person whose goal is to be able to give presentation to a group of colleagues, but they are prevented from doing so by feeling jittery or fear. This person comes to me and "logically" wants to talk and analyse jitters and fear. They want to get rid of them, they want to talk in front of the audience and they think that the way to do that is to pay attention to the jitters and fear.

But we know: What we pay attention to, is what grows. So, if we are going to pay attention to problems – what will grow? Problems.

Same as, when you are hungry and you are thinking about how hungry you are… in 10 minutes you will be even more hungry. You might be familiar with experiencing your brain being full of problems because you are trying to solve them… you are worried. Sometimes we even feel that “everything is a problem” or “my life is full of problems”. But to focus on the removal of an obstacle, it´s not a well-defined goal. Therefore, we need to pay attention and develop something else.

One of the possibilities is to focus on “What do we want to have instead of this problem?”

In this case: “What does the client want to have instead of jitters and fear?”. And the client can probably tell us “I want to be brave” or “I want to feel good while talking in front of an audience”. Well it is a better-defined goal. We can develop this or if you wish, we can analyse it: “When were you brave for the last time?” “How will you notice that you are brave?” “What helped you to be brave?” …and many more questions.

What I do notice almost every time is that clients feel already better when they think about these answers. Suddenly they are focused on solutions, on possibilities and on already achieved progress. Their mood, as well as their self-confidence is increasing. They potentiate their imagination towards building solutions, towards their desired future. Therefore, it is intelligible that in this kind of atmosphere people are more likely to find solutions. Those benefits can be accomplished with the support of a solution focused consultant already in first session. Sometimes within the first minutes😊 It works for complex organizational issues as well as for private topics.

Finding solutions, quick and painlessly.

Not only my experience proved that, despite the brevity, clients can create sustainable solutions. Who wouldn´t love this approach? 😊 Although it might seem strange, I have to say that this approach is not for everyone. For example, it is not working for people, who like to cultivate their problem, or they prefer to keep it (some are in love with their problem).

I don’t want to make the impression that as a client, you don’t need to work nor think and everything comes your way without any effort. Nothing is further from the truth. But it won´t be so hard and so annoying like thinking about problems.

Solution focused approach is only one of hundreds of techniques, not the best one, not for everyone. I personally fell in love with this approach from my first experience. And I understand why others find it very useful and catchy😊.

When would you like to experience it?