Welcome to the 2014 Editions

Mark McKergow , Kirsten Dierolf , Anton Stellamans & Carey Glass

Research and the enactive paradigm

In this 11th issue of InterAction we are featuring papers which emerged from the Orienting Solutions 2013 conference at the University of Hertfordshire. These range from the philosophi- cal (Gale Miller’s refreshing look at the work of Kenneth Burke) to practical (Stephan Natynczuk’s application of SF in adventure therapy). We also have a paper crossing the theory/practice divide from Zuzanna Rucinska and Ellen Reijmers, who examine systemic play therapy through a framework of embodied and enactive cognition.

This last peer-reviewed paper is a little outside our ‘normal’ SF range. However, this journal has always intended to explore the neighbouring areas to solution-focused work, be they social construction, agile methods, appreciative inquiry, positive psychology, systemic work or whatever. The enactive paradigm, as some of you will know, offers a very interesting up-to-date take on what it is to think, act, remember and be alive. The enactive movement can be traced back to the Embodied Mind book of Varela, Thompson and Roesch (1991), but has gathered momentum in recent years with the development of ‘radically enactive cognition’ (REC) by our friend and colleague Professor Dan Hutto (University of Hert- fordshire, recently moved to the University of Wollongong in Australia).

REC holds that the conventional view of perception and cognition, of taking information in to be processed in the brain in some way, is fundamentally flawed. The view that the brain contains some kind of mental representation of the world, so beloved of the traditional cognitive outlook, is found wanting from at least two perspectives. Firstly, from a logical (and very Wittgenstein) perspective, we can see how ‘mental’ processes are wound up in the lives and activities of people, rather than being treated as separate and governing events. Secondly, from a practical perspective, recent work in robots and artificial intelligence shows that decades of attempts to build ‘cognitive’ robots have made little progress – but when machines are left to interact with the world (rather than represent it to themselves) then a lot can be done with a little.

This is all highly connected to the importance of description and the interactional view, which are fundamental to SF work. Indeed, Gregory Bateson is regarded as a founder of the enactive perspective by many in the field. Mark McKergow is in the process of establishing HESIAN (Hertfordshire Enactive Solution-focused Interactional And Narrative), a ‘research hub’ at the University of Hertfordshire to investigate both SF and connections to other fields.

It is interesting to pause at this point to quickly remember the huge and growing research base that supports SF work in many fields. The latest summary from Dr Alasdair Macdonald shows 133 relevant outcome studies: 2 meta-analyses; 5 systematic reviews; 28 randomised controlled trials showing benefit from SF approaches with 14 showing benefit over existing treatments. Of 47 comparison studies, 38 favour SF. This is in stark contrast to neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) for example – a quick look through the journals reveals little of substance, with descriptions such as ‘quackery’, ‘unvalidated’ and ‘discredited’ being commonplace. Yet NLP courses and books continue to sell around the world, perhaps to people who would like the world to be that way (and will spend some money to find out that it probably isn’t).

Several other papers were submitted after the conference, which are still in the process of peer-review. We hope they will appear in revised versions in future issues of InterAction. We are not expecting the public to start getting interested in proper scientific research all that soon. However, it’s good to note that when the smoke begins to clear (as it may be starting to do), then SF methods will be on the right side of the scien- tific fence in terms of research, results and respect.

To offer a balance to this focus on research and academia, we have an interview with Canadian consultant Alan Kay, well known for his work using SF in energetic and everyday form for ‘kitchen table’ conversations. There are also two contrast- ing case studies from Jesper Hankovzsky Christiansen and Marva Furlongue-Laver. Our classic paper this issue pre-dates SFBT, with a look back to Milton Erickson’s 1954 paper Special Techniques of Brief Hypnotherapy. Varela, F., Thompson, E., & Rosch, E. (1991). The Embodied Mind. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press

Erratum

Please note that in Volume 5 Number 2, the key to the graph on Page 82 of the Case Study “Using SF to Create Whole Systems Change in Social Care” should be reversed.

Editorial 6.2

Celebrating the contribution of Björn Johansson

Björn Johansson passed away on June 29, 2014 after a time of intense sickness and surrounded by the good wishes, prayers, vibes, letters and thoughts of many of the solution focused community. His partner Eva and Björn himself inspired many members of the SF community to have ‘the best summer ever’ in celebration of life – also Björn’s life. Björn Johansson was a generous, caring person – in all senses of the word ‘a good man’. Many remember him asking: ‘are we doing enough to leave this world a better place?’ and that seemed to have been a recurring theme in his life and work. We therefore want to dedicate this edition to the memory of our friend. His work, his thoughts, his straightforward kindness will stay with us, even if he is no longer here in person.

In this edition, we feature an article by Klaus Hofmann, Günter Lueger and Peter Luisser which describes the work of Björn Johansson and Urban Norling. The SF leadership training both carried out created ‘significant improvements on the level of leadership behaviour as well as on the level of hard facts like productivity’. It is a small study – but it demon- strates effectively what SF can do in organisations, and it is the only one of its kind (to our knowledge). We hope you will use this reprint to show to your clients and prospects and in your marketing efforts.

Many of you will have come across the ‘Björn’ activity. In groups of three, people take turns to ask each other a series of questions starting with ‘Out of everything you are doing at work at the moment, what would you say you are most pleased with?’ The question is asked around the group, then the next question is revealed. This is not only a very robust and enjoyable format to get people asking questions and listening to the answers. The initial question is a marvellous example of an SF question. ‘Out of all the things you are doing at work at the moment’ – think and look widely. ‘What would you say’ – it’s your judgement that counts, not anyone else’s. ‘You are most pleased with’ – there has to be something you are most pleased with, even if you are not very pleased with anything. This is a great example from Björn of how careful wording can pay huge dividends.

We also feature Björn and Eva’s chapter from Solutions Focus Working (2007) describing their work with a leadership team in a social services office in Lund, Sweden. This chapter contains excellent exercises, which we have use for again and again, as well as another example of Björn’s skilful application of SF work in management settings.

Björn Johansson participated in the great majority of SOLworld conferences and other events generously sharing his work and ideas. Many of us remember his funny songs at the cabaret, making us all sing in Swedish accompanied by his own guitar playing. He was also a founding member of SFCT and gave a lot of input into the Clues document, the review process and other foundational processes. The research conference idea emerged through discussions with him. The Clues centre in Karlstad, Sweden, emerged over the years as a leading light in the training and supervision of social workers, coaches and managers in Sweden. Eva has annouced her intention to carry on their work there, continuing the use and exploration of the SF model.

Other contents in this issue

Vicky Bliss’s article on formulations in psychotherapy emerged through our research conference in 2013. She describes the traditional concept of ‘formulation’ (where does the problem come from and what is the best method of treatment) and devel- ops ideas on how SF therapy can show the same kind of ethical commitment (which is what formulations are used for) by using other means. Of course, this article is about therapy – the overall question, however, of how we as SF coaches and train- ers can show our quality and commitment to ethics in a world that sees these issues quite differently is worth thinking about. Susanne Burgstaller’s Metalogue on ‘What is an organisa- tion?’ is a delightful diversion. Inspired by Gregory Bateson’s metalogues with his daughter Mary Catherine in the seminal collection Steps To An Ecololgy of Mind, this piece presents an imagined dialogue between mother and daughter about what mother does all day (SF) and why. The piece is not only enter- taining but also offers a valuable perspective into the roots of our practice. The classic article we feature in this edition is a real treat – a glimpse into the foundations of SFBT as described by David Kiser, who was a student at BFTC at the time, and Fred Piercy. The reprinting rights for this article were rather expensive and the article is not readily available for people outside of universities. We are very proud to have obtained David Kiser’s express permission for reprint and also to have had the funds to pay for the rights (which went to the original publisher). Thank you all for your membership fees which made this possible!

Our case study by Yumiko Morita describes an interesting way of adapting a resource oriented stance that fits with Japanese culture. Instead of using the ‘strength’-concept of positive psychology, Morita-san uses Japanese characters for her clients to identify their resources. She also uses SF questions to help people find out how they see these strengths in operation in their daily life.

Our research review was done by three master’s students from the University of Sydney: Jessica Cashman, Kate Munro and Lisa Wyburd. Carey Glass met them at the second Australian and New Zealand Solution-Focused Conference in August, and they give us access to very interesting material about work being done in education including the establish- ment of an SF public alternative school.

The Review-review describes Rob Rave’s impressive train- ing programme for 300 managers of a FTSE 100 company. We also have many book reviews – thank you all for writing them and please write more! Book reviews are a great way to keep everybody informed of the latest development and also to connect to writers of these books by sending them a copy of InterAction and thus making them aware of our existence.