leadership

Mark McKergow and Peter Röhrig Le “Guide du routard vers le futur” un outil de coaching (French translation by Mathieu) Article Model In their book “Host – Six New Roles of Engagement” (2014, pp.45 – 59) Mark McKergow and Helen Bailey present the following model which illuminates the responsiveness of hosting and helps Host Leaders (and indeed SF workers) think about where to put their focus; how to connect long-term hopes and objectives with short-term action.

Nic Vidot Introduced by Carey Glass Nic Vidot is a humble leader and a great story-teller. From his belief in continuous improvement, he describes stories of using SF to make life even better in the secondary school he led. SF became just way the school did things, and they used it in many situations, e.g.: Working with 100 student leaders, whom Nic met twice in each school term Asking questions in assembly Changing how teachers and students interacted in the school grounds When working with the parents of pupils or enacting change with the school’s leadership team In this audio, Nic verbalises his belief in Solution Focus as a leadership tool.

Marika Tammeaid Introduction In the previous issue of InterAction Sofie Geisler was discussing how solution focus works on a large scale and in thinking big. That has been my key interest also for years, since aside of my long-term work as a solution focused coach and trainer of the SF approach, I have all the time had another professional life as a civil servant. My daily work keeps me curious of how a solution focus can be applied in transforming large organisations, or even networks of organisations, like the public sector as whole.

Michele Orr Introduced by Carey Glass What forms of power does a leader need for a remote working team during COVID19? Michele Orr heads up a mental health team in Melbourne, Australia and describes what levers have been necessary for remote working to succeed. Interestingly, from a clinical standpoint, staff have used Solution Focus more with clients and more effectively, when they focus on listening to clients on the telephone, rather than face to face.

Annie Bordeleau Introduced by Carey Glass The paradigm of leadership is shifting. We begin to understand better how to lead in complexity rather than force linearity. What does it mean to sense and adapt to change rather than drive change? Here, Annie Bordeleau shares three Solution Focus listening experiments to train that difference. Annie has the capacity to stop you in your tracks. Charismatic, gentle, personable, and thoughtful, she projects magnificently on screen.

Ralph Miarka, Veronika Jungwirth Introduced by John Brooker In this case study article, experienced Agile and Solution Focus practitioners Ralph and Veronika relate how they used a Solution Focus approach to help a department in the automotive industry become Agile. This article describes a thorough and beneficial piece of work, with useful learning for both SF practitioners and those who are interested in using SF to effect agile change. As well it provides a valuable template for those who may wish to carry out a piece of consulting work with SF.

Louis Cauffman & Kirsten Dierolf Abstract The Solution Tango is about “management as the art of getting things done through people” (p. 13). It promises insights and tools aimed at the achievement of organisational goals through managers who act as both leader (direction- giver) and coach (enablers of performance). It positions itself as a guide for practitioners – “theoretical considerations are reduced to a minimum” – but nevertheless offers material for the theoretically curious.

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.

What shines through in this video is Douglas' delight at applying SF to the very traditional Project Management world and seeing how wonderful a difference it can make.

Hosted by Leah Davcheva Introduced by Géry Derbier On a beautiful Sunday morning, twenty or so participants set out to explore the metaphor of Host Leadership and its practices. Mark McKergow and Helen Bailey carved out the model of two steps, four positions, and six roles of a Host Leader. With the guidance of host Dr Leah Davcheva, participants constructed ways to use this model to benefit clients and themselves.