John Brooker Annie Bordeleau Introduction A passionate group of solution-focused organisational practitioners came together for a two-day Unconference on how the Solution Focus (SF) approach could help create truly sustainable organisations. A powerful theme emerged: the need to make sustainability achievable for individuals and teams, empowering them to take meaningful action and providing hope that their efforts can make a real difference — whether within their organisation, networks, or society at large.
Annette Gray Synopsis Annette Gray and Paut Struik’s session on the Mindsetter Game at the Unconference was designed as a dynamic and engaging way to introduce and apply solution-focused (SF) thinking in the context of sustainability. They chose to use the Mindsetter Game to facilitate discussions on how SF practitioners can integrate strategies for sustainable organisational practices. They drew particularly on Annette’s experiences in Antarctica to provide real-world examples of environmental sustainability.
Andrew Gibson Synopsis The “Best Year Ever” process is a structured Solution Focus (SF) workshop methodology designed to help teams and organisations develop actionable improvement plans, thereby fostering sustainability. This method utilises the SF Numberless Scaling technique, which encourages participants to envision celebrating their most successful year as if it had already happened, then looking to see how much of this is happening now or has happened recently, and then to work out their next small steps in the form of an Action Plan.
John Brooker & Cathy Macharis Synopsis Cathy Macharis and John Brooker co-hosted an open space session at the Unconference titled “Frameworks for creating sustainability and change - what can we learn.” The session was a collaborative effort to explore how Solution-Focused (SF) practices could enhance sustainability frameworks within organisations. While they had originally planned separate sessions, Cathy and John combined their sessions, reviewing the two frameworks together to see what they and the attendees could learn.
Lien Tettelin Synopsis Lien Tettelin’s open space session on “Good practices in the public sector” focused on strategies for enhancing organisational sustainability. The session explored how public sector entities can integrate sustainability into their decision-making processes, develop relevant strategies and KPIs, and redefine notions of profit to encompass social benefits.
Critical strategies discussed included starting conversations around the environmental impacts of decisions, such as carbon footprints, and developing targeted strategies for sectors with the most significant potential impact.
Netta Jakola Synopsis The diagram illustrates the interconnected relationship between three key aspects of sustainability: Environment, Economy, and Equity (or Social dimension).
Here’s a breakdown of the visual elements and their meanings:
Environment: This represents the natural world and is fundamental to sustainability. It emphasises the importance of preserving natural resources and minimising environmental impact. Economy: This aspect focuses on the financial and economic factors that must be sustainable to support long-term prosperity and stability.
Peter Röhrig Synopsis Peter Röhrig’s “Talking with your children” session centred on employing solution-focused (SF) techniques to enhance intergenerational communication about sustainability. This informal conversation illuminated the importance of SF values in nurturing constructive dialogues between different age groups within families.
Key concepts discussed included ‘holding space’ for open conversations, actively listening to each other’s perspectives, and appreciating each other’s contributions. These practices help to build a shared understanding and co-construct a family reality that includes all voices.
Andrew Gibson Synopsis Andrew Gibson’s open space session delved into innovative methods for integrating solution-focused approaches discreetly within various organisational contexts. Participants shared various strategies tailored to subtly foster positive change without overtly disrupting existing structures or workflows.
For example, Roy introduced the concept of “Guerrilla solution-focused practice,” which involves being solution-focused in meetings even if one is the only proponent of such methodologies. This approach includes thinking aloud in a solution-focused manner and maintaining a structured review process in meetings to ensure constructive outcomes.
Wendy Van den Bulck Synopsis The game, ‘The Power of 5’ consists of a playground and reflection questions. We have based it on working interactions in nature, more specifically on five core elements of natural horse behaviour and how they can help human interactions become more sustainable on the different levels of interaction:
Intrapersonal (interaction within team ‘Me, Myself & I’) Interpersonal (interaction between individuals) Intragroup (interaction within teams, associations, groups, …) Intergroup (interaction between teams, associations, groups, …) Using “The Power of 5” tool within networks and ecosystems can significantly contribute to creating more sustainable organisations and societies.
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.