Doing What Works: Forward in Solution-Focused Change

5 Suggestions for becoming a skilled solution-focused professional

2012-02-01T11:03:00.000+01:00

I have written a guest post for www.appreciatingsystems.com:

5 Suggestions for becoming a skilled solution-focused professional

The solution-focused approach, which was invented in psychotherapy in the 1980s, is now being discovered by many people in all kinds of professions such as coaches, social workers, managers, teachers, trainers, consultants, and project managers. Many people know the solution-focused approach from techniques such as scaling questions, the miracle question, past success questions, and coping questions. By using these and other types of solution-focused questions, the approach helps them to get a clearer picture of their desired situation and of what has already worked before. Many professionals who have started to apply solution-focused principles and techniques are pleased both by the response they get from their clients, employees, or students and by how fast it tends to lead to good results.

Professionals who have just begun to work solution-focused also notice that mastering it is not quite as easy as it might appear. They sometimes ask me for suggestions of how they might approach their learning process. Here are five suggestions based on my experience of what usually works well:
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Epigenetics: The Ultimate Mystery of Inheritance

2012-01-30T23:57:00.000+01:00

I am now reading Epigenetics: The Ultimate Mystery of Inheritance by Richard Francis, a freelance writer with a PhD in neurobiology and behavior from Stony Brook University. Here is description from wikipedia of what epigenetics is:

"In biology, and specifically genetics, epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence – hence the name epi- (Greek: επί- over, above, outer) -genetics. It refers to functionally relevant modifications to the genome that do not involve a change in the nucleotide sequence. Examples of such changes are DNA methylation and histone deacetylation, both of which serve to suppress gene expression without altering the sequence of the silenced genes."

I really like what I have read so far and I hope to write more about the book, later. For now, here is the book description from Amazon:
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Group polarization and professional communities

2012-01-27T23:18:00.000+01:00

Psychologist David G. Myers (photo) gave an interesting answer to this year's Edge question which was: "What is your favorite deep, elegant of beautiful explanation?" Meyers mentioned the phenomenon of Group Polarization which can be summarized as: Interaction in groups of kindred spirits tends to amplify people's initial inclinations. In isolation from moderating influences, group interaction becomes a social amplifier. This phenomenon might explain why people who 'self-segregate' around certain values or views may radicalize and, in extreme cases, form sects or terrorist groups. (Read Meyer's piece here). What I wonder is what group polarization means for professional communities.
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Written solution-focused coaching conversation

2012-01-27T09:06:00.000+01:00

Today, in a training of solution-focused coaches, I invited them to do an exercise in which they did a written solution-focused coaching conversation. The idea behind this exercise was to focus on two things which help make solution-focused coaching conversations effective:

Text-focus: solution-focused coaches listen carefully to their clients and use their key words. They don't change the words of their clients and don't read between the lines.
Go-slow: solution-focused coaches make sure that clients are never rushed and have all the time they need to think and to express their thoughts.

The exercise went as follows: Read more »

Exercise: what have you become good at?

2012-01-25T16:42:00.000+01:00

On this site you have often seen references to Carol Dweck's work on mindset (see this post, which, coincidentally, is one of this site's most popular posts ever). Here is a little exercise on the growth mindset. You may use it for your own benefit or you may use it to introduce the mindset concept to other people.

Exercise: what have you become good at?
It often happens that people become good at something which they once thought they would never be able to become good at. They did not expect to become competent or knowledgeable but they did. Please take a moment to think of something at which you used to be incompetent but at which you now are competent. Take a moment to think and write down your answers to the following questions to help you reflect on how you have managed to become competent at that activity.
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Computer programs to assist people in expressing apology and getting to forgiveness

2012-01-22T12:03:00.000+01:00

Guest post by Ben Furman

In the US, medical doctors have been advised for years by lawyers notapologize if patients complained about them. An apology, the lawyers used toexplain, indicates admission of culpability and acts as invitation for amalpractice lawsuit. Massachusetts was the first State to adopt what is called an apology law inthe mid 80s. It is a law that stipulates that an apology made by a medicalpractitioner to a patient may not be used against the practitioner in thecourt of law. Apology laws, which give legal permission for doctors toapologise to patients for their mistakes, have since been passed in mostStates in USA. It has been estimated that such laws have brought hugesavings to the medical establishment through reducing the number ofmalpractice suits, increasing the number of resolved cases and decreasingthe amount of moneys paid in compensation.

Apology is strong medicine. It impacts human relationships and contributesto psychological well being of both the victim and the perpetrator. Itrestores harmony by suspending anger and resentment. The positive psychology movement has convinced most of us that forgiveness is not only beneficial for resolving conflicts but actually an essential ingredient of human happiness.
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How solution-focused is the SMART approach?

2012-01-19T11:12:00.000+01:00

Nick Bernett wrote me an e-mail saying he doubts whether the SMART approach to goal setting fits with the solution-focused approach and he asked me what I think about this. Here are my thoughts.

What is SMART? In case you haven't heard about SMART, here is a brief explanation about what it is. SMART is an acronym which stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-bound. Over time, quite a few alternative words have been suggested for these letters and also a few extensions of the acronym with a few letters but for our discussion let's keep things simple here and stick to the original (as far as I know) and simple form. SMART as a tool probably emerged from the management by objectives (MBO) approach which emphasized the importance a process of defining objectives within an organization so that management and employees agree to the objectives and understand what they need to do in the organization. SMART is often seen as a handy tool to help managers and employees to agree on effective goals.

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Solution-Focused Coaching & Positive Outcomes

2012-01-18T19:48:00.000+01:00

I have written a guest post on Paolo Terni's blog:

Solution-focused principles and techniques, orginally developed in psychotherapy, have found their way into coaching, over the last decade. While an evidence base of solution-focused brief therapy is beginning to come off the ground, little research is done on the effectiveness of solution-focused coaching (one researcher who is already doing interesting research in this area is Anthony Grant). It is important that an evidence base on solution-focused coaching is built, too. Individual clients, client organizations and society at large rightfully demand that solution-focused professionals not only discover things that work but also justify what they do by scientifically testing their claims.

Standard effectiveness research approaches involve randomized controlled experiments in which the treatment of interest is compared with a reference approach and a control group. A recent review summarizes this type of coaching research, which is still in its infancy. While this approach is indispensable it is not the only useful approach and it is not without weaknesses. For one thing, this type of research requires the existence of generally accepted definitions of the treatments (coaching procedures) that are researched. This type of research comparing coaching approaches does say something about the relative effectiveness of these approaches but does not say much about the relative contribution of the constituent elements of these approaches because these are not examined separately in these types of experiments but in combination with each other.

Read the full post here

Challenging genetic determinism

2012-01-15T21:54:00.000+01:00

I have written a few posts before about how the old view of genetic and environmental influence on behavior isn't valid. In Bye bye genetic determinism I wrote about Chapter 2 of David Shenk's The Genius in All of Us: Why Everything You've Been Told About Genetics, Talent, and IQ Is Wrong. It said that the popular conception of the gene as a simple and powerful causal agent is not valid and should be replaced by a new interactionist model which describes the role of genes more accurately is briefly summarized as 'GxE'. In Exit genetic determinism: example of genes-environment interaction I summarized a dramatic demonstration of this genes-environment interaction which dates back to 1958 when researchers Rod Cooper and John Zubek did an experiment with rats.

As Carol Dweck has demonstrated frequently, self-beliefs have important consequences. Likewise, what we believe about how genes and environments shape our behavior is important. Is it so that important characteristics of people are 1) primarily cause by our genes, 2) primarily caused by environmental influences? 3) partly by genes and partly by environments, or 4) by a complex interaction of genes and environments?

A new book, Challenging Genetic Determinism. New Perspectives on the Gene in its Multiple Environments, reports on advances in genetic research. Here are some quotes from the book:

20 Quotes from the Edge Question 2012

2012-01-15T13:12:00.000+01:00

This year, Edge asks the following question: "What is your favorite deep, elegant, or beautiful explanation?" 181 Elite thinkers answered the question. Here are 25 quotes I selected from what they wrote. Which quote do you like best and why?

We want to know what the world is really like, but we want it in a form that fits our intuitions. A form that means something. And for our narrative-driven brains, meaning comes in the form of stories, stories about things. I doubt we'll ever stop telling stories about how the universe works, and I, for one, am glad. We just have to remember not to mistake the stories for reality. ~ Amanda Gefter
Imitation in humans is widespread and often automatic. It is important for learning and transmission of culture. We tend to align our movements (and even words!) during social interactions without even realizing it.~ Marco Iacoboni

Micro-analysis: showing the details of how the solution-focused approach makes change happen

2012-01-11T16:57:00.000+01:00

Guest post by Paolo Terni, solution-focused coach in Sacramento, San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA

One of the key principles of Solution-Focus practice is that “The Action is in the Inter-Action”, as Mark McKergow and Paul Z Jackson brilliantly put it. Which means that we “co-construct” meaning and solutions in the interaction. But how?This is where microanalysis comes in. Pioneered and extensively used by Janet Beavin Bavelas and her research group at the University of Victoria, microanalysis is defined as “the detailed and reliable examination of observable communication sequences as they proceed, moment by moment, in the dialogue”.
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Instructors with a fixed mindset more likely to comfort and demotivate struggling students

2012-01-05T23:26:00.001+01:00

“It's ok - not everyone can be good at math”: Instructors with an entity theory comfort (and demotivate) students

By Aneeta Rattan, Catherine Good, and Carol S. Dweck

Abstract: Can comforting struggling students demotivate them and potentially decrease the pool of students pursuing math-related subjects? In Studies 1–3, instructors holding an entity (fixed) theory of math intelligence more readily judged students to have low ability than those holding an incremental (malleable) theory. Studies 2–3 further revealed that those holding an entity (versus incremental) theory were more likely to both comfort students for low math ability and use “kind” strategies unlikely to promote engagement with the field (e.g., assigning less homework). Next, we explored what this comfort-oriented feedback communicated to students, compared with strategy-oriented and control feedback (Study 4). Students responding to comfort-oriented feedback not only perceived the instructor's entity theory and low expectations, but also reported lowered motivation and lower expectations for their own performance. This research has implications for understanding how pedagogical practices can lock students into low achievement and deplete the math pipeline.
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Six ways solution focus speeds up organizational change (Guest Post)

2012-01-04T13:09:00.000+01:00

Guest Post by Alan Kay, The Glasgow Group

What are the practicalities of solution focused organizational change? Working with them for over 12 years using the solution focus framework at center of my client offering demonstrates why it’s one of the best ways to help organizations make progress on change. This thinking applies to all organizations and all functions therein…from bankers to children’s aid, from actuaries to architects.

1. Solution Focus asks, it does not tell. The consultant does not present the solution – the client arrives at the change via the consultant’s better questions

Why? I tell clients they know what to do, it’s just not clear to them because they’ve become muddled in their thinking through problem focus in both strategic and tactical discussions. Solution focus pares away the non-productive discussion, helps understand what they want to be better (vs. the problem).

"In business we all know we have problems, but it is progress on the problems we need. Solution Focus is very effective at getting people to think and act on the right things, the possible solutions. It is a wonderful tool at getting people unstuck and making progress happen." ~ Tim Hammond, General Manager, Fuel

Intelligence: New findings and theoretical developments

2012-01-04T12:31:00.000+01:00

Intelligence: New findings and theoretical developments

By Richard Nisbett, Joshua Aronson, Clancy Blair, William Dickens, James Flynn, Diane Halpern, and Eric Turkheimer

American Psychologist, Jan 2 , 2012

We review new findings and new theoretical developments in the field of intelligence. New findings include the following: (a) Heritability of IQ varies significantly by social class. (b) Almost no genetic polymorphisms have been discovered that are consistently associated with variation in IQ in the normal range. (c) Much has been learned about the biological underpinnings of intelligence. (d) “Crystallized” and “fluid” IQ are quite different aspects of intelligence at both the behavioral and biological levels. (e) The importance of the environment for IQ is established by the 12-point to 18-point increase in IQ when children are adopted from working-class to middle-class homes. (f) Even when improvements in IQ produced by the most effective early childhood interventions fail to persist, there can be very marked effects on academic achievement and life outcomes.
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Can Everyone Become Highly Intelligent?

2012-01-03T11:37:00.000+01:00

Can Everyone Become Highly Intelligent? Cultural Differences in and Societal Consequences of Beliefs about the Universal Potential for Intelligence

by Krishna Savani, Aneeta Rattan, N. V. R. Naidu, and Carol S. Dweck (2011)

Abstract: We identify a novel dimension of people’s beliefs about intelligence: beliefs about the potential to become highly intelligent. Studies 1-3 found that in U.S. American contexts, people tend to believe that only some people have the potential to become highly intelligent. In contrast, in South Asian Indian contexts, people tend to believe that most people have the potential to become highly intelligent. To examine the implications of these beliefs, Studies 4-6 measured and manipulated Americans’ beliefs about the potential for intelligence and found that the belief that everyone can become highly intelligent predicted increased support for policies that distribute resources more equally across advantaged and disadvantaged social groups. These findings suggest that the belief that only some people have the potential to become highly intelligent is a culturally shaped belief, one that can lead people to oppose policies aimed at redressing social inequality. Read more

On the question of whether we have free will

2012-01-02T15:40:00.003+01:00

I don't know what to think about the topic of free will. Sam Harris argues, in his new book Free Will (which I haven't read; it will come out in March), that free will does not exist. Biologist Jerry Coyne agrees. In his column Why you don't really have free will he says that while we feel like we have free will, we actually do not. He also says that there's not much downside to abandoning the notion of free will and a few important upsides. One of the upsides he mentions is that it will become much easier to empathize with other people once we realize that their behavior is caused by genes and environments, not by free will.
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Bètacoach: promising project to improve math education

2011-12-30T20:44:00.000+01:00

Recently someone told me about a promising and innovative project (named Bètacoach) by Monique Pijls (photo) a Dutch math teacher and consultant. The project is aimed at improving math education (in The Netherlands, the exact subjects are sometimes called 'bèta subjects') . I find this project interesting because I think improving math education is important and because the project seems to have some solution-focused characteristics.
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What is your top 3 of philosophers who have paved the way for the solution-focused approach?

2011-12-30T11:17:00.001+01:00

Just for fun and for learning a bit: If you had to name a top 3 of philosophers who have importantly influenced and paved the way for the solution-focused approach, which three philosophers would you choose to be in that top 3 and why?

Here are your top three's here:

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A few questions for the new year

2011-12-29T10:52:00.001+01:00

What went well in 2010?
What did you do that you are you proud of?
What would you like to be different?
How would you like next year to become?
What would you like to try differently?
How would you like your future to become?

Mini Survey about what solution-focused coaches do

2011-12-28T13:23:00.000+01:00

Mini Survey about what solution-focused coaches do - The purpose of this mini-survey is to learn what solution-focused coaches do and do not do. Would you please participate so that you can help us? If you are personal or a business coach we ask you to answer the questions below. This will probably take you about 5 - 10 minutes. Go to the survey.

When you become good at something

2011-12-27T18:09:00.000+01:00

Often, when you become good at something, your 'reward' is that you're asked to do more of that activity so you'd better find interesting what you try to become good at.

The map is not the territory

2011-12-24T11:30:00.002+01:00

In my posts Objective reality as an asymptote and On truth: we can distinguish between false and falser (and discussions that followed those posts - mainly in my LinkedIn group) I shared my views on the difference between reality and our interpretation of it.

Summarizing my thinking about this: I argue against: 1) saying that reality does not exist, 2) saying that reality is unknowable to us, 3) saying that we should not bother trying to refine our understanding of reality, 4) saying that there is no sense in trying to distinguish between the validity of one truth claim and another, and 5) calling one's view on the world 'one's truth' (and therefore saying that everyone has his own truth and that everyone's truth is equally valid).
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10 Tips to make your written communication more solution-focused

2011-12-21T19:39:00.000+01:00

A manager asked me how solution-focused principles and techniques may be applied in e-mails and written proposals. An interesting and important question. Solution-focused practice is usually primarily associated with oral conversations but there is no reason why it could not be used in written communication as well. Here are some suggestions off-the-cuff to make your written communication a bit more solution-focused:

Make it useful by asking in advance what the other person's expectations are from your text. It may sound counter-intuitive but you can just ask your clients what they would like your proposal to look like, how lengthy it should be, and what elements it should contain.
Make it simple: make your words, sentences and structure no more complicated than strictly necessary. Writing a simple text may seem easy but it usually isn't. It often requires more time and attention. But simple and clearly structured texts are more easily understood by readers and more pleasant to read.

A tripartite taxonomy for teaching, measuring and conceptualising solutionfocused approaches to coaching

2011-12-21T13:13:00.000+01:00

By Anthony M. Grant

Solution-focused approaches to facilitating purposeful positive change through methodologies such ascoaching have great potential to contribute to the broader human change enterprise. To date there has beenlimited exposition of psychological theory within the solution-focused arena, and few attempts to articulatetaxonomies specific to solution-focused research, teaching and practice, thus restricting the development andbroader adoption of the solution-focused paradigm. Drawing on the established solution-focused literature,this paper seeks to address this issue by articulating a tripartite taxonomy for solution-focused coaching basedon the framework underpinning the Solution-Focused Inventory. This model consists of three factors:(a) Goal-orientation; (b) Resource Activation; and (c) Problem Disengagement – subscales of the Solution-Focused Inventory. Implications of this taxonomy for teaching, research and practice are discussed and arange of future directions for research explored.

Source: The Coaching Psychologist Volume 7 No 2 December 2011, p98-106

Testing the Association between Solution-Focused Coaching and Client Perceived Coaching Outcomes

2011-12-16T16:11:00.000+01:00

Visser, C.F. (2011). Testing the Association between Solution-Focused Coaching and Client Perceived Coaching Outcomes. InterAction 3 (2), 9-27

This paper describes a survey study into the association between SF behaviours of coaches and clients perceived coaching outcomes. A web-based survey was administered with 200 clients of coaches. The survey consisted of a list of 28 coach behaviours, 14 of which were SF behaviours and 14 of which were behaviours SF coaches would avoid. Clients were also asked to describe on several dimensions how effective the coaching had been. SF coach behaviours were strongly positively associated with positive coachingoutcomes. Non-SF coach behaviours were moderately negatively associated with positive coaching outcomes. A multiple regression analysis was done, which gave insight into which specific coach behaviours were predictive of coaching success. The paper closes with some reflections on the implications of this study and with suggestions for followup research.

Read full article (draft)

Objective reality as an asymptote

2011-12-15T21:44:00.000+01:00

To my post On truth: we can distinguish between false and falser, I received several responses. One response contained the following statement: "For what I understand of radical constructivism (thinking I am one), reality is not denied (this is another thing). It's just that "true reality" cannot be objectively known, for there's always a subject looking at it, either directly or through devices (scientific apparels). So, any view of reality is true in and for itself. Yet, that doesn't prevent people from talking about their differing views and coming to a consensus to what true reality (or reality "out there" as constructivists say) probably is. When everybody though Earth was flat, so it was. Yet, someday, someone experimented (and measured) that it was spherical. (personal) experience grounded that belief and we yet have to find someone who can prove that Earth is flat again (or cubic). So we trust that to such a high level that we relinquish doubt and consider that the earth reality out there is indeed spherical."

Here are my thoughts on this: I would not say "any view of reality is true in and for itself". I think any view may seem/feel true but this different (I think) from whether it actually is (or to which extent is actually is). In the same vein, instead of saying "When everybody thought Earth was flat, so it was.", I would say "Although everybody thought Earth was flat, it actually wasn't." Although it may have not mattered much to most people whether or not it was flat, and they may have treated the earth's supposed flatness as truth. This, however, did not reflect the reality of the shape of the earth which wasn't flat.
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On diagnostics in personnel selection

2011-12-14T18:25:00.001+01:00

David Creelman will soon publish an article on the use of diagnostics in personnel decisions. In it, he points at some problems with formal diagnostic tools. He argues that organizations should always use formal tools in combination with informal tools. I'll link to the article when it's online. Meanwhile, David asked me for my views on the use of diagnostics in personnel management and here is what I said:
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On truth: we can distinguish between false and falser

2011-12-14T15:18:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, I received an interesting reaction to my post Two dimensions of rationality: "Isn't SF based on constructivism? I may be too radical, but in this case that would mean that there's no such a thing as "what's true" (more precisely: what's true is unknowable for any kind of knowledge is constructed into one's own mind). So, it boils down to "what works" and "what you experienced as true" (meaning that someone else may have experienced something differently, being "true" on different points or even "false" from their point of view)."

My response is: "Thank you for your reaction. Yes, one of the main inspirations for the people who originally formulated SF was social constructivism / social constructionism, which were popular philosophical perspectives in those days. These knowledge theories consider how social phenomena or objects of consciousness develop in social contexts. Some people, inspired by these ideas think that objective reality is not knowable for us. Others have even said that objective reality does not exist. The latter people may say that there is not one truth but there are many truths or they may reject the whole notion of truth and reality.
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Two dimensions of rationality

2011-12-13T08:34:00.002+01:00

In his book What Intelligence Tests Miss: The Psychology of Rational Thought, Keith Stanovich explains how cognitive psychologists define rationality. They distinguish two basic forms of rationality: 1) instrumental rationality, behaving in such a way that you achieve what you want, and 2) epistemic rationality, taking care that your beliefs correspond with the actual structure of the world.

At the risk of simplyfying too much, instrumental rationality seems to be about doing what works and epistemic rationality is concerned with truth and refers to seeing reality for what it is. It seems to be a pitfall to overlook any of these two rationalities. Two undesirable situations may happen:

A. Only focusing on what is true but forgetting to do whatworks may lead to your neglecting to do things that help you to survive and remainconnected to other people. In extreme cases this may lead to a situation inwhich your questioning dominant false beliefs may threaten governing institutionsso much that they may want to isolate you or worse (for example think of Copernicus and Socrates).

B. Only focusing on doing what works but neglecting the whatis true question may lead to you moving efficiently through a web of falsitydistancing you more and more from reality. In extreme cases it may lead to suchpragmatism that individuals may gradually go along with and adapt to situationswhich systematically undermine human thriving of themselves or others (such asjoining a religious sect).

Thinking about this, I thought of visualizing this as follows:

Do recent publications prove Anders Ericsson and colleagues wrong about the importance of deliberate practice? No.

2011-12-05T09:14:00.001+01:00

About deliberate practice
I have written much about deliberate practice. Researchers have demonstrated there is a lack of evidence for the claim that natural ability is the main factor behind top performance. They have found out that what is crucial instead is the amount of time the individual has practiced and the specific way in which he or she has practiced (read more about deliberate practice here and here). Recently, two articles were published on the relative importance of deliberate practice and 'talent' for achieving high levels of performance. First, there was Deliberate Practice Is Necessary but Not Sufficient to Explain Individual Differences in Piano Sight-Reading Skill by E. Meinz and D. Hambrick. Second, there was Deliberate Practice: Necessary But Not Sufficient by G. Campitelli and F. Gobet. Do these articles shed a new light on how important deliberate practice is? Do they call for a return to the idea that innate abilities are, in the end, more important? Did these authors prove Anders Ericsson et al. wrong? No. I'll explain why.
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9 Solution-focused starting points of organizational change

2011-11-30T08:37:00.001+01:00

Recently, I've posted some starting points of solution-focused organizational change. Here they are:

Congruence of implementation approach: the change is credible if the way in which the change is implemented fits with what needs to be accomplished.- Congruence between change content and change implementation approach
Congruence of facilitation style: external facilitation by a coach or consultant is credible if it fits with what needs to be accomplished. - How to establish congruence as an external solution-focused expert
Communicate rationales: Change is credible and acceptable when careful attention is paid to explaining the reasons behind goals, rules and decisions in terms of specific expected advantages. - The importance of communicating rationales in organizational change

Focus on usefulness and progress in solution-focused organizational change

2011-11-29T10:51:00.001+01:00

Evaluation of organizational change is important. Evaluation helps us to get an idea of how successful something has been, what went right and what went wrong which is essential to determine further steps. But, in practice, evaluation is often problematic in the sense that it lacks precision, overaccentuates numbers and/or financial outcomes, focuses too much on problem causes, and is not found useful both to the people who provided the information and those who gathered it. The solution-focused approach to organizational change which focuses closely on progress and usefulness, seems to work better.
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Facilitating employee involvement and participation in solution-focused organizational change

2011-11-27T23:49:00.001+01:00

In the solution-focused approach, employees are viewed as capable and responsible people who want to and are able to make sensible decisions. Therefore, a starting point in the solution-focused approach to organizational change is to share decision making whenever possible. A change process is likely to be more acceptable and attractive to employees when they notice that they can participate in the decision making about 1) what should be changed and what not, 2) the definition of how things should become (the preferred future), and 3) how the change is made, especially with respect to their own work context. When employees have a say in these things their sense of autonomy will be supported and they will feel more competent and more involved with and related to the organization and its goals.
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The change sparsity principle in solution-focused organizational change

2011-11-24T08:25:00.001+01:00

A solution-focused starting point in deliberate organizational change is to not change any faster or more than necessary. Often, when things are not going well, there is an understandable tendency to initiate drastic changes in organizations. But such an approach can lead to tensions and insecurities. When a "drastic change is needed" message is communicated in organizations employees may interpret them as "much of what you have done was not good enough". Because of this such messages may undermine employees' sense of autonomy and competence and demotivate them. Another potential risk of drastic change approaches is that they may also disturb or destroy practices or processes that were actually working well. Because of this, unexpected problems may emerge.
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Combining results focus with sensitivity in organizational change

2011-11-23T09:26:00.001+01:00

Change is more likely to succeed when a results focus is consistently combined with a sensitivity for the perspective of individuals. Acknowledging and utilizing the perspective of employees in organizational change can be beneficial in several ways:

They are more likely to feel taken seriously and understood and will experience more safety to express their views and concerns.
When you take the trouble to try to understand these views and concerns, the organizational change process may benefit from using and addressing them.

The Solution-Focused Fields of Attention Framework

2011-11-21T14:46:00.001+01:00

In this video, I proposed a simple framework which helps to understand and to conduct solution conversations. I call this framework the solution-focused fields of attention framework. This is what it looks like.

5 types of homework suggestions for solution-focused career counselors

2011-11-18T12:52:00.001+01:00

Career counselors use solution-focused principles and interventions more and more. Solution-focused career guidance is a bit different from traditional career guidance in several aspects. Firstly, many of the well-known solution-focused techniques are used, such as usefulness questions, scaling questions, desired situation questions, future projection questions, past success questions, and coping questions. Secondly, the solution-focused posture is used. This posture is not the posture of the expert who offers opinions and advice but a posture of not knowing. By exploring the perspective of clients and by asking focused questions clients are helped to discover how they can take steps forward. This posture of the solution-focused professional is sometimes called 'leading from behind'. Thirdly, solution-focused career counselors work from a different view on career development and -guidance than is traditionally the case. Simply put, traditionally, solution-focused career counselors work from a linear view in which successively is worked on these tasks: 1) analysis (of self and labor market), setting goals, 3) making a plan, 4) implementing the plan. The solution-focused approach uses a test-and-learn approach instead. This approach is not linear but circular and assumes that one primarily learns and grows by doing first and then analyzing (not the other way around). (more about this here).
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Focusing on what works in organizational change

2011-11-18T11:52:00.001+01:00

Doing what works, one of the core principles of solution-focused practice, can be very useful in organizational change. Briefly put, doing what works means that, when you try to accomplish something, you pay careful attention to what is working in the present, or has worked before in a more or less comparable situation, and do more of that. Four aspects may help to explain how the focus on what works can be applied:
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Greatness and modesty

2011-11-17T22:24:00.001+01:00

History has produced amazing examples of human achievement in science and art. You might think that if any people would deserve to speak of themselves immodestly. But it is striking how modest some of the very greatest geniuses of all time appear to have been. It is almost as if the following rule applies: the greater the genius, the more modest. I think Confucius said it right when he said: “A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.” Here are a few examples:
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Supporting individual autonomy in organizational change

2011-11-16T08:07:00.001+01:00

In organizational change it is wise to recognize that a basic need we all share with one another is the need for autonomy. We all prefer to choose for ourselves as much as possible what we initiate and we want to control as much as possible what we do and don't. When our need for autonomy is satisfied this can contribute importantly to the degree to which we are engaged in what we do, how well we learn, how creative we are, how well we adjust and even how mentally healthy we are.
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The importance of communicating rationales in organizational change

2011-11-15T08:07:00.001+01:00

One starting point in solution-focused change management is to clearly communicate the rationale behind the change goals. In the absence of a clear and positively formulated rationale for the desired change members of the organization may fail to understand why the change is needed and may lack motivation to put effort into the change. Change is credible and acceptable when careful attention is paid to explaining the reasons behind goals, rules and decisions preferably in terms of specific expected advantages.
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How to establish congruence as an external solution-focused expert

2011-11-14T20:49:00.001+01:00

Sometimes, when aspects of the solution-focused approach are implemented in organizations, external solution-focused experts are hired to help facilitate this process. For example, a management team may hire a solution-focused mediator to help them communicate in a more solution-focused way. Another example is a youth care organization wanting to implement signs of safety hires a solution-focused trainer-coach to help facilitate the implementation. A final example is a therapy institute which hires a solution-focused trainer to provide a solution-focused management training for all its managers.
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Congruence between change content and change implementation approach

2011-11-14T11:22:00.001+01:00

Solution-focused principles and techniques, which were mostly developed in the context of psychotherapy, are now beginning to gain popularity organizational change management. Techniques like scaling questions, the miracle question, the circle technique, interviewing for past successes, focusing on small steps forward and other techniques have been applied successfully by many change managers.
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Derren Brown - The Experiments: The Secret of Luck (Full)

2011-11-12T16:28:00.001+01:00

Applying solution-focused interventions in a fluent and natural way

2011-11-11T13:24:00.001+01:00

Now and then participants in our training programs say things like: "I want to learn to be able to apply solution-focused interventions in a fluent and natural way." Usually they add things like: "I don't want my coaching to look mechanical", and "I don't want to have to think hard about what I say and ask. I just want it to come out easily and automatically."
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Solution-focused approach improved matrimony happiness and marital adjustment

2011-11-08T08:47:00.000+01:00

The effectiveness of group solution-focused approach instruction on happiness and marital adjustment of couples referred to family counseling centers in Boushehr
By Ahramiyan Afshin*, Sodani Mansour, Hussein Pour Mohammad

The present research is accomplished in order to consider the effectiveness of group solution-focused approach instruction on happiness and marital adjustment in couples referred to family counseling centers in Boushehr. Solution-focused approach is a short term remedy which emphasizes on finding solutions through counselor's help. Research sample consist of twenty two couples whom were randomly assigned into control and experimental groups. Research tools included Oxford Happiness, reviewed questionnaire, and Marital Adjustment Test (MAT). The research plan was administrating pre/posttests on control and experimental groups, as well as a follow-up test. In order to analyze the collected data, descriptive statistical approaches, and reiterative measurement test were used. Data analysis showed that solution-focused approach has improved the matrimony happiness and marital adjustment significantly.

Focusing Flashlights on Different Corners

2011-11-07T12:27:00.000+01:00

Solution-focused coaches help clients to become aware of what has worked for them before. It may seem a bit strange that clients need coaches to identify what has worked before. Couldn't they have done that themselves? After all, the clients identify things they themselves have done well. Why could they not remember without the help of a coach? In The invisibility of what works I explained that it is actually not abnormal to not always be aware of what has worked before.
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Tiny task to unstuck yourself

2011-11-04T11:04:00.001+01:00

Do you know the feeling of being stuck? Do you know that type situation in which you would like to do something interesting and useful but you just can't get started for lack of inspiration? Do you know that type of situation in which you urgently have to do something in order to meet a deadline but you can't get started and keep postponing it? In these situations we seem to be caught in a trap. We need to get started but the problem is we can't seem to get started.
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How economic inequality harms societies

2011-10-25T09:36:00.000+02:00

Five macro-trends overarching all of human history

2011-10-23T15:32:00.003+02:00

Many things in the world fluctuate continuously but some things seem to keep on changing in one direction over long stretches of time. There even seem to be a few developments which stretch out over all of human history. Here are a few examples:

1. Anthropocentrism declines: long ago people used to interpret nature in human-centric terms. We thought we were the center of all things. Natural phenomena like thunder, outburst of volcanos and floods, were thought to be signs from god(s) meant especially for us. We thought the world was directed by gods who resembled people in many ways. Step by step we started to find out more about nature and about ourselves. We discovered much about natural phenomena and found out they often had little, if anything, to do with us.We also discovered the vastness of the universe. We found out that the earth is a tiny planet which is not at the center of our solar system, that our solar system is not at the center of our galaxy, the Milky way, and that people are not separate from animals but, instead, that we are animals ourselves. (Viewing tips: 1) The Center of all Things, 2) The Known Universe).
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50 Solution-Focused Quotes

2011-10-21T22:45:00.002+02:00

How is the growth mindset relevant for you as a manager?

2011-10-18T13:23:00.000+02:00

People who learn about the growth mindset (the belief in the mutability of human capabilities by effort and experience) sometimes ask me whether this isn't mainly relevant for raising and educating kids. They as me if the principles of the growth mindset are also relevant for adults. A question which is frequently asked in particular is whether it is relevant for managers.
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Deliberate practice: crucial factor behind top performance

2011-10-16T09:27:00.000+02:00

These last few decades, a sub discipline has evolved within psychology which has produced knowledge which has replaced the traditional view on how top performance is developed. Researchers working in this discipline, of who Anders Ericsson (photo) in the most prominent, have shown that there is a lack of evidence for the claim that natural ability is the main reason for top performance. They have found out that what is crucial is the amount of time the individual has practiced and the specific way in which he or she has practiced.
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Globalization could benefit the entire world

2011-10-15T20:27:00.000+02:00

"In principle, the new globalization can ultimately be beneficial for the entire world. [...] The high income countries, including the United States, Europe, and Japan, can also be winners. The newly emerging economies produce a wide variety of low-cost goods and services that we desire, and in turn we can export a wide variety of goods and services to the emerging economies. Sectors that have strong economies of scale will benefit for the expanded reach of the global market. [...]
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One ought to seek good reasons for believing something

2011-10-15T11:32:00.003+02:00

"One ought to seek good reasons for believing something. Faith, revelation, tradition, dogma, authority, the estatic glow of subjective certainty - all are recipes for error, and should be dismissed as sources of knowledge."

~ Steven Pinker in The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

The Solution-Focused Circle Technique

2011-10-11T00:19:00.000+02:00

Finding the Plus Behind the Minus

2011-10-08T10:29:00.000+02:00

I have argued that treating clients as cooperative, no matter how resistant they may appear, may be the quickest and most promising way to encourage further cooperation (read about that idea here). Sometimes it can be hard to, though. When someone says or does something which sounds or seems offensive or negative, it can be hard to not become defensive or negative oneself. What helps in such situations is to fall back on a deliberate strategy which I have dubbed "searching the plus behind the minus".
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Organizational Change Exercise

2011-10-07T13:01:00.001+02:00

One of the most practical theoretic frameworks on organizational change is the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991), briefly TPB. I mentioned an adjusted version of this framework by Reeve and Assor (2011) in this article: Developing a Growth Mindset - How individuals and organizations benefit from it. Here is a simple vizualisation of that framework:
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Steven Pinker on the illusion of ever-present violence

2011-10-05T08:27:00.001+02:00

"Violence has declined over long stretches of time, and today we may be living in the most peaceable era in our species' existence. The decline, to be sure, has not been smooth; it has not brought violence down to zero; and it is not guaranteed to continue. But it is an unmistakable development, visible on scales from millennia to years, from the waging of wars to the spanking of children."

"The very idea [that violence has gone down] invites skepticism, incredulity, and sometimes anger. Perhaps the main cause of the illusion of ever-present violence springs from one of the forces that drove violence down in the first place."
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9 Solution-focused starting points with solution-focused change management

2011-10-04T13:16:00.000+02:00

Solution-focused principles and techniques are not only useful for individual conversations and team facilitation but also for facilitating organizational change in a broader sense. Here are few starting points which you may use for that purpose.

Congruence 1 (between change content and change implementation approach): the change is credible if the way in which the change is implemented fits with what needs to be accomplished.

Congruence 2: (between change content and facilitation style): external facilitation by a coach or consultant is credible if it fits with what needs to be accomplished.

Communicate rationale: Change is credible and acceptable when careful attention is paid to explaining the reasons behind goals, rules and decisions in terms of specific expected advantages.

What does it take to make educational videos work?

2011-10-02T16:45:00.000+02:00

Derek Muller is the founder of an online video education project in Physics called Veritasium. In his PhD thesis “How to create films to teach science (specifically physics)” he wrote about whether or how students in science can actually learn something from educational videos. This video shows what he has learned: Khan Academy and the Effectiveness of Science Videos. He did an experiment in which he gave participants to the study a pretest, then showed them a video giving the correct information on the topics which were tested, and then tested them again. Surprisingly enough, although the participants found the videos clear, concise and easy to understand and were rather confident about having done the posttest better than the pretest ... they did not do better at all on the post test.
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Hypothetical questions: when is it morally defensible to use them?

2011-09-27T16:45:00.000+02:00

Hypothetical questions can manipulate us
We know that the way we phrase questions can have substantial effects on our opinions and behaviors, often without us being aware of it. An example of this phenomenon is the topic of an article by Sarah Moore, David Nealb, Gavan Fitzsimonsc, and Baba Shivd (2011) entitled Wolves in sheep’s clothing: How and when hypothetical questions influence behavior. In it they show that, under certain circumstances, responding to hypothetical questions can shape your future judgment and behavior. The authors say that hypothetical questions are essentially wolves in sheep's clothing because they may seem quite innocent but in the way they are phrased can influence us without us realizing it.
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Lying - Is it desirable and possible to always tell the truth?

2011-09-22T12:13:00.000+02:00

Sam Harris is becoming one of my favorite authors. He is the author of The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason and Letter to a Christian Nation both of which I did not read (but I bet I would like them) and The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values (which I did read and found very good). Also there are countless videos of talks and debates with Sam Harris on YouTube many of which I have seen and most of which I like. His new book (only on Kindle) is called Lying. It is a small book of only 26 pages with a surprising topic (I found).

Harris argues that we can improve our own lives and the world by never lying. Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist, American Museum of Natural History, recommends the book as follows: "In this brief but illuminating work, Sam Harris applies his characteristically calm and sensible logic to a subject that affects us all--the human capacity to lie. And by the book's end, Harris compels you to lead a better life because the benefits of telling the truth far outweigh the cost of lies--to yourself, to others, and to society."

Here are a few quotes from the book:
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Robert Frank's new book: The Darwin Economy

2011-09-19T22:57:00.000+02:00

Robert H. Frank, economist at Cornell University's and columnist in The New York Times has a new book entitled The Darwin Economy: Liberty, Competition, and the Common Good. While several authors have written previously written about the importance of Darwin and the theory of evolution for economics this book , I think, digs deeper and reaches different conclusions. To be more specific, Michael Shermer, in The Mind of the Market: How Biology and Psychology Shape Our Economic Lives, views an evolutionary perspective as supportive of libertarianism, whereas Robert Frank offers sharp criticism on libertarianism. I think Robert Frank is right and Shermer is wrong.

Here is the Amazon.com description of The Darwin Economy:
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Scientific fraud

2011-09-14T20:59:00.000+02:00

Tilburg University in The Netherlands has suspended Diederik Stapel, a prominent social psychologist, over fabricating data in some of his published studies. According to Tilburg University Rector Philip Eijlander Stapel has admitted to using faked data. More details about this affair can be found here and here.

Recently, I wrote this post: Improving science. My aim was to explain that there is a difference between an idealized description of the scientific enterprise on the one hand and scientific practice on the other.
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Step by step forward through the scaling question

2011-09-12T13:56:00.001+02:00

Guest post by Mirjam Fortuin, Pluryn

In the first four weeks of Intensive Family Treatment, a lot of information is collected. The family worker makes an appointment with each family member individually and asks what his/her goals are. They will be asked what they want to achieve with the help of Intensive Family Treatment. These goals are put on paper so that all family members, at the end of the first four weeks, will have their own goals (maximum 8). These goals are then read out loud to each other. This is usually a great moment because families which often only interact negatively, find out that they actually all want the same. This often brings them closer together. When setting the goals, with each goal the scaling question is asked. On a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is the situation where nothing has been achieved and 10 is what you want to achieve with Intensive Family Treatment (T = target), where are you now (S = start score)? What would one step further look like?
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Solution-focused language matching

2011-09-12T11:17:00.000+02:00

Language matching
Paul Watzlawick suggested that helping clients working with the concepts of the client is much more powerful than using professional jargon (in this book). When you, as a professional helper, replace a word of the client by a professional term this usually works contrarily because the client may feel corrected or misunderstood. In general, solution-focused practitioners preserve the key words of their clients, without re-interpreting or changing them. This process makes it easy for clients to feel taken seriously and understood which facilitates cooperation. Solution-focused practitioners use clients’ words both in summaries and in questions.
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The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us (review)

2011-09-10T17:42:00.002+02:00

Social psychologist James Pennebaker has written a new book entitled The Secret Life of Pronouns. The book is about a new branch of research called computational linguistics which basically is about counting the frequency of words we use and discovering how differences in these frequencies correspond to all kinds of social and psychological phenomena. This research has revealed some very surprising facts. As it turns out the precise words we use to communicate our messages reveal more about us than we you can imagine. Often, some of the most revealing words that we use are the shortest and most forgettable.
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Redirect: terrific book about story-editing

2011-09-09T19:44:00.000+02:00

I have finished reading Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change by Timothy Wilson (who is also the author of the book Strangers to Ourselves: Discovering the Adaptive Unconscious). Wilson a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and has been a leading researcher in social psychology for many years. Among other things, he has done research on self-knowledge and affective forecasting.

The book Redirect is a very well written book about a concept called story-editing.
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Do you think the word 'therapy' fits with the solution-focused approach?

2011-09-06T17:06:00.001+02:00

In his book Words Were Originally Magic, Steve de Shazer quotes the following definition of the word 'therapeutic': serving to cure or heal; curative; concerned in discovering and applying remedies for diseases. That part of medical science which relates to the treatment and cure of diseases.

The word 'therapy' clearly refers to the medical context. In that sense it does not fit well with the solution-focused approach. Solution-focused helping does not follow a medical model in the way it views and aims to help clients. de Shazer clearly recognized this and said the following about the word 'therapy':
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My 10 top rated videos on the solution-focused approach

2011-09-05T17:36:00.002+02:00

These last few years I have been making Youtube videos (mostly) about the solution-focused approach. Here are my 10 top rated videos:

10 solution-focused lists

2011-09-01T16:54:00.001+02:00

Lists. Some people love them, others hate them. Some have, ironically, even make a list of top 5 reasons why they don't like top 10 lists. But most top 10 lists for writing better blog posts, do suggest to use bullet point lists. Anyway, I have used them from time to time. Here I go again. It is a bullet list of bullet lists.

The silence which I look forward to

2011-08-29T18:32:00.000+02:00

Guest post by Mirjam Fortuin, Pluryn

In my job I work a lot with parents of so-called "Multi-Problem" families. These parents have often undergone years of social aid and are therefore used to talk about the problems they have and what goes wrong in their lives. During the first meetings for Family Treatment parents often immediately begin to talk about what's wrong at home. We listen carefully to what they say because, of course, these problems must be taken seriously. These problems are usually the reason they came to us.
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5 Metaphors of the solution-focused approach

2011-08-26T18:13:00.000+02:00

Metaphors are literary figures of speech that use an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea. Metaphors can help to facilitate the understanding of concepts by relating them to more familiair concepts and images. The solution-focused literature has used several metaphors, too. Here are five examples:

Leading the client from one step behind (Cantwell and Holmes, 1994; De Jong and Berg, 2008) (more)

It is not true that businesses should always grow

2011-08-25T10:23:00.001+02:00

There is an interesting little video by Edward Hess, Professor of Business Administration, Darden School of Business entitled Everything You Know About Growing Your Business Is Wrong. In it he argues that there is no evidence whatsoever for some dominant beliefs about growth in business.

Those unsubstantiated dominant beliefs are:
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Question: how threatening can the solution-focused approach be?

2011-08-24T09:20:00.001+02:00

Several years ago, I was talking to a psychotherapist living in a village who told me how she had been losing clients in her private psychotherapy practice. She said, with a facial expression which looked like she was tasting something disgusting: "There is a new therapist in our village who does brief therapy. Many clients seem to prefer that, nowadays. I think it is a shame that people believe that such brief and superficial approaches are enough to deal with mental problems."
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The Aim of Minimalism in the Solution-Focused Approach

2011-08-19T11:40:00.000+02:00

Guest post by Guy Shennan

I started learning how to do solution focused brief therapy in earnest in 1995, by attending training courses with the Brief Therapy Practice, known later as BRIEF, the London-based solution focused team. On one of the first courses that I attended, Chris Iveson, one of their founders, told of how they had learned the approach by watching each other work, sitting behind the mirror with Keys and Clues open on their laps. I pictured them hurriedly scouring the pages, looking for a task to give the waiting client. When I then read Steve de Shazer’s seminal books, charting the early development of solution focused brief therapy, I felt a strong blast of cognitive dissonance. They did not seem to be describing the approach I was being taught.
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Question: What is your favorite question?

2011-08-18T14:30:00.005+02:00

Questions can have surprising power. As Marilee Adams said: "A powerful question alters all thinking and behaving that occurs afterwards." Question are essential tools, not only for coaches and therapists but also for scientists, managers, and teachers. The way questions are phrased may influence us in unexpected and liberating ways. In my work and in my life I have discovered certain questions that I have come to find very useful and which have impacted me. Some of these questions have become favorites of mine. Before I mention these, I'd like to ask you.Question: What is your favorite question? (I'll post some examples which you sent below):
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Testing the Association between Solution-Focused Coaching and Client Perceived Coaching Outcomes

2011-08-17T17:44:00.001+02:00

Coert Visser

This paper describes a survey study into the association between solution-focused behaviors of coaches and clients perceived coaching outcomes. A web-based survey was administered with 200 clients of coaches. The survey consisted of a list of 28 coach behaviors, fourteen of which were solution-focused behaviors and fourteen were behaviors solution-focused coaches would avoid. Clients also were asked to describe on several dimension how effective the coaching had been. Solution-focused coach behaviors were strongly positively associated with positive coaching outcomes. Non-solution-focused coach behaviors were modestly negatively associated with positive coaching behaviors. A multiple regression analysis was done which gave some insight into which specific coach behaviours were predictive of coaching success. The paper closes with some reflections on the implications of this study and on follow-up research.

This article is currently under review.
Hope to publish it on this blog soon.

The primacy of progress

2011-08-15T17:37:00.002+02:00

On this blog, I have often written about the importance of progress. I view progress as crucial for finding meaning and gratification in life although I admit there may be some less attractive sides to progress). Also, I have written about the motivational impact of progress (see for instance this post and this post). Is there evidence of the motivational impact of progress? Now, there is. Teresa Amabile and Steven J. Kramer have written the book The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work in which they report on a large scale study into worker performance and motivation.
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Solution-Focused Brief Therapy Outcome Research

2011-08-13T18:00:00.005+02:00

In Solution-Focused Brief Therapy. A Handbook of Evidence-Based Practice is a chapter by Gingerich, Kim, Stams, and Macdonald entitled "Solution-Focused Brief Therapy Outcome Research". The chapter chronologically describes the history of outcome research into solution-focused therapy by summarizing four review studies that have been done in the last two decades:

Compilation of eight reports (Macdonald, 1994). All these early naturalistic follow up studies from different countries, done under the umbrella of EBTA, consistently showed approximately 70% of clients reporting that their goals had been met or that they had improved significantly. (Updated EBTA database here)

Solution Focused Language Matching

2011-08-03T09:31:00.001+02:00

The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us

2011-08-02T00:17:00.006+02:00

James Pennebaker's new book is The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us.

Description: We spend our lives communicating. In the last fifty years, we've zoomed through radically different forms of communication, from typewriters to tablet computers, text messages to tweets. We generate more and more words with each passing day. Hiding in that deluge of language are amazing insights into who we are, how we think, and what we feel. In The Secret Life of Pronouns, social psychologist and language expert James W. Pennebaker uses his groundbreaking research in computational linguistics-in essence, counting the frequency of words we use-to show that our language carries secrets about our feelings, our self-concept, and our social intelligence. Our most forgettable words, such as pronouns and prepositions, can be the most revealing: their patterns are as distinctive as fingerprints. Using innovative analytic techniques, Pennebaker X-rays everything from Craigslist advertisements to the Federalist Papers-or your own writing, in quizzes you can take yourself-to yield unexpected insights. Who would have predicted that the high school student who uses too many verbs in her college admissions essay is likely to make lower grades in college? Or that a world leader's use of pronouns could reliably presage whether he led his country into war? You'll learn why it's bad when politicians use "we" instead of "I," what Lady Gaga and William Butler Yeats have in common, and how Ebenezer Scrooge's syntax hints at his self-deception and repressed emotion. Barack Obama, Sylvia Plath, and King Lear are among the figures who make cameo appearances in this sprightly, surprising tour of what our words are saying-whether we mean them to or not.

Here are 5 brief videos with James Pennebaker:
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Paul Bloom: The origins of pleasure

2011-07-28T12:18:00.002+02:00

Beyond positive psychology?: Toward a contextual view of psychological processes and well-being

2011-07-27T13:09:00.003+02:00

Beyond positive psychology?: Toward a contextual view of psychological processes and well-being

McNulty, James K.; Fincham, Frank D.
American Psychologist, Jul 25, 2011

The field of positive psychology rests on the assumption that certain psychological traits and processes are inherently beneficial for well-being. We review evidence that challenges this assumption. First, we review data from 4 independent longitudinal studies of marriage revealing that 4 ostensibly positive processes—forgiveness, optimistic expectations, positive thoughts, and kindness—can either benefit or harm well-being depending on the context in which they operate. Although all 4 processes predicted better relationship well-being among spouses in healthy marriages, they predicted worse relationship well-being in more troubled marriages. Then, we review evidence from other research that reveals that whether ostensibly positive psychological traits and processes benefit or harm well-being depends on the context of various noninterpersonal domains as well. Finally, we conclude by arguing that any movement to promote well-being may be most successful to the extent that it (a) examines the conditions under which the same traits and processes may promote versus threaten well-being, (b) examines both healthy and unhealthy people, (c) examines well-being over substantial periods of time, and (d) avoids labeling psychological traits and processes as positive or negative. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)

Also read: On positive psychology: my worries, views, suggestions and questions

Does the problem need a name?

2011-07-22T12:47:00.001+02:00

Intuitively we have all kinds of assumptions about what it takes to solve problems. A first example is that it is necessary to know the cause of a problem before we can solve it. That this is not always the case is illustrated in this post: Subtly transforming the negative into positive. A second example of such assumptions is that big problems ask for big approaches. Intuitively we think that the size of the approach needs to correspond to the size of the problem. According to this view small problems require small approaches and big problems require big approaches. But big and complex problems actually are often better tackled with incremental, self-selected, and contextualized small changes. A posts which illustrates this is Small steps are often the only way to start tackling problems that nearly overwhelm us.

25 Quotes about Expertise and Expert Performance

2011-07-18T11:51:00.004+02:00

At last I have read The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance by Anders Ericsson, Neil Charness, Paul Feltovich, and Robert Hoffman (Eds.). This handbook brings together leading researchers on the topic of expertise and expertise development. This field of research, which is only about 35 years old, has debunked traditional views of how elite performance is achieved and maintained. In particular, it has shown the lack of evidence for the importance of natural talents and the existence of evidence for the critical importance of many years of deliberate practice. Here are ten quotes from the book.
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Conversation between Alasdair Mcdonald and Coert Visser

2011-07-13T13:26:00.011+02:00

Alasdair Mcdonald is a consultant psychiatrist who is the research coordinator and former president and secretary of the European Brief Therapy Association. He is the author of Solution-Focused Therapy. Theory, Research & Practice (2007) and he works as a trainer and supervisor and as a management consultant. Coert Visser is a psychologist, author and expert on the solution-focused approach to coaching and change. His website www.solutionfocusedchange.blogspot.com has become, over the years, a trusted source of reference regarding cutting-edge psychological research which is relevant to solution-focused practitioners, coaches and consultants.

Coert: When did you first hear about the solution-focused approach and how did you get involved with it? Could you share some memories?
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How, When, and Why Happiness Is Not Always Good

2011-07-12T10:11:00.001+02:00

A Dark Side of Happiness? How, When, and Why Happiness Is Not Always Good

June Gruber, Iris B. Mauss, & Maya Tamir

Abstract: Happiness is generally considered a source of good outcomes. Research has highlighted the ways in which happiness facilitates the pursuit of important goals, contributes to vital social bonds, broadens our scope of attention, and increases well-being and psychological health. But is happiness always a good thing? This review will suggest that the pursuit and experience of happiness might sometimes lead to negative outcomes. We focus on four questions regarding this purported ‗dark side‘ of happiness. First, is there a wrong degree of happiness? Second, is there a wrong time for happiness? Third, are there wrong ways to pursue happiness? And, fourth, are there wrong types of happiness? Taken together, these lines of research suggest that while happiness is often highly beneficial, it may not be beneficial at every level, in every context, for every reason, and in every variety. Full article.

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy - A Handbook of Evidence-Based Practice

2011-07-07T11:39:00.003+02:00

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy. A Handbook of Evidence-Based Practice

Edited by Cynthia Franklin, Terry S. Trepper, Eric E. McCollum and Wallace J. Gingerich

Description: Therapy is frequently miscast as requiring an enormous amount of time and financial commitment, but helpful, goal-oriented therapy can produce positive results after only a few sessions. Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) has been gaining momentum as a powerful therapeutic approach since its inception in the 1980s. By focusing on solutions instead of problems, it asks clients to set concrete goals and to draw upon strengths in their lives that can help bring about the desired change for a preferred future.
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21 Solution-Focused Techniques

2011-07-03T21:56:00.002+02:00

© 2011, Coert Visser

Several informal surveys have given an impression of the relative popularity of different solution-focused techniques. The following 21 techniques seem to belong to the most well-known and popular solution-focused techniques: scaling questions, the past success question, the preferred future question, the platform question, the exception seeking question, reframing, indirect compliments, the miracle question, summarizing in the words of the client, the what-is-better question, normalizing, the usefulness question, the observation question, the perspective change question, the coping question, the continuation question, the prediction suggestion, leapfrogging, and mutualizing. Below is a description of these techniques.

1. The scaling question: The technique of scaling questions originated more or less coincidentally when a client, in a second session with Steve de Shazer, answered to his question how he was doing: “I’ve almost reached 10 already!” de Shazer began to play with the idea of using numbers to describe one’s situation. This started the development of the scaling question used in solution-focused therapy. Today, scaling questions have developed into the most well known and most frequently used solution-focused techniques. Scaling questions are relatively easy to use and extremely versatile. Nowadays, many therapists, coaches and managers use them. Even many people who know little about the solution-focused approach know the scaling question.
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When Solution-Focus Does Not Work …

2011-06-29T21:07:00.004+02:00

Guest post by Paolo Terni, PCC, briefcoachingsolutions@gmail.com

I have been coaching this client on and off for many years now. An executive, I met him for the first time when I was fresh off the Solution-Focused training and I was discovering its power in coaching conversations. So I was eager to try Solution-Focus on him, too - I listened eagerly to his problem talk, waiting for an opening. Sure enough, there was one and I asked about it, trying to shift to solution talk. He quickly answered, and then went on to describe the numerous downsides of that one positive exception to the problem. Undeterred, I tried again. And again. It was frustrating. It was a dance that went nowhere - me trying to highlight the positive, he bringing the conversation back to what was not working. How come he did not accept my invitations for solution talk? Even after I listened to him for a long time? Why was he dismissing my remarks about positive occurrences as a way to sugarcoat the reality?
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Improving science

2011-06-28T14:51:00.007+02:00

Science can be defined as the systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the world. Science is one of humanity's greatest inventions which has the potential of improving our lives and our societies. The core of the scientific process consists of scientists making observations, reading scientific literature, formulating questions, testing ideas through systematic studies, and sharing their findings. The system of science contains principles and sets of rules which help make science self-correcting and cumulative. Scientists are required to share not only their findings through publication but also provide detailed descriptions of their studies so that replication of their studies by other scientists becomes possible. A process of peer review functions as a filter to guarantee that only research that meets scientific standards is published in journals. Replication studies make it possible to test findings using the same methods but with different subjects and experimenters.
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Mental contrasting exercise

2011-06-27T13:18:00.006+02:00

Gabrielle Oettingen has done much research into the effects of thinking about what you want to achieve. Through her research she found out that an optimal strategy for setting goals is to think positively about how things will be when you will have accomplished your goals while thinking realistically about what it will take to accomplish this. She calls this 'mental contrasting'. First, you imagine that you will achieve your goal. Then, you focus on obstacles which are in your way.
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How Music Works

2011-06-25T10:23:00.000+02:00

Challenging yourself as a teacher

2011-06-23T12:56:00.003+02:00

The need to remain challenged
Mihály Csíkszentmihályi introduced the concept of flow. In flow people are fully involved in an activity which helps performance and support growth and a sense of fulfillment. Flow happens when people have clear goals and when there is good balance between the perceived challenges of the task at hand and one's own perceived skills. When tasks are structurally perceived as too easy people tend to bored or apathetic. When tasks are perceived as too hard they tend to feel stressed and anxious.

Is teaching the same subject year after year bound to become boring?
What does this mean for the situation in which you are a teacher? As a teacher you are likely to be more knowledgeable or skillful than your students. After years of teaching the subject the subject itself may start to feel like too easy and you risk starting to feel apathetic or bored. You may not be able to make the subject itself harder because that would make it too hard and thereby stressful for the students. Is there a solution?
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Mindfulness skills

2011-06-22T14:25:00.001+02:00

Hat tip to Dr. Marsha through whom I found this

Everything is a Remix

2011-06-22T13:54:00.000+02:00

Hat tip to Peter Damoc through whom I found this

Overdiagnosed: too much diagnosis is turning more and more of us into patients

2011-06-21T11:15:00.005+02:00

In Overdiagnosed, H. Gilbert Welch (photo), with Lisa M. Schwartz, and Steven Woloshin, explains how the medical profession has an increasing tendency to make diagnosis which is not good for us. The rationale for more diagnosis seems good. When we diagnose more we are able to detect abnormalities, like cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, etc., earlier so that we can treat them earlier and prevent serious health problems. An example of this greater emphasis on diagnosis is the prevalence of disease awareness campaigns which encourage people to undergo medical screenings. Another example of increased tendency to diagnose is when doctors have patients tested for things about which they have no complaints.
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