SIMPLY FOCUS Podcast: The Good Life Approach - Your podcast with the little extra Solution Focus for your daily life!

Dominik Godat about Solution Focused Leadership. In today’s episode, we talk with Dominik Godat, lic.rer.pol, Partner of the Center for Solution Focused Leadership, Author, Promotor of SF & SF Leadership, and Co-host of the SIMPLY FOCUS podcast, about what fascinates him with Solution Focus now and what fascinated him when he encountered SF for the first time, how he used Solution Focus in his HR and Leadership positions and what differences this made, what helped him to leave the responsibility with his conversation partners, and how Solution Focus supported his employees in acquiring expertise and making their careers. Learn how SF can be confusing for employees in the beginning and going slow helps them in adapting to it. Dominik tells us the story of the success bell that he and his team invented to give each other more appreciation and make things that what work visible, and how he became self employed to spread SF in organizations even more and assist them to adapt a productive focus. Check out his research on SF Leadership and the differences between SF Leadership and SF Coaching, his realization that SF Leadership is SF in everyday interactions and every aspect of their leadership life, and the differences micro-analysis can make for leaders, especially in listening and deliberately choosing their answering spectrum of their questions. Dominik furthermore shares three of his learnings of his SF journey: 1.) Going one step at a time: starting slow, focusing on what is working and doing more of that 2.) describing things that happen in an interactional way 3.) sharing success stories and inspire yourself and others by that. And this week’s challenge of the week is to ask a Solution Focused question whenever you are in a conversation where you think that the other person is not that Solution Focused and see what happens.

The post SFP 30 – SF Leadership: Everyday interactions that make a difference with Dominik Godat appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Dvorah Simon – poetry and SF in action. In today’s episode, we talk with Dvorah Simon, PH.D., Psychologist and Poet, about what fascinates her with Solution Focus, how she got in contact with SF in the late 80’s, how SF is a tradition that continues to evolve and is to a certain extend less necessary than it used to be, and how it spoke to her from a spiritual point of view. She mentions the evolution of Solution Focus and the importance of conversations about the essence of SF when the form is changing. Learn how SF and asking the questions may sound different in different contexts and how she doesn’t put the method above what might be useful for the client. Hear how you never loose when you ask and how she works “one person at a time“ with veterans, homeless people (people without housing), and everyone else. She mentions the Ericksonian influence, e.g. acceptance and loving your failures and the parts that don’t work, as well as how she tries to embody the SF principles as a supervisor and fosters what her employees are passionate about. Dvorah is a poet and you will hear her talk about poetry, her poetry workshops, her lovely book “Mercy” and the connections to Solution Focus. Check out how she would love to see SF practitioners being themselves and alive instead of following a protocol and do her challenge of the week: „Listen for a mistake that you make and love it.”

The post SFP 29 – Words arise out of Silence: A Poetic Conversation with Dvorah Simon appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Bill O’Hanlon about possibilities. In today’s episode, we talk with Bill O'Hanlon, Author of 30+ published books, Psychotherapist, Hypnotherapist, Coach, Speaker, and Musician, about what fascinates him with Solution Focus, the moment when everything changed for him, the influence of Dr. Milton Erickson, and how he corresponded with Steve de Shazer and co-developed Solution-Oriented Therapy. Find out what changed for him after he encountered solution-oriented ideas, how he describes solution-orientation and how he called it possibilities therapy. Explore how he uses storytelling to e.g. help people focus on their preferred future and the importance of allowing yourself to feel two different things at the same time and not have it be a conflict. He tells us about the similarities between music and therapy and about not being hypnotized by the problem and believing in the possibility of possibilities and the normal range of human experience and its acceptance. He tells us the story of how he became the gardener of Dr. Milton Erickson as well as his student, and how Dr. Milton Erickson was the most alive person that he had seen and "just looked like the next moment was full of possibilities and somebody was gonna to do something amazing or he was gonna see something or hear something amazing at every moment." Check out the Challenge of the week: Catch yourself every time you say something that contradicts what you just did and instead put the word „and“ in. So substitute "this but this" or "this or this“ with "this and this" and find out how this shifts your feelings using the word „and“. And last but not least: He sings two of his songs - "Contradictions" and "Somebody to Someone" – live on our podcast!

The post SFP 28 – In the Land of Possibilities with Bill O’Hanlon appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Heather Fiske about Solution Focused Suicide Prevention. In today’s episode, we talk with Heather Fiske, PH.D., Author of "Hope in Action" and a great Solution Focused clinician, about Solution Focused Suicide Prevention. We start with what fascinates her with Solution Focus, how she felt like coming home when she attended Insoo Kim Berg's workshop, how her work and her listening changed after that, and her professional responsibility to stay hopeful and how she communicates that to her clients. Heather emphasizes the importance of what we say and what we don’t say. Get to know how she works in a Solution Focused way with people mentioning suicide as an option and their support system and how her work with parents changed over time. Find out more about reasons for living and the free webinar „Hope and Reasons for Living - Solution Focused Suicide Prevention" we did with Brigitte Lavoie and her. She also shows us how she asks the best hopes-question and the miracle question in suicide prevention and explains how her book title „Hope in Action - Solution-focused Conversations about Suicide“ emerged. Get to know the anectode of how she and Brenda Zalter-Minden crashed the train-the-trainer course of Insoo Kim Berg and Steve de Shazer as well as the importance of Solution Focused listening and mindfulness or having a quiet mind. And check out the challenge of the week: Before you go into a meeting or a conversation think about the common ground you share with the people that you are going to be talking to.

The post SFP 27 – Hope in Action: A Conversation with Heather Fiske about Solution Focused Suicide Prevention appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

A storytelling method. In today’s episode, we are celebrating half a year SIMPLY FOCUS podcast with “That Reminds Me of A Story” by Hannes Couvreur. In the first 10 minutes, we talk with Hannes Couvreur, Founder & Local Wisdom Cultivator of “That Reminds Me of A Story”, Resourcefulness Detective & Founder of Superbly Human, about the SolWorld CEE where we met Hannes, where he scaled with shoes and introduced „That reminds me of the following story”. He tells us how it works and how he accompanied by Anton Stellamans came up with it. And Hannes gave us the following challenge of the week: „Share a story that you were reminded of when you listened to this podcast.” Then we do it live as a celebration and reflection of our last half a year! Wow, thank you for this great community and all the people who made these and so many more stories possible! And remember when you pass „That Reminds Me of A Story“ to others, please tell the story of Hannes Couvreur and quote Gregory Bateson. Thank you!

The post SFP 26 – Celebrating Half a Year SIMPLY FOCUS Podcast with That Reminds Me Of The Following Story by Hannes Couvreur appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Brigitte Lavoie about implementing an SF suicide prevention program. In today’s episode, we talk with Brigitte Lavoie, M.P.s, Solution Focused therapist, trainer and supervisor, about what fascinates her with Solution Focus, how she got in touch with SF as the director of Suicide Action Montreal in 1997 and how SF made sense in the suicide prevention field especially also for traditional men. She shares the story of how one moment in the implementation process of the suicide prevention program, that Brigitte developed for the Province of Quebec, changed her perception in the way she does trainings ever since. Learn how they met with the people that were most against the project, really saw them as experts, and listened to them with an SF stance to develop a shared vision. Get to know the differences this 3-day training on suicide prevention makes and the hope it gives. Listen to the metaphors Brigitte uses to talk about SF and how she shows the difference between SF and problem talk. And learn more about the Solution Focused stance as well as the Pygmalion effect and how it applies to Solution Focus. We furthermore talk about the SFBTA 2019 conference in Montreal and Brigitte’s passion to spread SF among the French speaking community, speaking the client’s language and translating SF practice into our clients' words, and being curious and learning more from different voices. Check out the challenge of the week: Pick someone that is difficult for you to deal with and take 5-10 minutes to imagine that this person is doing his/her best, that the person has something that you can admire, imagine it's your favorite client, your favorite person, what is it that touches your heart with that person, and enter the room with that person and see what differences it makes. Stay tuned for Elfie’s Birthday project about "SF and suicide prevention" and enjoy one of Brigitte’s highlights of this podcast and funny end.

The post SFP 25 – Seeing Opportunities – Pull the Golden Ribbon: Interview with Brigitte Lavoie appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Elliott Connie about Solution Focus, love and hope. In today’s episode, we talk with Elliott Connie, MA, LPC, Psychotherapist, Author, Researcher, Lecturer, and Founder and President of the Solution Focused University (SFU) about what fascinates him about Solution Focus, how Solution Focus makes logical sense, and how he shares his work and makes Solution Focus visible. Learn how his book „The Solution Focused marriage“ inspired us - how something transformative happens when we re-experiencing moments of joy, re-co-construct a memory and co-construct a future. Check out how he supports people to move towards their best hopes and how he co-constructs the future and past with his clients and invites them into an optimistic, positive state of mind. Elliott emphasizes that we have to train ourselves when we say someone is beautiful, smart or wonderful to also share how come and what`s right. We furthermore talk about his recent journey to South Africa with the train of hope, what he does in his trainings that is specific Elliott, and what we can all do to fall in love with love, with hope, and with caring for humanity. He talks about his upcoming Solution Focused University Conference in Taos, about creating a conference that inspires, educates and has „WEness“ attached to it and about reaching people that are not easy to reach. And check out Elliott’s challenge of the week: 1.) Think of the most beautiful, utopic world you’d like to live in. If you could design the world in the most wonderful, beautiful ways: Think of what that would look like and with intention go look for it, because you likely already live in a world that has most of what you would want in your utopia anyway. Spend more of your time looking for your utopia. 2.) Do something every day to or for someone else that makes their utopia easier for them to see.

The post SFP 24 – Being in Love with Love: Interview with Elliott Connie appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Peter de Jong about co-creating conversations. In today’s episode, we talk with Dr. Peter de Jong, Professor of Social Work Emeritus, LMSW, author and former adjunct at the Brief Family Therapy Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where solution focused practices first were developed, about his book "Interviewing for Solutions" that he wrote with Insoo Kim Berg, what fascinates him about Solution Focus, what changed for Peter since he was introduced to microanalysis, and the learnings and applications of microanalysis. Find out what he is listening for in a conversation and learn about the three-step dance of calibration or how conversations are being built between the participants. Check out his take on the relevance of microanalysis for practitioners, topic selection and how what we choose of the clients' words directs the conversation. Learn more about intentional listening and how the way we listen influences the conversation and how clients tend to follow where the practitioner goes and hence the importance of choosing useful focuses. He furthermore tells us about his fondest memories with Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg in terms of listening and privileging the client's voice. And check out the challenge of the week "Listen to someone about something that isn't going right, or a problem or a concern. Be quiet, let the person tell the story, and listen to the story with the intention to give the person three compliments." and how to formulate compliments with the focuses of "What do they care about?" and hints of what they have already done.

The post SFP 23 – What directions do you choose in your conversations? – A face-to-face dialogue with Dr. Peter de Jong appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Bob Faw energizes! In today’s episode, we talk with Bob Faw, Author, Key-Note Speaker and Positive Change Agent, about what fascinates him with Solution Focus, what he does to energize people, teams, and organizations, his book “Energize”, his most favorite brain tool, and how he works with teams to re-energize themselves. Learn how Bob focuses on what’s beautiful in people, what he does to energize himself and how he makes strangers laugh and pays attention to people. Check out how you can listening for what you really like and how beauty can inspire. And learn about the importance of finding balance through positive news. Challenge 1 of the week: 1) Create a positive goal, 2) find out who is already doing something good and beautiful about it, 3) find a way to build on those things by making positive changes in the right direction 4) and whenever you can celebrate people doing the right thing. Challenge 2 of the week: Find people you disagree with on some things. And first find out something beautiful about that person. Talk with the person about that before you address anything else.

The post SFP 22 – Energized: Interview with Bob Faw about energizing ourselves and others appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.

Laura Cole about her first three weeks with SF. In today’s episode, we talk with Laura Cole, an organisational coach and mediator, that just got in touch with Solution Focus (SF), about what fascinates her with SF, what differences SF has made for her, her clients, her friends and her family in the last three weeks, and how she applied Solution Focus right away in a meeting with 35 people. Learn from Laura what she already did in the past that made it easy for her to embrace Solution Focus as well as what she did that she would now consider SF and is excited to continue. She is now heading towards the preferred future in her dialogues: Hear how she shifted the focus of a conversation with a friend and how she now notices in her conversations that she wants to have a different kind of conversation. She also applies SF with her 7-year old daughter, e.g. to support her to perceive her teacher in a different way. And she realized that she wants to support Christian coaching to move from Saturday conversations more and more to the hope and the promise of Sunday conversations. Check out the challenge of the week Laura gives you: Change the answer to „How are you?“ to something different or even better, come up with a different greeting to have more intentional meaningful relationships. And don’t miss the surprise after the end.

The post SFP 21 – Living in Sunday Right Away: Interview with Laura Cole about her first three weeks with SF appeared first on SF on tour with Elfie J. Czerny & Dominik Godat.