Articles Archive

Contents

Introduction to SF
SF Coaching for Coaches and Managers
Exploring SF Philosophy and Practice
Steve de Shazer
Other SF Applications
SF and NLP
Articles by Other People

SF Coaching for Coaches and Managers

SF in a small business
Published in Brief and Simple: Solution Focus in Organizations, eds N Polgár & K Hankovszky p. 295
This is the story of how the SF approach was introduced to a small business - a company making and selling glass giftware. Starting with just 2 people, the company had grown steadily and at the time of sfwork's work together it employed about 30 people. They were engaged in the whole range of activities: making the giftware in a factory and selling it through its own retail outlets (3 shops) as well as through major department stores throughout the country...

How can I use the “Users Guide to the Future” as a Coaching Tool?
Dr Mark McKergow and Peter Röhrig (2019) InterAction, August 2019, page 5
In their book “Host – Six New Roles of Engagement” (2014, pp.45 – 59) Mark McKergow and Helen Bailey present the following model which illuminates the responsiveness of hosting and helps Host Leaders (and indeed SF workers) think about where to put their focus; how to connect long-term hopes and objectives with short-term action. It outlines a way of working with uncertainty that is both efficient – getting lots of action for less effort - and responsive to the unfolding future.

Better Decision Making with Solution Focused Coaching
Published as McKergow, M. ( 2016 ). Better Decision Making with Solution Focused Coaching, InterAction: The journal of solution focus in organisations 8ƒ), pp 7-19.
This paper reviews different options for helping people faced with a difficult decision. This can be a particularly challenging context, where the standard solution focused (SF) approach of leaping into the future may not be instantly effective. Ten options for using SF methods to work with decision and dilemma situations are identified. Readers will not be short of possibilities when working with clients facing tough choices.

Ripple Effect

Coaching to leadership to clinical practice: Solution-Focused Coaching at AWP By Mark McKergow & Antoinette Oglethorpe, sfwork, and Justine Faulkner, Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust How did a single coaching initiative at the NHS, with only modest support, lead to shifts in management thinking, enhanced leadership capability and a reassessment of customer-facing practices? (Published in Coaching At Work Vol7, Issue 2, pp 42-44, March 2012)

Coaching with OSKAR
A solutions-focused approach to effective and sustainable change
By Mark McKergow and Jenny Clarke
Looking to enhance the effectiveness of coaching in your workplace? Read on to discover the growing popularity of solutions-focused coaching and OSKAR.

Avoiding the opposite of what's wrong<
by Mark McKergow
Coaching at Work Vol 5 No 6 p 52
As a manager, I get to hear a lot about what's wrong - with our customers, our offices, our printer, our mailing service and even sometimes our people. And, of course, it's my job to get something done about it. As a manager/coach, I often use a coaching style to start addressing these issues. Here's an idea which could save lots of time and stress.

Coaching through a wave of redundancies
by Mark McKergow
Published in Coaching At Work, Vol 4 No 6 p 54 ( 2009 )
One unfortunate aspect of the current recession is that organisations, public and private alike, are having to make hard decisions. Sometimes that means redundancies. This can bring pitfalls and opportunities for the far-sighted manager-coach.

Handling poor performance - by looking at what's working
by Mark McKergow
One of the most frequent questions I am asked when introducing Solutions Focused coaching is about how to handle poor performers. "This idea of building on what's working is all very well when things are OK - but what about when their work is simply not acceptable?"

Manager-as-coach: Introducing the Coach's Know-how
by Mark McKergow
Published in Coaching At Work, Vol 4 No 4 p 52 ( 2009 )

Manager-as-coach: Gathering Know-How for improved performance
by Mark McKergow
Published in Coaching At Work Vol 4 No 3 p 52 ( 2009 )

Manager-as-coach: Boosting your review conversations
by Mark McKergow
Coaching At Work Vol 4 Issue 2 p 52 ( 2009 )

Manager-as-coach: Building on success
by Mark McKergow
Coaching At Work Vol 4 Issue 1 p 50 ( 2009 )

The Art of Asking Great Questions
by Jenny Clarke and Dr Sabine Demkowski
Published in The International Journal of Coaching and Mentoring,
vol IV issue 2 pp 78-85, September 2006
As questioning is so crucial to the outcome and the results we achieve as coaches, this article aims to reflect on the art of asking questions. In this article we will contrast questions from a 'problem' perspective with questions from a 'solutions' perspective. We will also share with readers an approach we use called the Solutions Focus Methodology, and offer our insights into how the methodology might help coaches of any genre to enhance their own coaching practice and achieve a greater impact with their clients.

Turning clients into customers for change - the art of platform building
Published in Solution Focused Management, Lueger G and Korn H-P (eds), Rainer Hampp Verlag, 2006, pp 357 - 362
This article explores the art of platform building - an essential, if unglamorous, part of the SF toolkit.

The relationship between GROW and SF approaches
for performance coaching
by Debra Knox
Solutions in Action (New Zealand)