The Solutions Focus

This is a new and updated edition of this acclaimed first business book on the powerful, simple yet subtle approach to positive change in people, teams, and organisations. Used around the world by a wide range of people, professions, and organisations, the first edition has now sold nearly 10,000 copies and been translated into 7 languages.

Including new chapters reflecting the increasing importance of coaching and the solutions focus movement in the business environment, this wide-ranging book is filled with all the most important ideas, case examples, and practical tips for managers, facilitators, and consultants. Proven in many fields and with a distinguished intellectual heritage, The Solutions Focus provides a simple and direct route to progress in your organisation. It focuses on: solutions—not problems; in between: the action is in the interaction; make use of what's there; possibilities—past, present, and future; and language.

Every case is different. The trouble with traditional approaches to people problems is that they assume a straightforward relationship between cause and effect, between a problem and its solution. A solutions-focused approach sidesteps the search for the causes of a problem and heads straight for the solution, showing you how to envisage your preferred future and quickly take steps forward.

The authors present a set of practical techniques, including specific forms of questioning that lead to immediate action and results. They show how to identify what is working in your organisation and amplify it to make useful changes; to focus on what is possible rather than what is intractable and how to be solution focused, not solution forced.