Solutions-Focus to the rescue

I’m grateful to my collagues Sharon McGann and Paul Jackson for introducing me to the solutions-focus (SF) approach – as yet again, SF has saved the day!

In my last post I talked about some of the challenges of facilitating in Armenia – a post-Communist country where new ways of engaging the community and taking an active citizenship approach are still being explored. I helped deliver a week of training/facilitating where the participants took part in a couple of community meetings concerned with improving services at a local health clinic and primary school. In both cases the community defaulted to the known paradigm of identifying problems and saying nothing could be done without money and/or government intervention.

As this approach is centred around empowering local communities to take responsibility for local reforms – the end result was a bit disappointing, although somewhat predictable.

The participants in the training were quick to ‘blame’ the process saying that it just wasn’t suitable for Armenia. Maybe. I thought I’d try something.

After a very interesting presentations and discussion about governance, citizenship and social accountability in the Armenian context – and all the ramifications that they entail – I introduced a solutions-focused worksheet for participants to consider their next steps.

This was all done from memory as this wasn’t a planned part of the workshop. And that’s one of the benefits of the SF approach – it’s straightforward, robust and easy to remember.

I prepared a flip chart for each working group. In the centre was a circle that asked: “What is a problem that you are facing in relation to governance, citizenship and social accountability – AND what would be the benefits/payoff of solving this problem?”

At the top of the sheet was Future Perfect: “Imagine you went to sleep tonight and while you were asleep a miracle occurred and this problem was solved. What would you see people doing differently? What would they be saying?”

Then to the left of the ‘problem’ I introduced the ‘scale’ and asked them to identify on a scale of 1 – 10 (where 10 is Future Perfect and 1 is the opposite of that) to identify where they were at at the moment. On the other side of the ‘problem’ I asked them about resources: “What’s helping you achieve this? What skills and resources do you already have?”

And finally, at the bottom of the sheet I asked them: “What practical steps could you take to move one step along the scale?”

Groups took away the prepared flip charts – after a whole group, very fast demo of how to use it – and came back half an hour later with some extraordinary work – focusing on what could be done, rather than what could not be done – and with quite a change of perspective and outlook.

SF didn’t change these people straight away – but it certainly opened a door and gave them a way to look at their many challenges in a new and different way that just may be more useful.

Facilitation in Armenia

I’ve just finished a week’s work in Armenia working with folk who are trying to encourage community engagement, citizenship and social accountability in a post-Communist environment. it was an interesting and challenging experience.

Some impressions on Armenia. I have absolutely NO IDEA how the pedestrian crossing system works in Yerevan (the capital) – green lights for pedestrians seems to be a signal for cars to try and run you down! Mt Ararat (not actually in modern-day Armenia) looms over the city – visible only at times through the haze and smog that blankets the city. Surely the number of smokers in Yerevan contibute to the smog! I’ve done enough passive smoking during the last week to last me for a very long time. The north of the country is stunningly beautiful with gorges and mountains, forests, eagles and ancient churches built in impossible places.

I’ve worked in many places where time has a meaning of its own. The Armenians have it down to an art form. I had to draw heavily on my open space principles to be flexible enough to deal with the fluid approaches to time and to get through the considerable amount of work that I was charged with delivering. And I also had to draw on my improv principles to respond to ‘offers’ made by the participants.

I learnt about the Armenian tradition of toasts over dinner – the role of the toastmaster – and the many uses of vodka. It’s so cheap that it makes a very good anti-freeze to use in your windscreen washers apparently during the very cold and harsh winter.

Being in Armenia was like living in parallel universes. One moment it was like southern Europe – cafes, long, languid meals in the dying heat of the day; other times it was like being transported back to subsistence agriculture, with people gathering fruits from the many fruit trees that scatter the plains, using donkeys to transport them and their boon back to their villages. And shepherds with flocks of woolly sheep or herds of cattle. And then there’s the Communist history that’s hard to miss. Huge, ugly, blocky, concrete building falling into disrepair; old men selling their bits and pieces at the market, all displayed immaculately in order of descending size – drill bits, spanners, bits of metal, coils, toilet seats, knives – you name it. And playing dominoes or backgammon while patiently waiting to pack it all up and return the following weekend.

More later.

Focus

Here’s an unexpected bonus I’ve discovered from blogging – and most importantly, exploring others’ blogs – focus. I’m rediscovering, or maybe focusing, on what’s really important to me. It’s a fascinating journey. Here’s what’s on my list so far:
– sustainability
– nature and the environment
– design
– learning
– expression

Inconsequential

So – here I am in Armenia – a mere 42 hours travelling from my own little bit of paradise overlooking the southern ocean to a land-locked country on the other side of the planet – and feeling somewhat fuzzy-headed. Some would say (probably quite rightly!) – “why on earth are you writing in your blog when jet lagged?” Good question.

I’m waiting for the sun to set so as I can take a photo of Mt Ararat from my hotel room.OK, OK – I’ll get to the point. Travelling puts us in our place – just one little piece of humanity going about our business with all the others.

Just getting here took me via Dubai and Vienna – and with long delays and seemingly endless queuing I had plenty of time to people watch. Here’s some random observations and musings:

1. Being able to sleep horizontally is a much taken-for-granted pleasure.

2. I’m not the only one who loses the ability to read signs (real ones) when jet-lagged or stressed. While queuing (yet again) to go through security at the boarding gate a woman came crashing through saying she was late for her flight – ran straight through with alarms going off everywhere. Her flight had been moved to another gate.

3. Luggage checked in at Melbourne and waiting to be collected in Yerevan after two connecting flights (on different airlines) and 30 odd hours is a minor miracle.

4. You’re not more important than anyone else.

5. Having a spare seat next to you in economy is nearly as good as flying business. Nearly. (It’s a lot cheaper)

6. I feel hugely inadequate being able to speak just one language – I feel hugely privileged to have had the opportunity to become literate in at least one language.

7. Good coffee is taken for granted.

8. People can be divided into two types – those that queue and those that don’t.

9. I’d post a pic if I could work out how!!!!

Speeding Up & Slowing Down

It’s been a hectic couple of weeks – hence little blogging. There seems to be, for me, a direct relationship between how hectic my life is and the amount of blogging I get done (or even read). Suppose it’s the same for most of us.

There was some work with scientists in Bogor, Indonesia – then back home for a few more days work before packing my bags for a whole month of overseas work in Armenia and Uganda. Blogging from these places may be intermittent. No doubt I’ll have plenty of stories to tell on my return: so stay tuned.