Solution Focused Listening Rayya Ghul 2017

Skills to be solution focused Listening for strengths and resources Being able to feed back those strengths and resources in an ‘evidence based’ way Avoid getting sucked into long discussions about problems Building solutions through asking solution focused questions These are not easy! This is what makes solution focus difficult even though the process is quite simple. They are going to be practicing listening in this very specific way. They will learn how to use this to formulate feedback which is based on the evidence provided through the conversation (more of this later) They will be encouraged to stick to the few questions and to notice how they get drawn into problem-talk – how seductive it is Solution building is hard and they may not grasp this today – never mind. It’s more important that they learn to listen and feedback today.

Who Are You? Spend some time chatting to your neighbour Ask about their hobbies and interests (not work!) Ask them ‘how do you do that?’ Keep the conversation going with ‘what else?’ Listen hard for their strengths and qualities Create some ‘evidence based’ compliments for your partner Be curious… First exercise: They should do this in pairs, first one way and then swap over. Set it up like this: Get into pairs, A and B. A will be asking B questions about their hobbies and interests. A’s job is to listen out for B’s strengths and qualities – they can take notes as they go along if they want. The most important thing is to try to keep asking ‘how do you DO that?’ and keep the conversation going on that tack, continuing to focus on how B does what they do. Try to keep it conversational, not forced, be genuinely curious!! Facilitator will then stop the conversation after 5 minutes and give A time to formulate some evidence-based feedback. This means that they will tell their partner something they were impressed by or noticed and point to what they said as evidence. E.g. ‘you talked about how you have to plan your materials before you start doing … and that suggests to me that you have good planning and organisational skills’. Once they have done this they should give the feedback to their partner. Then swap over and do it the other way round. After they’ve both done it have a discussion about what they noticed about how much they found out. Also ask what it felt like to be questioned, listened to and given feedback in this way (this links to assignment). Can they see how it relates to OT?

Problems are like whirlpools They suck you in

Working with Complaints Sometimes when people are meeting with you they feel the need to complain The listener generally wants to either avoid getting involved or to get stuck in to solving the problem. Instead Solution focus sees everything as an opportunity to learn about something that can help to build a solution.

End Klager, klager, klager… People in pairs – A & B A = complainer B = listener Instruction for A: you have to complain to B about something that really annoys you. You have to keep complaining for 3 minutes, don’t stop, just keep going Instruction for B: you have to listen to A without saying anything. You may only nod your head. As you are listening to A I want you to think about what qualities and strengths A has simply from listening to them complain. At the end of the 3 minutes B spends a little time formulating some compliments for A based on what they have heard and delivers these to A. OK this is done the same way as the previous exercise. You have to emphasise the need to say nothing at all if you are the listened and the need to keep going for 3 minutes if you are the moaner. Time it to the second. This exercise often uncovers far more about the person than the previous one – usually about a person’s values and what’s important to them. Again – ask what it felt like and how it might relate to OT End

Who makes your heart sink? Spend a few minutes describing your most difficult client to your partner. 4 minutes

Thinking Differently about … People Problem Focused Solution Focused Individualised view People are the site and source of the problem People are flawed, damaged or weak People need help, guidance, care and protection There is an ideal person who we should try to become Systemic/Interactional view People and their contexts are interlinked and interdependent People are talented and resourceful People are experts in their own lives You are who you are right now and tomorrow you’ll be different

Creating new descriptions Now redescribe your client as someone who is doing their best. What strengths and resources can you identify? What does this new story feel like? Does it give you any clues about what you might be able to do with this person?