Yes And

30/01/2026

Cultivate stakeholder relationships with SF

Would you like a tool to understand and cultivate your relationships with parents, governors, local authorities etc. in an SF way?
If so, please see the first feature on SFiO’s InterAction Collection 2026, ‘Cultivating stakeholder relationships using a matrix’
You can find it here: https://www.sfio.org/inter.../2026-1/stakeholder-management/
It’s a really practical session, presented by two people, Stefan Kreil (Austria) and Patricia Crazzolara (Germany) with lots of experience in Stakeholder Relationship building with SF. Eva Rampini (Switzerland) provides an introduction, outlining what you can learn.
First presented at SF24 this edited version in InterAction will lead you smoothly in to joining in SF24/26, which is happening on 5 & 6 February. Enjoy!

16/01/2026

You are warmly invited to our first Fika of the year, taking place this Sunday, 18 January 2026, at 10:00 UK / 11:00 CET, with an evening start for friends in Australasia.

We will gather with SF Fikanistas for relaxed conversation, gentle humour, and shared curiosity. The theme this time is Solution Focus and community.

Please bring a drink, an open mind, and whatever helps you feel at ease (silent pets welcomed).

Click on a happy face below to receive the Zoom link and join us for an hour of enjoyable, and often surprisingly useful, SF conversation.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sfio-sunday-fika-25-tickets-513944320297 the 25 links still works!

Warm regards, and if you cannot join us this time, we wish you a very good weekend and a great 2026.

John Brooker

Your host

Solution Focus in Organisations Fikas 2025. Pull up a screen grab your favorite drink, and join Solution Focus friends in the online cafe

08/11/2025

“Solution Focus is a rumour,” remarked Steve de Shazer and Gale Miller - reminding us that there is no single version of SF, only many living expressions.

Solution Focused Coaching in Asia (Routledge, 2024), edited by Debbie Hogan, Jane Tuomola, and Sukanya Wignaraja gathers 32 case studies that show how SF is flourishing across the region.

In his InterAction review, Anton Stellamans reflects on how SF travels lightly across cultures-honouring differences while staying true to its spirit of curiosity and respect.

Read the review here: https://www.sfio.org/interaction/2025-1/solution-focused-coaching-in-asia/

Anton Stellamans reviews *Solution Focused Coaching in Asia* (Hogan, Tuomola, Wignaraja, eds.), a collection of 32 case studies showing how SF coaching is practiced across diverse Asian cultures and contexts.

24/10/2025

“We have had the best outcomes per spend through our Solution Focused Counselling compared to any other mentoring interventions we have put funding towards” Mike Ambrose Teacher and mentoring budget holder.

SFiO’s latest feature revisits Beechen Cliff school five years on. Told through the voices of teachers, students, parents, and counsellors, it presents a remarkable seven-year case study of how the Solution Focus approach has strengthened the wellbeing of pupils and staff, creating happier classrooms, a more positive school culture, and higher attendance. Listen, watch and download an article here. https://www.sfio.org/interaction/2025-1/beechen-cliff-case-study/

Launched in 2018 by Tara Gretton, school counsellor and consultant, and Susie Ingram, then Pastoral Manager at Beechen Cliff, the initiative now provides over 1,000 solution-focused counselling sessions each year. Teachers and students use the approach widely, in class and beyond.

The programme has engaged parents, been adopted by other schools in the Trust, and earned OFSTED commendations for its mental-health support.

This article builds on SFiO’s 2020 Beechen Cliff feature, tracing how a shared, solution-focused mindset has taken root and continued to grow.

Introduced by Carola Baxmann Quick, simple, easy and helpful for achieving goals – that’s how Caiden and Rafferty, two pupils at Beechen Cliff School in Bath, UK, summed up their experience of the school’s wellbeing project. These words perfectly describe the story you’re about to see or hea...

30/09/2025

Couldn’t make it to every session at SOLWorld 2025? Neither could we. That’s why we interviewed eight presenters whose workshops weren’t filmed. Each short conversation (5–10 minutes) is packed with Solution Focused ideas — from glimmers and collaboration to coaching with Aikido. Here's who we interviewed:

* Sonali Kumarakulasinghe & John Brooker (UK) - "Using the SF Decision Circle to Enhance Collaboration"
* Victoria Spashchenko (Ukraine) - "Practicing Glimmers for Resilience and Wellbeing"
* Haesun Moon (Canada) - "Every Key is the Right Key"
* Kenneth Kwan (Singapore) - "Small Steps to Big Changes: Driving Optimistic Change in Large Organisations"
* Hiroaki Nishida (Japan) - "Scramble Your Session - Aikido and Dice for Coaching Mastery"
* Susanne Buchberger (Austria) & Sandra Dietrich (Switzerland) - "Co-creation of an SF Survival Guide for Our Work Life"

We hope you enjoy them. Click below to watch or listen:

Introduction SFiO Financial Contributors supported the filming of several sessions at SOLWorld 2025. While not every session could be recorded, we interviewed many of the presenters whose sessions were not filmed. Below you’ll find their interviews — with video, audio, and in some cases slides o...

20/09/2025

In the latest SOLWord 2025 session from SFiO, Elvira Kalmar presents Scaling Coaching Tools to a Company Level.

By watching this session, you’ll gather practical ways to nurture leadership in your team, spark creativity in everyday conversations, and experience a coaching method that feels refreshingly human.

You’ll hear how “best hope” dialogues can unlock hidden potential and watch a live demonstration of her approach in action. And just when you think you know where it’s going, Elvira offers a closing invitation that quietly shifts everything.
Elvira is a seasoned organisational development coach and facilitator.

If you would like to benefit from her experience, visit InterAction here: https://www.sfio.org/interaction/2025-1/solworld-2025-11-scaling-coaching-tools/

After watching, you can read a review of her book Go Beyond Parts 1 & 2 - SF Pocket Mentor for Work Evolutionists. See the link in the feature.

Introduction Elvira Kalmar is a seasoned organizational development coach and facilitator who brings warmth, clarity, and curiosity to every encounter. Her work blends solution-focused coaching with a deep respect for the wisdom already present in teams. Rather than offering quick fixes, she invites...

18/09/2025

With huge thanks to Matt Cameron for stepping in so brilliantly last month, I’m back as your Fika host on Sunday, 21 September!

This time we’re diving into the fascinating “wood wide web” — the mycorrhizal networks that help forests thrive. And of course… we’ll be asking: what does this have to do with Solution Focus?

Expect uplifting and lighthearted conversation, sprinkled with humour (as always!) — and maybe even a nugget you can take away for your own work.

Bring your favourite drink.
Join us on Zoom.
Relax, connect, explore.

We’d love to see you there! (And if you’re off to EBTA instead — enjoy! We’ll miss you)

Register here for the link & reminders:

Solution Focus in Organisations Fikas 2025. Pull up a screen grab your favorite drink, and join Solution Focus friends in the online cafe

07/09/2025

In Solution Focus, listening is never passive — it’s presence, intent, and kindness in action.

Roy Marriott blends story, meditation, and practice to highlight the creative tension between listening from the heart and listening with intent.

Watch and listen to the full workshop in InterAction. https://www.sfio.org/interaction/2025-1/solworld-2025-8-sf-listening/

Roy Marriott In this workshop, filmed at SOLWorld 2025 in Mechelen, Roy Marriott invites us to reflect on what it means to listen in a Solution Focused way. He begins with Michael Ende’s story of Momo, the little girl whose extraordinary gift was not advice or wisdom but her capacity to listen. Fr...

19/06/2025

I have to reschedule the SFiO Fika from 22 June to 29 June, due to a domestic issue - I completely overlooked the fact that my wife had already planned a river cruise on the Thames for us and visiting friends that same day. And due to the tides, we need to be in London right across Fika time.

Something has to give—and sadly for Fikaficionados, it means moving the next Fika from the 22nd to Sunday 29th June at 1000 UK/1100 CET and evening across Australasia.

I’m really sorry for the mix-up. If you’re able to join on the 29th, register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sfio-sunday-fika-25-tickets-513944320297

If you can’t make that one, the next session will be on 20th July, you can also register at the same link.

Thanks for your understanding, and I hope to see you on the 29th June!

John Brooker

Solution Focus in Organisations Fikas 2025. Pull up a screen grab your favorite drink, and join Solution Focus friends in the online cafe

30/05/2025

Hi everyone. After the delightful interruption of the wonderful SOLWorld Conference and Retreat, the SFiO rhythm returns.

We are busy editing the videos from Mechelen, meanwhile, the next feature in SFiO’s InterAction Collection is “Rutenso - The art of thriving in times of constant change”, by Mark McKergow.

Mark’s article introduces and explores “Rutenso”, a concept he coined to describe the art of thriving amidst constant and ceaseless change, inspired by Japanese cultural attitudes towards impermanence.

Rutenso advocates for appreciating and leveraging differences, taking considered and thoughtful actions rather than hasty responses, and viewing leaders as facilitators who enable change instead of controlling it.

If we may summarise in a Haiku:
Constant change flows on;
Embrace shifts, slow down, observe;
Rutenso guides us.

It also aligns closely with Solutions Focus of course. Discover how, here, https://www.sfio.org/interaction/2025-1/sf-and-rutenso/ by reading and downloading the article. To use the links in the PDF, please download the article.

John Brooker and Annie Bordeleau
Co-editors SFiO InterAction

Mark McKergow Read or download the full article after the synopsis. Article Synopsis Mark’s article introduces and explores “rutenso”, a concept he coined to describe the art of thriving amidst constant and ceaseless change, inspired by Japanese cultural attitudes toward impermanence. Originat...

04/02/2025

Our next More than a Book Club meeting will be on 26 February 2025, and it will be held in three time zones worldwide.

Join us and enter the gripping world of Stephen King’s beloved novella, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. This story laid the foundation for the Academy Award-nominated classic, The Shawshank Redemption. What might we learn about the Solution Focus Approach from this book and / or movie?

Available as a standalone book, this extraordinary tale of injustice, revenge, and the unbreakable power of hope is a must-read for fans, old and new.
Suspenseful, mysterious, and deeply moving, King weaves a narrative rich with unforgettable characters. Meet Ellis “Red” Redding, the man who can get you anything in Maine’s corrupt Shawshank State Penitentiary—for the right price. But even Red couldn’t have predicted the life-changing bond he’d form with Andy Dufresne, a former banker with a secretive past, who might just be the most surprising inmate Shawshank has ever seen.
Through despair, friendship, betrayal, and redemption, Andy and Red transform their lives and the very heart of Shawshank.
If you join us, we recommend watching the movie and, if you have time, reading Stephen King's novella that started it all and discover why this timeless story remains a beacon of resilience and hope.

Ready for a fresh twist on the classic book club?

17/01/2025

Join us for SFiO Fika and stretch your SF muscles!
Sunday, 19 January 2025, 10:00 UK / 11:00 CET / Evening in Australasia. 60 minutes.

Hey everyone!

In this month’s SFiO Fika you can explore snippets from a novel and how they relate to SF; stretch your imagination and gain new perspectives.
Hosted by John Brooker (UK) and John Teager (Australia) and featuring SF enthusiasts from many countries, you can expect a lively, interactive session, where you’ll share ideas, laugh, and maybe discover new insights.

As it is always happy hour at Fika, bring your favourite drink, wit, and a good sense of humour! There is no need to be an SFiO contributor—this is open to anyone interested in the Solution-Focused approach in organisations.

Save your spot here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/513944320297

We look forward to seeing you there!
John Brooker and John Teager

Solution Focus in Organisations Fikas 2024. An opportunity to learn while enjoying time with Solution Focused friends