SFCT UK Chapter CPD day report

 Monday 8 November 2010, Leeds.  Host: Carey Glass

 Present: Mark McKergow, Carey Glass, Antoinette Oglethorpe, Pat Walker, John Wheeler, Greg Vinnicombe, Shakya Kumara, Jenny Clarke, Shaun Lincoln, Victoria Copas, John Taylor

 A good crowd gathered at the central Leeds office of Kirk Newsholme for a day’s session of learning, sharing and networking.  Our host, Carey Glass, laid on a splendid salmon lunch, and our meeting place was bright and spacious.  Several people sent their apologies, some unable to attend due to last minute hiccups. 

The day’s main topic was Complexity.  Carey Glass presented a piece on Complexity Theory and the Health Service. We looked at Olson’s and Eoyang’s basic principles around the use of complexity in organisations and Carey presented her experiences in light of these to work through. One of the difficulties for the health service is that it needs to be a complex adaptive system that nevertheless needs to work within the traditional demands of a bureaucracy.  We also had a quick look at the implications of GP commissioning in light of these approaches. The attendees then divided into two groups and offered valuable reflections on working within these competing demands.

We also continued our tradition of working with emergent topics – anyone who comes to the meeting can add something to the agenda.  There were two reflecting team sessions, with Shaun Lincoln and Mark McKergow bringing the issues.  Mark wanted some inputs in connection with a team conflict workshop he was running in the near future, particularly about how to build a firm platform at the start of the workshop so that everyone could agree it was worth going on to explore ways of working together.  There would also be two senior HR managers attending.  The team’s reflections were:

Benefits of working together more effectively – for different stakeholder groups – team members, manager, organisation, our customers (and start with customers)

• Compliments – find a way the team can compliment themselves and the managers can compliment them
• Use a reflecting team with the manager as problem presenter and have the team help him
• Use the HR people early on – multi-partiality
• Model democratic processes so that the manager can use them later on
• Do a ground rules session first – really important.  Get them to come up with rules
• Team exercise – what makes you a valuable member of the team (pairs) (what else x 15?)
• Why do I like working here (starting with Sparkling Moments or something), what’s important about what we are doing, why are you pleased to be part of this team?
• Put questions in joining instructions – the team members could even email responses
• What are we proud of achieving since the new manager arrived?
• Moving from yes-but to yes-and
• Do a miracle question exercise – in a process which allows everyone to contribute, not just the noisy ones
• Give time for reflection/private working/pairs
• When you get to actions – could to one thing I will do and one request I have from others in order to do that/help me to do that
• What would be good enough? 
• Given the Future Perfect – suppose that happened, what would you be doing in response to that?  (Ask this as follow up question)  Then build on what of that you are doing already.
• Interdependency mapping exercise – who depends on who for tasks.  Could cluster them in smaller groups
• Accountability – what will happen next, feedback to MMcK in some form, not just a one-off exercise.  Has to keep happening outside the room.
• Scaling and counter gathering in small groups
• Requests among interdependent groups
• What do we have to get right?  Divide into ‘my sphere of influence’ and requests from others
• Use the HR people as facilitators in three groups of 5?
• Use the HR people as affirmers of what happens in the room
• Use the HR people for wider know-how and witnessing – grounds for optimism etc
• Use HR people to bring an external perspective on this from the rest of the organisation

 Pat Walker brought a couple of topics to the meeting; she writes

 We had an excellent session at the SFCT CPD meeting on Monday 8^th November. Despite the long journey and dreadful weather, I came away energised and motivated to keep going with the marketing stuff. Everyone was very generous in sharing know-how and it helps to feel less isolated. The format works well for me where there is a key presenter [and Carey’s issue was a really useful example to work on] and an opportunity for everyone to bring an issue they want to discuss or have help with. I wanted help in knowing how to go about writing a case study and how to get onto the conference circuit. Below are the ideas the group came up with.

Issue: Things to consider when writing a case study

Benefits of using case study as marketing material – on website initially

• Think beginning/middle/end
• Know your purpose ie., end publication, credibility, confidence
• Find good examples of other case studies
• See Antoinette Oglethorpe’s examples on website
• See Carey Glass’s website for approach
• Think structure
• Think audience – academic [SFCT] and/or articles
• Include lessons learned – reflections –  what went well – what could be better
• Get feedback as you go along – don’t wait until it’s all written up
• Write case study – how it satisfies me
• Share results with wider audience
• Identify customer – what’s most important for you to hear
• Approach editors for publication
• Think about co-authoring articles
• Gain permission from client to use organisation’s name
• Get support form SFCT members

 Issue: How to get on the conference circuit

 Contact universities

• Think local – what’s going on in your area
• Contact Skills for health / Skills for care
• Include ‘public speaking’ on business card
• Asked Linkedin members about what conferences are coming up
• Look out for annual conferences now
• Offer to help at conferences in any capacity for free – even as a reserve
• Apply
• Write articles
• Know your target audience

Our next CPD day is scheduled for Monday 21 March 2011 in London.  We are also looking at ideas and suggestions for next year’s UK programme, which may well include telecalls at different times of day. 

Join now – people joining before 31 December will receive the latest Nov 2011 InterAction journal as well as two journals next year, e-access to all the back issues, three CPD days and other activities – great value for €100.  Join at http://www.asfct.org/join.php.

This is our first newsletter in a few months. Sorry about the gap in communication – partly due to changing plans for future events, partly because we’ve been increasingly busy with in-house client work. Here’s the latest. SF Professional – online and other optionsWe have been thinking very hard about how to continue our flagship SF Professional course, leading to SFCT full membership. The issue is balancing the undoubted success of multi-module face to face learning with the inconvenience for those increasing numbers from outside the UK who wish to work with Mark and the team.Instead, we are working with the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (UWM) to deliver an online version of the course starting in March 2011. The course will run over 16 weeks and contain all material covered in the face to face version, including our six Solutions Tools, working in indivudal, group and organisational settings, coaching practice and a project. Mark himself will be the course tutor. UWM have delivered an online SF therapy course for some years, which was originally run by Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg themselves. There will be more news of this exciting development nearer the start in March 2011. In the meantime, there is preliminary information here. If you’re very keen to work with us face to face or can’t wait that long, Mark and Jenny are running the first module of SF Professional as part of Il Faro’s SF At Work course in Belgium. The dates are 9-10 December 2010, click here for more details and registration. This course is at a brilliant venue in the Belgian countryside, is in English, and a good and valuable time is assured with Anton and Liselotte doing the hosting. Click here for a first look at SF Professional online Business improvement with sfwork – building change rapidly in the toughest situationsWe have been doing more and more work with client organisations during 2010. Our assignments have included: SF Coaching for Senior Leaders – for NHS and local government SF Consulting for HR Professionals – for the banking sector Conflict resolution facilitations for UK and Swedish customers (based on our PARTNER model – which Antoinette Oglethorpe has also been using with the Metropolitan Police) Solutions Tools for fast moving environment – for the advertising industry, BBDO Canada Business performance workshops – tackling multiple issues in a short time iFLOW personal effectiveness workshops Masterclasses in SF for Learning Skills Network, SIETAR and othersIf you’d like to know more about these areas, and how we can help you tackle your major challenges right now, give us a ring on +44 (0)8453 707145.   Read about the impact of our SF Coaching for Leaders at the NHS Forthcoming events in Europe 2010-2011We have events all over Europe during the coming months. All these events are in English.18-19 November, Vilnius, Lithuania: Introduction to SF workshop with Mark and Jenny, contact Dainius Baltrusaitis <dainius.baltrusaitis@smart.lt). The event also marks the publication of The Solutions Focus in Lithuanian. 9-10 December, Heerlijckyt van Elsmeren, Belgium: Introduction to SF workshop as part of Il Faro’s SF At Work course. 17-19 January 2011, Heerlijckyt van Elsmeren, Belgium: Accelerated Learning and SF for Trainers – a rare run for Mark’s acclaimed course for trainers of all kinds. Details at http://ilfaro.hostbuster.eu/nl/Opleiding/Accelerated_Learing/. 10-11 February 2011, Amsterdam, Netherlands: Solution Tools with Groups and Organisations with Mark and Jenny, part of Louis Cauffman’s SF Management mastercourse. Click here for more details of Accelerated Learning at Il Faro, 17-19 January 2011 InterAction journal now onlineMark is one of the editors of the SFCT journal InterAction, which now has its own online portal. The first three issues are now online, shortly to be joined by issue 4. There is some free content from each issue available to all, while members can access all the content. Go to read and download Mark’s ‘Grammar of Neuroscience’ paper now FREE.Visit InterAction online now – FREE CONTENT We hope to have a new format newsletter out early in 2011, featuring more of our work with clients and how we use SF to tackle real issues with real customers. Look out for it! Cheers Mark McKergow and Jenny Clarke The Centre for Solutions Focus at Work http://www.sfwork.com PS Check out our good friend Robert MacPhee’s new book and website Manifesting for Non-Gurus – you might win a coaching session with Mark, Jack Canfield or many other personal development legends! PPS Another good friend, John Dyer, is running courses around the UK in early December including Birmingham, Bristol and Brighton about the new UK Equality Act – vital for employers of all sizes. Details at http://www.credibilityltd.co.uk.

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