Solution Focused Approaches

Great group last night despite the IT gremlins. Another interesting range of geographical, professional and practice backgrounds with shared and new ideas.

Carl Plant led an exercise on using video design/pictorial layout to get ideas for the future IGs. Both Carl and Paul Z. Jackson have used this technique successfully in organisational/team/customer/client work. The exercise generated several great ideas for future groups which I've précised below. Future groups to be held in a more social environment,

December group (including James McAteer's discussion around the Staffordshire community of practice and the media) will be combined with a seasonal curry. Julia Richardson is investigating possible venues for the evening of 17^th. Let me know if you can make it.

January meeting will be in the Stone/Stafford area. Carl and I will work out a subject/guest for the evening.

Recent work in promoting SFP in media other than books and journals (YouTube, local magazine article) shows how the simplicity principle can translate well. We hope that James can support this (again).

There is a natural link with SFP and 'the arts' which has been seen in Carl's work with Keele Music Society and elsewhere.

Lots of scope for the use of IT in the group. We have an interest from a group some distance away in taking part in future IGs via a video link. The SFA website has an RSS feed and hosts the content of the IGs so that people can keep up to date.

Future IGs would have more people there and would be a place that people want to go to.

This would be supported by the media exposure and the non-hierarchical, non-tribal nature of the approach.

What doesn't come through here is the thought, effort and fun which goes with the exercise.

I'm sure there was lots more but….

All the best,

Steve