I am here to observe all the good things you are doing.

This is how Insoo Kim Berg, one of the founders of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, introduced herself to a class of 10-year old ‘troublemakers’. The school had asked Insoo to come and help them find a healthier modus vivendi for a challenging group of pupils. So Insoo came and helped. She helped them find the good stuff that was already budding and waiting to be nurtured. When Insoo left the class, the pupils absolutely wanted to do more of the good things.
It’s a beautiful video to watch, and a wonderful reminder that you’ll find what you’re looking for. Will you be searching for the good or the bad?

Two weeks ago, I asked my students to pair up and practise a final exam speaking task. Since there was an odd number of students, I asked the remaining student to serve as the observer in one of the pairs. My instructions to him were, ‘Observe and write down everything that they are doing well!’
My invitation raised a few eyebrows and startled the observer, yet he did a remarkable job. The positive feedback he gave the class afterwards had a truly constructive, forward-looking vibe.

A couple of months ago, I had scheduled a counselling appointment with a young man
who is struggling to find the motivation to move forward. He was late. He hadn’t heard his alarm and overslept sufficiently to know he would be late the moment he opened his eyes. But he came. Came in panting and sorry. Once he had caught his breath and looked at me, I asked, ‘What made you decide to come despite it all?’
So he started telling me about respect (after all), hope, and curiosity.

During my first mentoring session at the Solution Academy, my teacher began by asking me what had gone well in the observed coaching conversation. Her question stopped me in my tracks, for I was ready to provide her with a list of everything I felt had gone amiss. I was ready to sing a sad song of my shortcomings. But my teacher knew better than that. She guided me on the treasure hunt to find everything that was already working. And once I saw what I had already acquired, it was easier to build on that and support the weaker links.

Looking for strengths is not burying your head in the sand to avoid seeing the weaknesses. Looking for strengths is a strategy for identifying what’s already working and building on it. Because something is always already working. Even if it is a tiny something.

Just like in classrooms, so in a teacher’s room or in a coaching session, to look for these tiny somethings shifts focus and energy. And thus the steps get just a little lighter, the road a little less bumpy. Just by observing all the good things that are already there.