Solution-Focused

Advising

Pathways to Success

Donna Schonerstedt, M.Ed.

Lindsey Tardif, M.Ed., LPC

John V. Roach Honors College

Texas Christian University

Fort Worth, Texas

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Table of Contents

Ten Principles of Solution-Focused Interviewing ............................................................................ 3

Major Tenets of Solution-Focused Academic Advising................................................................... 5

Solution-Focused Session Structure ............................................................................................... 6

Solution-Focused Techniques .......................................................................................................... 7

101 Solution-Focused Questions for Academic Advisors ............................................................ 11

Outline of a 10-Minute Solution-Focused Conversation .............................................................. 14

Selected Bibliography: Solution-Focused Texts ............................................................................ 15

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Ten Principles of Solution-Focused Interviewing From Matthew Selekman’s Pathways to Change (1993)

and Fredrike Bannink’s 1001 Solution-Focused Questions (2010)

1. Resistance is not a useful concept.

Approach each student from a position of cooperation rather than from a position of

resistance, power, and control. While a power differential does exist between student

and advisor, solution-focused advisors do their best to level the field during a session.

2. Cooperation is inevitable.

The solution-focused advisor adapts to a student’s manner of cooperating. The advisor

leads from one step behind. A solution-focused advisor draws upon the student’s

strengths and resources and his/her words and options. The advisor compliments a

student by asking him/her competence questions such as, “How did you accomplish

that?”

3. Change is inevitable.

Change is a continuous process and is bound to happen. The advisor encourages

students to create positive self-fulfilling prophecies. Students can benefit from talking

about past, present, and future (envisioned) successes.

4. Only a small change is needed.

When advisors encourage students to notice and value small changes (i.e., exceptions),

students begin to notice and believe in the snowball effect of those small changes.

5. Students already possess the strengths and resources they need in order to change.

Solution-focused professionals maintain a non-pathological view of human beings. All

people experience difficulties and adversity. But each student has resources and

strengths that s/he can harness, which can help to rebuild hope, self-efficacy, and self-

esteem. How might the student utilize those strengths and resources to reach his/her

goals? The advisor can invite the student to talk about areas of competence in his/her

life, such as sports, a hobby, or a special talent. The advisor can then help the student

see ways to use those strengths and skills to reach his/her current goal.

6. Problems are unsuccessful attempts to resolve difficulties.

All people experience difficulties in life. Those difficulties become problems when people

overreact, underreact, or react without logic.

7. One does not need to know much about the problem in order to solve it.

In fact, it’s more helpful to know when the problem has been absent or less severe. This

shifts the focus of the session to solution talk. Students notice their own helpful

behaviors that reduce the problem, and they spend less time ruminating on it.

8. The student defines his/her own goals.

If the advisor doesn’t know where the student would like to go, the student and advisor

may end up in the wrong place. If the advisor is unaware of the student’s goals, then the

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advisor is less likely to be able to help the student reach those goals. The student may

cease to view the advisor as a useful resource.

9. The observer defines reality. The solution-focused advisor actively participates in helping

the student create his/her reality.

A solution-focused advisor is a coauthor who helps the student rewrite his or her story. A

solution-focused advisor gives the student’s reality as much priority as possible within

the parameters of university policy and curriculum requirements.

10. There are many ways of looking at a situation, all equally correct.

A solution-focused advisor will honor a student’s perceptions and will remain an open

and active listener who adapts based upon the student’s needs.

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Major Tenets of Solution-Focused Academic Advising Adapted from de Shazer, Dolan, Korman, Trepper, McCollum, & Berg (2007)

If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

If it works, do more of it.

If it’s not working, do something different.

Small steps can lead to big changes.

The solution is not necessarily directly related to the problem.

The language for solution development is different from that needed to

describe a problem.

No problem happens all the time; there is always an exception.

The future is both created and negotiable.

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Solution-Focused Session Structure

Form Goals

Best Hopes Miracle Question

Fast-Forward

Identify Resources

and Plan Relationship Questions

Be Tenacious with Our EARS Compliments Wow and How

Scaling

Focus on

Immediate Future

Take a Thinking Break Compliment-Bridge-Task Suggest an Experiment

Scaling

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Solution-Focused Techniques

A Posture of Not Knowing “The not-knowing position entails a general attitude or stance in which the [advisor’s] actions

communicate an abundant, genuine curiosity. That is, the [advisor’s] actions and attitudes

express a need to know more about what has been said, rather than convey preconceived

opinions and expectations about the [student], the problem, or what must be changed. The

[advisor], therefore, positions himself or herself in such a way as always to be in a state of ‘being

informed’ by the [student].” (Anderson & Goolishian, 1992, p. 29)

Anderson and Goolishian (1992) coined the phrase, “a posture of not knowing.” Their quote above

captures the idea that the advisor cannot possibly know the significance of a student’s

experiences and behaviors without first relying on the student to provide explanations and share

his/her perceptions.

EARS Eliciting reports of change (exception questions)

o What is going well?

o When are things a little better?

Amplifying the change

o What made that possible?

o How did you do that?

Reinforcing the change

o How did that help?

o What difference did that make?

Start over

o Do it all over again.

Best Hopes Early in the session, it can be helpful to establish the student’s best hopes for your time together.

What does s/he hope to leave the session knowing? This can provide tremendous direction to the

short time typically spent in an advising session. It may also be helpful to ask about a student’s

best hopes for the week ahead, or even for the semester.

Miracle Question Advisor: I would like to ask you a sort of strange question… a question that requires some

imagination on your part. Would that be okay?

Student: Okay, I’ll give it a try.

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Advisor: Great. I want you to imagine that after we talk, you go back to your [dorm, apartment,

studio, flat], and you [state usual task here]. Once you’re happy with your progress, you relax, start

winding down, and get ready for bed [describe the student’s routine to him/her if you know it]. The

house is dark and quiet. Everyone is already asleep. You go to bed and sleep soundly. While you’re

sleeping, in the middle of the night, a miracle occurs and the problem that you came to me with is

all solved. However, you were asleep. You don’t know that this miracle has occurred. You wake up

from a great night’s sleep and start to go about your day. How will you discover that a miracle

occurred? What will be different that will make you think, “Oh this problem is gone, it must be a

miracle!”

Fast-Forward Fast-forwarding can serve much the same purpose as the Miracle Question and can be used in

situations where the Miracle Question may feel insensitive (e.g., an upsetting loss).

Advisor: Okay. So right now things are feeling pretty challenging.

Student: Yeah.

Advisor: I would like to ask you a sort of strange question… a question that requires some

imagination. Would that be okay?

Student: Okay, I’ll give it a try.

Advisor: Great. I want to imagine that we’ve hit the fast-forward button. Now we are two [days,

weeks, months] into the future and things are a little bit better. How will you first notice that things

are better?

Relationship Questions People live much of their lives in relationships with others. It can be helpful to shift a student’s

view by asking questions about how those close to him/her may notice that the student’s problem

is lessening. For example, an advisor might ask, “How will your roommate notice when you are

less stressed and more at ease?” or “How will your dad notice that you are feeling more

comfortable here at the university?”

Compliments Compliments are an essential part of solution-focused advising. Validating what a student is

already doing well and acknowledging how difficult his/her problems are encourages the student

to change while conveying that the advisor has been listening, understands, and cares.

Compliments in advising sessions can help to punctuate what the student is already doing that is

working. Solution-focused advisors often give compliments indirectly in the form of appreciatively-

toned questions such as, “How did you do that?” The student self-compliments by virtue of

answering the questions.

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Wow and How This technique can serve as a form of complimenting and/or solution-seeking. When the advisor

notices something that the student is handling particularly well, s/he validates the student with a

direct compliment (a “wow”): “Wow! I’m impressed by __________.” The advisor then offers the

student the opportunity to self-compliment and discover what is working well by following up with

a “how” question: “How did you do that?”

Scaling Scaling questions are useful in helping students assess their own situations, track their own

progress, or evaluate how others might rate their progress on a scale of 1 to 10. Advisors can use

scales in many ways, including with students who are less verbal or who have impaired verbal

skills. One can ask about students’ motivation, hopefulness, confidence, progress, or a host of

other topics that can be used to track student performance. Scaling questions also help students

consider what might be the next small steps.

Advisor: On a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 stands for you have every confidence that this project will

be a success and 1 stands for the opposite – that you might as well not even try – what number

would you give your confidence that you will produce a successful project?

Student: I would give it a 6.

Advisor: Wow, a 6. What is it that puts you at a 6?

Student: [gives reasoning]

Advisor: Okay, what would it take to raise your confidence to a 7?

Thinking Break Before providing feedback, it may be helpful to take a thinking break. Step out of the room for just

a few minutes to make a copy of something for the student, refill your water, etc., and use that

opportunity to consider what the student said during your session and decide what feedback you

would like to give. This can also serve as an opportunity to confer with a colleague about a difficult

situation.

Compliment – Bridge – Task This technique is very handy when giving students feedback or making a direct suggestion.

Open with compliments.

Provide a bridging statement that allows you to pivot from the compliment to the suggestion.

Offer a suggestion. Be sure this is based on the student’s meanings as s/he expressed during the

session.

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This may look something like the example below:

Compliment: I am so impressed with how hard you have worked on __________ [student’s

concern] this semester and with how driven you are to succeed. You’ve already tried a few things

to improve your situation, and I can see why you are feeling discouraged right now.

Bridge: This is certainly a “stubborn” [student’s word] problem.

Task: Because this is such a “stubborn” problem, I think that it may help to __________ [insert

suggestion].

Suggest an Experiment Suggesting an experiment is another helpful way to offer feedback to students.

It may begin similarly as the compliment – bridge – task technique above, but instead of offering

a direct suggestion, the advisor may say something like:

Advisor: I wonder…would you be willing to try a small experiment?

Student: Okay, what would it be?

Advisor: What if, just one day a week [usually best to start small], you reviewed your chemistry

notes for 15 minutes?

Coping Questions These questions are powerful reminders that all students engage in many useful behaviors even

in times of difficulty. Even at their most frustrated or most hopeless point, many students do

manage to get out of bed, get dressed, leave their dorm/residence hall, and do many other things

that require effort. Coping questions such as “How have you managed to carry on?” or “How have

you managed to prevent things from becoming worse?” can help students shift their focus from

what is not working to what is working and how to do more of it.

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101 Solution-Focused Questions for Academic Advisors Adapted from Fredrike Bannink’s 1001 Solution-Focused Questions (2010)

General Solution-Focused Questions 1. Miracle Question: “…While you’re sleeping tonight a miracle occurs. The miracle is that the

problems you shared with me today have been solved; however, you are unaware that this

miracle occurred because you were asleep. In the morning, how will you first notice that a

miracle has occurred?”

2. “What else?”

3. Scaling questions: For example, “On a scale of 1-10, how confident are you that you’ll earn

the grades you need?”

4. Scaling follow-up question: “What would it take for you to move up to ____ [insert next higher

number] on the scale?”

5. “What difference would that make?”

6. Relationship questions: “If the miracle occurred, how would your roommate notice that

things are better?”

7. Exception questions: “When is __________ less of a problem?”

Questions to Help Form Goals 8. What brings you in today?

9. What else would you like to achieve?

10. What are your best hopes for our time together today?

11. What would be the best use of our time together today?

12. If your problem were solved, what would be different?

13. What would you like to be different as a result of this meeting?

14. What will be different in your life when you have reached your goal?

15. How would that make a difference for you?

16. How will you know that you have reached your goal?

17. What have you done to make that possible?

18. What would make this session worthwhile for you?

19. How would your friends notice that your problem was solved?

20. What would your friends notice that you were doing differently once your problem is solved?

21. I can see that this is a problem for you, how would you like things to be different?

22. [Student responds with, “I don’t know.”] Suppose you did know. What would you say?

23. What would an ideal day look like for you?

24. In what area would you like to see the most improvement?

25. Suppose you did know why you do certain things, how would that bring you closer

to your goal?

26. When will you do that?

27. How would you most like to see yourself?

28. When are you at your best? What does that look like?

29. How can you do more of what is making things go well?

30. Suppose your friend had the same problem. What solutions would he or she find?

31. Suppose your friend had the same problem. What would you advise him or her to do?

32. What would be a sign that you are on the right track?

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Questions to Help Identify Resources and Plan 33. What are your strengths?

34. What is going well?

35. What’s better since we last spoke?

36. When do things go a little better?

37. How did you know that would help?

38. Wow! How did you do that?

39. How do you manage that? And how else?

40. What did you do differently in the past?

41. What other successes have you had in the past?

42. What did you do to make that happen?

43. When did you behave in a way that was consistent with how you would like to be?

44. How does that help?

45. What made that possible?

46. How would your [insert family member, friend, professor, etc.] know that you were closer

to [insert goal]?

47. How will you know when you’re understanding the course material better?

48. What will your professor notice when you’re understanding the course material better?

49. What have you already tried, and which of those things helped, even if only a little bit?

50. When is the problem absent or less of a problem? What are you doing differently then? What

is different then?

51. How will you know when you are less stressed out?

52. What will your roommate notice about you when you are less stressed out?

53. Think back to a moment in the past week, month, or year when the problem was completely

absent or was less of a problem. What was that moment?

54. What were you doing differently then that made things go better?

55. How did you find the courage to…?

56. What gave you the strength to…?

57. How did you bring yourself to do that?

58. How can you build upon this success?

59. How do you know that this problem can be solved?

60. How did you discover that you…?

61. What drives you to put some work into solving _______ [the student’s concern] now?

62. What ideas do you already have for reaching your goal?

63. Suppose you were to compliment yourself on your effort. What would you say?

64. How would someone who loves you advise you to handle this situation?

65. What is something that a friend or family member has been proud of you for?

66. What would you like to do in your life that would give you a sense of pride?

67. What do people tend to compliment you for?

68. Who inspires you?

Questions to Help Focus on Immediate Future 69. How confident are you that you can…? (Scale of 1 to 10)

70. What would one point higher on the scale look like?

71. What would you be doing differently to move up that one point?

72. What difference would that make for you?

73. What difference would that make for the important people in your life?

74. What do you see as a next step?

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75. In your opinion, what would be a very small step forward?

76. What does that small step look like exactly? What would you be doing differently then?

77. How would others see that you have taken a small step?

78. What would be the very smallest step you could take?

79. How will you take that small step?

80. What is needed for you to move up one point on the scale?

81. What is needed for you to pretend that you are up one point?

82. What can you take from this session that will help you in the next week?

83. Would you be willing to carry out a task in the upcoming [days, weeks, semester]? What task

appeals to you?

84. Would you be willing to try a small experiment? If the student agrees, ask the student if

s/he would be willing to try one of his/her own suggestions by taking a small step within

the next week.

85. How can you make sure that you will reach your goal?

86. How, exactly, will you do that? What else?

87. Who will encourage you to work toward your goal?

88. How will you celebrate when you reach your goal?

89. Whom will you invite to celebrate?

90. What (if anything) are the take-aways from this session?

91. Would it be helpful for us to meet again next week [month, semester]?

Coping Questions 92. How did you keep things from falling apart?

93. How are things not worse for you?

94. What would you consider a sign that things are starting to go a tiny bit better?

95. How did you manage to come today, despite feeling so poorly?

96. We can’t change other people or even university policy in our session right now. With that in

mind, how can I help you work through this?

97. What or who has seen you through until now?

98. What helps you deal with what you’ve gone through?

99. What would be the smallest sign that things are going better?

100. How will you be able to tell that you are handling it a little better?

101. Imagine a wiser, older version of yourself. What advice would your older self give to your

current self to get through this rough patch?

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Outline of a 10-Minute Solution-Focused Conversation From Nelson’s Doing Something Different: Solution-Focused Brief

Therapy Practices (2010), Fiske’s “A 10-Minute Solution-Focused

Interview Training Exercise” (2010), and Burns’s “Ten Minute Talk:

Using a Solution-Focused Approach in Supervision” (2008)

What are your best hopes?

Suppose that you… [achieve those best hopes]. What will be different?

What else?

Who else will notice? Who else?

On a scale from 1 to 10, if 10 stands for… [Finish scaling question about student’s goal.]

Where are you now on the scale?

Where do you want to be on the scale?

What will be different when you are one step higher on the scale?

What are you already doing that is on track?

What else are you doing that is on track?

What is the next small step?

Anything else?

[Compliment]

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Selected Bibliography: Solution-Focused Texts

Anderson, H., & Goolishian, H. A. (1992). The client is the expert: A not-knowing approach to

therapy. In S. McNamee & K. J. Gergen (Eds.), Therapy as social construction (pp. 25-39).

London: Sage Publications.

Bannink, F. P. (2007). Solution-focused brief therapy. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy.

doi: 10.1007/s10879-006-9040-y

Bannink, F. P. (2010). 1001 Solution-focused questions: Handbook for solution-focused

interviewing (Rev. 2nd ed.). New York, NY: W. W. Norton.

Burg, J. E., & Mayhall, J. L. (2002). Techniques and interventions of solution-focused advising.

NACADA Journal, 22(2), 79-85.

Burns, K. (2008). Ten minute talk: Using a solution-focused approach in supervision.

Solution News, 3(3), 8-10.

De Jong, P., & Berg, I. K. (2013). Interviewing for solutions (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson

Brooks/Cole.

De Jong, P., & Miller, S. (1995). How to interview for client strengths. Social Work, 40(6), 729-736.

de Shazer, S. (1994). Words were originally magic. New York, NY: W. W. Norton.

de Shazer, S., Dolan, Y., Korman, H., Trepper, T., McCollum, E., & Berg, I. K. (2007). More than

miracles: The state of the art of solution-focused brief therapy. Binghamton, NY:

The Haworth Press.

Fiske, H. (2010). A 10-minute solution-focused interview training exercise. In T. S. Nelson (Ed.),

Doing something different: Solution-focused brief therapy practices (p. 184). New York, NY:

Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group.

Guterman, J. T. (2013). Mastering the art of solution-focused counseling (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA:

American Counseling Association.

Iveson, C. (2002). Solution-focused brief therapy. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 8, 149-157.

Lee, M. Y. (2013). Solution-focused brief therapy. Encyclopedia of Social Work.

doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.013.1039

Mayhall, J. L., & Burg, J. E. (2002). Solution-focused advising with the undecided student.

NACADA Journal, 22(1), 76-82.

Nelson, T. S. (Ed.). (2010). Doing something different: Solution-focused brief therapy practices.

New York, NY: Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group.

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Northwest Brief Therapy Training Center. Brief therapy: The solution-focused model. Retrieved on

11 April 2018 from http://nwbttc.com/sfbt.html

Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center, University of Pittsburgh, School of Social Work.

Handout #9: Solution-focused interviewing skills & questions. 301: Engaging clients

from a strengths-based, solution-focused perspective. Retrieved on 11 April 2018 from

http://www.pacwrc.pitt.edu/Curriculum/301EngggClntsFrmAnSBSFPrspctv/Hndts/

HO_9_Solution_focused_skills_and_questions.pdf

Ross, K. (2017, September). Adapting solution-focused questioning into advising. Academic

Advising Today, 40(3). Retrieved from National Academic Advising Association web site:

https://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Academic-Advising-Today/View-Articles/Adapting-

Solution-Focused-Questioning-into-Advising.aspx

Selekman, M. D. (1993). Pathways to change: Brief therapy solutions with difficult adolescents.

New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

Sharry, J., Madden, B., & Darmody, M. (2012). Becoming a solution detective: A strengths-based

guide to brief therapy (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group.

Taylor, L. (2005). A thumbnail map for solution-focused brief therapy. Journal of Family

Psychotherapy, 16(1/2), 27-33.

Winbolt, B. (2011). Solution focused therapy for the helping professions. Philadelphia, PA:

Jessica Kingsley Publishers.