I’m not a great sports fan and certainly not a football fan. I follow the progress of the Stoke-on-Trent team supported by one of my sons (and interestingly a lot of his forebears that he hasn’t met).

In one of last season’s games our team (Port Vale) were playing Rotherham. Port Vale were in administration (broke) and hadn’t been able to invest in players. In fact they had lost some of their better players over the Summer. Rotherham were the opposite; massive investment in facilities and players, a huge and loyal fan base. As a former bookie I would have had to make Rotherham clear favourites based on the team and their form. Outcome of the match? A resounding victory for Port Vale and a shock or pleasant surprise for many observers.

The SFP angle? Change & Hope: the idea that change is always happening is a cornerstone of SFP (and Buddhist) thinking. This can lead people to believe that change is essential and the as solution focused practitioners we need to initiate and encourage change. That hadn’t helped Rotherham though! The Vale team were cohesive, intuitive and working co-operatively. In the absence of external change and investment the team manger and players had made the best of the resources that they had; did more of what works and embraced the change that was happening internally. The team were also incredibly Hopeful and future orientated. Pre match interviews with players and management concentrated on their strengths, their hopes of survival and the fact that the game was one step not the whole journey.

Lessons for SFP or just a reminder of some basic principles?

Your thoughts?

All the best for the year ahead.

Steve

Steve Freeman

National Development Officer UKASFP

P.S. Blogs? Have to say I’m in awe of people who post fantastic material to their blogs week in week out. How do they do it?