Daniel Meier.
Effective coaching: sometimes six minutes is enough Daniel Meier has been a successful coach for 18 years and runs Solutionsurfers®, a leading global institute for the solution-focused coaching approach. The stories Meier tells are anything but dry and sometimes even he is surprised by how quickly positive and long-lasting change can happen.
feel they are already benefitting after the first session and that they start to approach their goal with a sense of selfresponsibility.
TEXT: MARILENA STRACKE I PHOTOS: SOLUTIONSURFERS®
Recently, Solutionsurfers® has been receiving more requests from companies, which want to train their executives in brief coaching: “Today, where many companies have to reinvent themselves, the solution-focused approach seems to be highly effective. It’s a very pragmatic and impactful approach and it also brings more ease and appreciation into everyday life.”
As a master certified coach of the International Coach Federation (ICF), author of multiple coaching textbooks and founder of the global training institute Solutionsurfers®, Meier can look back over a very successful career. But even after 3,500 coaching hours, the expert sometimes still faces new challenges and surprises. For example, there has been a client, who found the solution for her issue after just six minutes - which even Meier found surprising. The top manager was very worried about her ten-year-old daughter. “I was profoundly touched in that situation,” Meier remembers. “In front of me was this ‘tough’ manager, who led a depart110 | Issue 80 | November 2019
ment with 50 employees in an international company and the subject she wants to discuss with me is so very private.” Thanks to the solution- and resourceorientated questions of the coach, the client was able to have a break-through regarding her emotionally stressful situation after just six minutes. Meier is convinced that the clients are competent and experienced enough to develop their very own individual solutions: “The central success aspect for solution-focused coaching is to recognise the client as the true expert: expert for his goal, his path and his solution.” Of course, it’s not usually that fast. But it should always be the aim that clients
It’s fascinating to listen to Meier’s stories about his exciting work and it’s not surprising that Solutionsurfers® is now represented in 12 countries across four continents.
Daniel.meier@solutionsurfers.com www.solutionsurfers.ch www.solutionsurfers.com