What If We Worked on What Works?

What If We Worked on What Works?

The question that changed the way I see students, and the way I hope schools begin seeing them, too.

I remember sitting across from a student who had spent more time in the assistant principal's office than in class that week.

By the time they reached my office, they had already been described as defiant, disrespectful, and unmotivated. Every conversation before mine had centered on what was wrong and how to fix it.

As school counselors, we often inherit students after everyone else has exhausted their ideas. Somehow, we're expected to "fix" them.

Instead of asking about the referral, I asked a different question.

"Tell me about a class where things go just a little better."

The room became quiet.

The student looked at me with genuine surprise, as if no one had ever asked that question before.

Then they smiled.

"Well...science isn't usually that bad."

That single question changed the direction of our conversation.

Not because the problem disappeared.

But because, for the first time that day, we weren't talking about failure; we were talking about possibility.

Why did that question matter?

Why was the student surprised?

Because they expected another adult to focus on what was wrong.

Instead, someone became curious about what was already working.

Schools Are Really Good at Finding Problems

Have you ever completed a behavior rating scale, a Section 504 input form, or a special education questionnaire?

I've noticed something interesting when teachers complete these forms.

The sections describing a student's struggles are usually filled out quickly and with great detail.

Then they reach the section labeled Strengths.

Suddenly, there's a pause.

People think.

Sometimes they even ask, "What should I put here?"

That moment isn't a criticism of teachers. It's a reflection of the systems we've built.

Schools collect data every single day. We monitor attendance, discipline referrals, missing assignments, failing grades, behavior incidents, assessment scores, and intervention needs. We are trained to identify gaps because our job is to close them.

There is tremendous value in that work.

But somewhere along the way, many of us became experts at identifying what students can't do while unintentionally overlooking what they already can.

What if we became just as intentional about noticing strengths as we are about documenting struggles?

That question has become the foundation of my work as a school counselor.

My Journey to This Question

My path to becoming a school counselor wasn't a straight line.

After graduating from high school with my cosmetology license, I convinced my dad to support a completely different dream: joining the military. I spent the next twelve years serving in military intelligence, where I learned lessons about leadership, teamwork, and resilience that continue to shape who I am today.

During those years, I married my husband and became the mother of two incredible children.

Then life changed unexpectedly.

While my husband was deployed, I learned I would be medically retired from the military. It wasn't part of my plan, and suddenly I found myself asking a question so many people eventually face:

"What's next?"

That answer led me to teaching.

Teaching led me to school counseling.

School counseling led me to doctoral studies.

And doctoral studies led me to discover Solution-Focused Brief Therapy.

The more I learned, the more I realized I hadn't found something entirely new; I had rediscovered a philosophy that had quietly followed me throughout my life.

In the military, we were taught never to bring a problem without also bringing a possible solution. We were expected to develop the people around us, preparing them to become tomorrow's leaders. That meant constantly looking for strengths and building upon them.

Looking back, I realize that every chapter of my career has taught me the same lesson:

People grow faster when we build on their strengths than when we dwell on their weaknesses.

Why We Naturally Focus on Problems

Our brains are designed to notice problems.

Schools are designed to solve problems.

Counselors are often called because of problems.

None of those things are inherently bad.

But together they can create an unintended culture where students begin believing they are the problem instead of simply having a problem.

Adults begin feeling responsible for fixing students.

Students begin waiting for adults to fix them.

Before long, both sides become stuck in a cycle of frustration.

Relationships weaken.

Stress increases.

Learning suffers.

A Different Question Changes Everything

When I say, "What if we worked on what works?", I'm not suggesting we ignore difficult behaviors or pretend problems don't exist.

Little Johnny still needs boundaries.

The student who skips class still needs accountability.

The teacher dealing with constant disruptions still deserves support.

Working on what works simply means we begin somewhere different.

Instead of asking only,

• What's wrong?

• Why did this happen?

• How do we stop this?

  
  

we also ask,

• What's already helping?

• When is the problem smaller?

• Who believes in this student?

• What strengths are we overlooking?

• What would success look like tomorrow?

  
  

Those questions transform us into detectives looking for exceptions rather than prosecutors building a case.

Imagine assigning the employee who dreads public speaking to present at every parent night while ignoring the teammate who thrives in front of an audience. It wouldn't make sense.

Yet we often do something similar with students.

We spend enormous amounts of time trying to fix weaknesses while overlooking strengths that could become the foundation for growth.

Growth doesn't begin by pretending weaknesses don't exist.

Growth begins by helping students recognize they are more than those weaknesses.

Changing the Conversation

Sometimes the smallest changes in language create the biggest changes in relationships.

Traditional Conversation	Solution-Focused Conversation
What's wrong?	What's going well?
Why did you do that?	What were you hoping would happen?
How do we stop this?	What would make tomorrow just a little better?
What's the consequence?	What's the next small step?

These aren't just different questions.

They're different beliefs.

One conversation searches for deficits.

The other searches for possibilities.

One conversation asks students to defend themselves.

The other invites them to participate in their own growth.

That's where school culture begins to change; one conversation at a time.

What Research and Students Continue to Teach Me

Decades of research on Solution-Focused Brief Therapy suggest that meaningful change often begins by identifying strengths, exceptions, and future possibilities rather than spending all of our time analyzing problems. Students are more likely to engage when they experience hope, autonomy, and collaborative goal-setting.

I've seen this play out countless times.

One student was failing English Language Arts but doing exceptionally well in Social Studies.

Instead of asking why they were failing English, I asked what was different about Social Studies.

The student paused.

No one had ever asked them that before.

Together, we discovered that the Social Studies teacher posted a daily visual checklist of tasks. That checklist helped the student stay organized and complete assignments independently. In English, directions were given verbally, making it much harder for the student to keep up.

Rather than creating another counseling intervention, the student and I approached the English teacher together. We asked if they would be willing to provide a simple visual checklist for class while the student committed to completing each task.

They both agreed.

The next class went better.

Then the one after that.

Eventually, something even more important happened.

The student learned to advocate for what they needed.

The teacher learned to ask, "What worked today?"

Later, that same teacher shared another story with me. A student who normally failed every test had finally passed one. Instead of celebrating and moving on, the teacher sat down with the student and asked, "What was different this time?"

That's the culture I'm talking about.

Not fixing students.

Helping students discover what already works, and doing more of it.

Try It Tomorrow

Before your next conversation with a student, consider asking one of these questions:

• What's one thing that's gone just a little better this week?

• Who notices when you're having a good day?

• What are you already doing that's helping?

• Suppose tomorrow was just a little easier. What would be different?

  
  

You may be surprised by the answers.

More importantly, your students might be surprised by the questions.

One Final Thought

Remember the student who walked into my office carrying a week's worth of discipline referrals?

Our conversation didn't solve everything.

It didn't erase the behavior.

It didn't magically change the circumstances.

But it did something just as important.

For a few moments, that student wasn't defined by a referral, a behavior chart, or someone else's opinion.

They were seen as someone who already possessed strengths worth noticing.

Schools will always have problems to solve.

Students will always need support.

But perhaps the greatest change begins when we stop asking only what's wrong and start noticing what's already working.

Because every student has a story that is bigger than their struggle.

And maybe...

What if we worked on what works?