The same topic, on the agenda quarter after quarter. I help teams in healthcare and education get rid of it.

I am Frank Campman, trainer-coach and developer of Issue-Focused Working (VGW, from the Dutch Vraagstukgericht Werken). Teams solve before they understand; I reverse that order. First the complete picture, then the opinion, then the judgment, and only then the decision. Eight steps, always in the same order, in your own practice and on your own issues. I work in English and in Dutch.

Schedule an exploratory conversationWhat I do for your team

Grown out of three and a half years of practice-based research in more than 500 facilitated team sessions in Dutch long-term care (nursing homes, residential care, and home care), and set down in my book Stop Solving. Certified partner of Vraagstuk Studio, the home of the method and of Metis.

“New colleagues get three different instructions from three colleagues.”
“Everyone thought the list of working agreements was fine. Nobody uses it.”
“At night you never know what your colleague is doing.”
“The waiting times are on the agenda for the third quarter running.”
Statements from a Team Pulse (step 1: everyone first writes down for themselves what is going on), as in the Lindehoven Care Group case in the book. That is how every issue begins: with what is on people’s minds, before anyone names a solution.

What brings you here?

  • I am an executive, manager, team leader, or HR professional and my teams are stuck on something that keeps coming back.Facilitation of teams and management teams, a talk or a workshop, with or without Metis, the AI colleague of Vraagstuk Studio that guards the process.Facilitation
  • I am reading along with a proposal and want to know exactly what we get.How a program runs, what I do and do not do, and what it asks of you.What you can expect
  • I will soon be in an Issue-Focused Working session and want to know what to expect.What happens, what I ask of you, and what does not happen.For team members
  • I first want to see for myself what is going on in my team.Fifteen free tools: eight three-minute reflection tools, an advice on whether the method fits you, a project-start check for project and program managers, the team safety measurement, and the four measurement instruments.Tools and downloads
  • I am looking for the book, the workbook, or a speaker.Stop Solving, the workbook, and talks on the book and the articles.Book and speaker
  • I want to learn to facilitate this myself.The VGW Practitioner and VGW Professional training program, through Vraagstuk Studio.The training program

Talking about the work is not the same as working on the issue

In many teams and management teams I see the same pattern. Updates are shared, concerns voiced, actions put on a list. Three weeks later nothing has come of it and the topic is on the agenda again. The loudest voice or the most cautious tone decides the outcome, not the best argument.

That is not a people problem but a structure problem. Teams do not hold on to the order from picture to decision by themselves, not even with a good chair. Issue-Focused Working is the structure that holds that order in place, and that structure only really works once it becomes the team’s own. In healthcare and education that counts double: meeting time there literally comes at the expense of time for clients and students.

The method, step by step
  1. 1Team Pulse
  2. 2Issue
  3. 3Picture-forming
  4. 4Opinion-forming
  5. 5Judgment-forming
  6. 6Decision-making
  7. 7Action
  8. 8Team Pitstop

The four steps with the gold edge are the core: picture, opinion, judgment, decision. That order is what most meetings skip.

What executives, managers, and teams say

The first few times it took effort, but the moment you get it, you reach the right conversation very quickly. It teaches staff to approach an issue from as many perspectives as possible.Anja Stunnenberg, executive, Markenheem
The solution is often the simple end result of a carefully mapped issue. Frank Campman creates that clarity by training teams in asking judgment-free, sincere questions.Annette Kroon, HR advisor, Directzorg
What characterizes Frank Campman’s facilitation is that he is open, listens well, and adjusts the approach where needed. His stance lets people dare to be vulnerable.Mieke Zemmelink, executive, Azora
We want to become a self-managing organization. Issue-Focused Working is a fine method for having a real conversation with one another and for letting the undercurrent and the surface communicate.Eelco Wobben, care manager, Thuisteam Twente

What it delivers, and what I do and do not say about that

Decisions that still stand months later, because the whole team formed and endorsed them. Actions with an owner and an agreed moment of reporting back. Team members who know they have been heard. And for you as executive or manager: sight of patterns across teams, through the key points of the Current Shared Picture (the one overview of where an issue stands), without extra reporting.

Retaining people, less absenteeism, and better output are not goals; they come as a bonus. In my book I present what the method delivers as a direction, not as a proven result, and I set my own claims beside the research literature, including where the literature argues against them. Whoever promises you numbers does not speak for me. Within each organization we follow the direction with the measurement instruments.

“What drives me: meaningful work for people and organizations. Less bullshit work in team meetings. Better collaboration. Real decisions. Visible learning.”Frank Campman

About me

Metis, my digital colleague during the session

As your trainer-coach I facilitate the sessions myself. If your organization opts for a Metis subscription, Metis is there too: the AI colleague of Vraagstuk Studio that guards the order and holds on to what was discovered, decided, and agreed. Without a Metis subscription I work with the same method, on paper or digitally.

How I work with Metis
Healthcare and educationthe sectors I work in myself; other sectors through certified partners
500+ team sessionsin the practice-based research in Dutch long-term care, from which the method grew
Certified partnerof Vraagstuk Studio, the home of the method and Metis