Learn Clean Language

Intro Class: May 4th – 5th, 2010
Advanced Class: May 6th – 8th, 2010

What is Clean Language?

“Clean Language is a communications methodology, developed by David J Grove, a New Zealand Counselling Psychologist, during the 1980s and 1990s. While initially used in clinical therapy, Clean Language offers helpful techniques to all professional communicators, especially those working closely with others. Clean Language techniques are aligned closely with modern enabling principles of empathy, and understanding, as opposed to traditional manipulative conscious or unconscious methods of influence and persuasion and the projection of self-interest. Clean Language helps people to convey their own meaning, free of emotional or other distracting interpretation from others. As such Clean Language promotes better clarity of communications, neutrality and objectivity absence of emotional spin, bias and prejudice, ease of understanding, and cooperative productive relationships.” ~ from http://www.businessballs.com/clean_language.htm.

To learn more visit: USA Training in Clean Language & Symbolic Modelling: May 2010

The basic clean language questions (established by David Grove)

In these questions, X and Y represent the person’s words (or non-verbals)

Developing Questions

“(And) what kind of X (is that X)?”

“(And) is there anything else about X?”

“(And) where is X? or (And) whereabouts is X?”

“(And) that’s X like what?”

“(And) is there a relationship between X and Y?”

“(And) when X, what happens to Y?”

Sequence and Source Questions

“(And) then what happens? or (And) what happens next?”

” (And) what happens just before X?”

“(And) where could X come from?”

Intention Questions

“(And) what would X like to have happen?”

“(And) what needs to happen for X?”

“(And) can X (happen)?”

The first two questions: “What kind of X (is that X)?” and “Is there anything else about X?” are the most commonly used.

As a general guide, these two questions account for around 50% of the questions asked in a typical Clean Language session.

~ Questions from: http://www.businessballs.com/clean_language.htm

To learn more visit: USA Training in Clean Language & Symbolic Modelling: May 2010

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