How can you find out what your team members are really thinking and feeling? Clean Language could help

1. Known
Knowns
Known
Unknowns
Unknown
Knowns
Unknown
Unknowns

2. What are you going to tell people
about this conference?
Make a couple of notes, if you like

4. This is not about…
• Not swearing
• Speaking or writing more clearly
• “Clean” programming language
• NLP “clean language” (related, but not the same)

5. What’s “Clean Language”?
• A precision inquiry technique
• Designed for exploring the metaphors which
underpin people’s thinking and which drive
their behaviour
• Created by David Grove 1950-2008
• Open source
• Ripe for exaptation

6. For you, this conference was
like… what?
There’s no right or wrong answer –
whatever comes to mind is fine

8. Quick Clean Language
Ask only at the start:
• For you, this conference was like… what?
Then ask in any order, as many times as you like:
• What kind of X?
• Is there anything else about X?
“X” represents one or more of their words

10. What did you notice when you
were being asked the questions?

11. Clean Language Elements
• Paying attention – listening, noticing
• Directing attention – questioning
• Appreciating uniqueness – modelling
• Can work with metaphor, or not

12. Metaphor…
• Describes one thing in terms of another
• Specifically, describes the abstract in terms of
the familiar
– “Love is like a bottle of gin, but a bottle of gin is
not like love”
• Condenses information
• Involves both sides of the brain – plus the
heart and gut brains

13. How could you use this?
• Discuss specific ideas
• Practice asking Clean Language questions
about ordinary stuff
Ask in any order, as many times as you like:
• What kind of X?
• Is there anything else about X?

14. Clean Language Results
• At Liverpool John Moore’s University:
– one tutor group of 9 people all got Firsts
– proportion of Firsts or 2.1 went from 49% to 75%
• Amphora
• Agile coaches across Europe

15. And when, for you, this conference
was like that, what would you like to
have happen next?
• What kind of X?
• Is there anything else about X?

16. Where To Learn More
• Go to judyrees.co.uk for
a free ebook
• Join Olaf Lewitz and me
on a two-day workshop
http://bit.ly/2neatIQ

17. What difference does knowing all
of this make?
What will you tell people about this
conference now?
judyrees.co.uk @judyrees