He explained: “I suddenly had much greater focus. I had had balls in the air all over the place, but after the session everything started to happen automatically. It seemed to release a lot of energy, and I had clarity of purpose. And the ideas haven’t stopped flowing since!”

Initially the session had seemed awkward and rather stilted. Steve was preoccupied with a workshop he was due to run later that day, and was quite irritated by the unusual questions. But Mary kept on asking them, and developing her own mind map of the answers he gave. And suddenly, something changed.

Steve said: “I can’t remember quite what question she asked but it was something about the purpose of the business. And then I had this vision of my late father and I said: ‘Oh my God!’ I got very emotional for a few minutes.

“The thing was I had just realised why I was doing the work I was doing – as a memorial to my Dad. It was always going to be in his honour, to prove to people that there is more to life than bog-standard employment.

“I had originally set up the business on the anniversary of his birth and somehow over the years I had forgotten that it was to do with my Dad. I’d got involved in the classic goal-focussed coaching stuff, attracting the right target market and so on. And suddenly it was like, ‘No, actually that’s not fundamental. What I am actually doing is to help people to change their lives.’

“That realisation has unlocked all this pent-up, misdirected energy. Before, I couldn’t see the wood for the trees in my business. Understanding my true purpose helped me to change my focus. Now I know what I am really looking to achieve, and so it’s much clearer what I need to do.”

Steve Preston can be contacted via his company’s website, www.smp-solutions.co.uk

Steve Preston

Ever since David Grove inspired others to use clean language in therapy, its uses in other disciplines have been evident. For many coaches, clean language is little more than a collection of 12 helpful and logical questions. Yet as Sullivan and Rees illustrate, it is much more a state of mindfulness. By purging his or her own language of content, metaphor or other baggage, the coach enables the client to explore and learn about their own inner worlds, to see and make choices and to reaffirm their own identity.

With the possible exception of the discussion on modelling, all of the guidance and technique in this book is “clean” in the sense that it is specific, unambiguous and encourages the reader to make their own meaning from the concepts rather than absorb the authors’. The book builds on the basic questions, showing how to adapt them in various situations and adding further techniques when required. The FAQ section is particularly helpful.

David Clutterbuck
www.clutterbuckassociates.co.uk

Hans-Peter asked: “And when you think about the future after the strategy workshop and everything works like you want.
And we have a main objective of the workshop.
And you don’t want to have it like it is now…
… Then what happens ?”

(implicitly:
And you want to get a higher quality of work from your supplier.
And the supplier wants to satisfy you as his client.
And you have decided already to workshop together.
And you want to lift the relationship with your supplier on a new level.)

Client:
- “I see my employee Mr. X in a very active, communicative relationship to our key supplier, and they seem to be very satified and familiar with each other.
- I see myself and the regional head of the supplier’s company in a meeting once a year. We are very relaxed, lounging in our chairs and asking ourselves, “What would we like to do next?”
- I see another of our employees, Mr. Y, in a very proactive dialogue with Mr. E, one of our supplier’s employes, and the two of them have their business in very good shape, managing it perfectly.
- I see a wonderful meadow in the summer with colourful flowers in the sun.”

Hans-Peter:
“And you see Mr. X in a very active, communicative relationship to your supplier,
and you see you and the regional head meeting once a year, very relaxed and lounging,
and you see Mr. Y in a very pro-active dialogue to Mr. E, having their business in a very good shape,
and you see a wonderful meadow in the summer
and when you see all of this. That… is … like… what …?”

Client:
“It is like Christmas and Easter Event at the same time. It is a firework of joy. ”

Hans-Peter:
“And it is like Christmas and Easter Event at the same time,
and a firework of joy,
and when Christmas and Easter Event at the same time and a firework of joy,
what is the main objective of this workshop?”

Client:
“A commitment of the supplier to the philosophy of ‘my customer is my partner for our common success’.”

“You feel your mind is like a plate of glass and you are desperately trying to hold it together. You are conscious of something being wrong. And everything that you do to try and get it back into what you imagine is some even keel is just making it worse. And then it just sort of cracks, it just shatters, and inside your head you feel this explosion goes off…”

We use metaphor easily and naturally to communicate complex ideas, because we’re hardwired to think in metaphor, and to understand other people’s ideas from their metaphors. It’s as if metaphor is the native language of the mind.

And there’s more to discover. Clean Language uses the casual, superficial metaphors that occur naturally in language to discover the hidden depths of our thought processes, to bring them into the light of awareness, and, where relevant, to help them to change.

Child one: “He punched me in the face and it hurt and I don’t like it.”

Child two: “Well it was an accident and anyway, he kicked my leg and I told him
to stop and he kept kicking and it hurt my leg.”

Julie: “And… he punched you in the face and it hurt and you don’t like it.
And when… he punched and it hurt and you don’t like it…
what would you like to have happen?”

Child one: “I want him to stop punching me.”

Julie: “And… you want him to stop punching you.”
Julie (to child two): “And… it was an accident and he kicked your leg and you told him to stop and he kept kicking and it hurt your leg.
And when… accident and he kept kicking and it hurt your leg… what would you like to have happen?”

Child two: THE TEACHER TELLS US OFF!!

Julie: “And… the teacher tells you off.
And when… the teacher tells you off…
what would you LIKE to have happen?”

Child two: “I want us to play nicely.”

Julie (to child one): “And… you want him to stop punching you…
And when… stop punching you…
then what happens?”

Child one: “We can still play Starwars but we don’t get punched and stuff.”

Julie: “And… you can still play Starwars but you don’t get punched and stuff…
And when… you play Starwars and you don’t get punched and stuff…
then what happens?”

Child one: “Well we can play Starwars and it’s fun.”

Julie (to Child one): “And… you can play Starwars and it’s fun…“
(to Child two) “And… you want ‘us’ (looking at both of them) to play nicely…
And… what needs to happen for ‘play Starwars’, ‘fun’, ‘play nicely’?”

Child two: “We can pretend to fight and not really hit and that’s playing nicely.”

Child one: “Yeah, we can pretend to use light sabers and go whaaa, whaaa, whaaa
so we can do pretend attack with light sabers and get them like that (demonstrates
‘pretend capturing’) then we won’t get hurt.”

Julie: “And… playing nicely and pretend and light sabers
And… can that happen?”

Both children began talking at the same time saying:
“Yes… we can have light sabers and just pretend, whaaa, whaaa…”

At this point Julie gestured (a palms up ‘French shrugging’ gesture) and they both
went off to play nicely, capturing each other and using imaginary light sabers
And… Julie had missed a wonderful opportunity to TELL THEM OFF!

One way in which Clean is used with groups is in team alignment events, to help a team come up with a shared metaphor for working well together. The process might look something like this:

This application demonstrates how basic Clean Language and the ideas which underpin it can be used with teams, and it’s just one idea among many that are being explored and experimented with worldwide. What’s best for a given situation depends upon the team and its desired outcome. What’s clear is that Clean can profitably be used with groups in a huge variety of different situations.

This is an extract from Clean Language: Revealing Metaphors and Opening Minds, due out in November 2008

1- 3 December: Module 4 Space for Success

8 - 10 December: Module 8 Self Delusion, Self Deceit & Self Denial

2009 Highlights

31 January-2 February: Symbolic Modelling in Australia (see www.cleanlanguage.co.uk)

10-12 May: Module 5 Modelling Universaly

14-16 May: Module 6 Modelling Uniquely

18-19 May: Certification Masterclass

17 - 30 July Clean Summer School

8-10 September: Module 7 Binds & Double Binds

12-13 September: Clean Conference 2009

15-17 September: Module 8 Self Delusion, Self Deceit & Self Denial

In this issue: Clean Article: Using Clean in the Outplacement Process
Clean Language at IASH
First Symbolic Modelling Workshop in Australia: 31 Jan - 2 Feb 2009
Cleaning Tip: From a map into space
Metaphor and Movement
Clean grows in Holland
Clean Business Exchange: 19 & 20 November 2008, West London
Now it’s easier to become a Clean ‘Jedi’ in 2009

Clean Article: Using Clean in the Outplacement Process
Turmoil in the markets, credit crunch, rumours of redundancies… it seems only fitting that this month’s featured article is about Using Clean in the Outplacement Process. Originally written as part of a project proposal, perhaps it will spark ideas for other ways you can use Clean effectively in these difficult economic times.

The article is among a stack of new content recently added to www.cleanchange.co.uk as part of a relaunch of the site, which now includes a full ’search’ function and a regular blog. Why not check it out?

Clean Language at IASH
Clean Language was introduced at the largest NLP conference in the USA this month. Shawn Carson, a New York-based Certified Clean Facilitator and a participant at last year’s Clean Summer School, was one of the speakers at IASH, the Institute for Advanced Studies of Health, in San Francisco. You can read details of his presentation, his powerpoint slides and the handouts which accompanied his presentation here.

First Symbolic Modelling Workshop in Australia: 31 Jan - 2 Feb 2009
Penny Tompkins and James Lawley, developers of Symbolic Modelling (including the Clean Language of David Grove) will be giving the first Australian workshop in Sydney: Metaphors in Mind — Personal change through the new science of emergence.

Please visit the webpage for the event on www.cleanlanguage.co.uk for details. For any further questions feel free to contact either Zannie Barrett at OZ@cleanlanguage.co.uk or Judy Baker, Sydney.

Cleaning Tip: From a map into space
If you begin a session with a client’s drawing or diagram (a ‘map’ in Clean jargon), it’s helpful to both you and the client to get things placed in ‘real’ space. When you can refer to the client’s landscape by gesturing to their symbols around them, in three-dimensional space instead of on their map, it is more likely that the client will start to experience their landscape as being real, rather than talk about it. And as this happens, there is a much greater likelihood that the client’s three-dimensional experience in the session will translate into changes in their life.

Once the client has described their map, ask them a location question about one of the symbols on the map, while indicating the space around them by a sweeping gesture or glance. Do the same with other symbols on the map. Then stop looking at the map yourself, and start looking at the locations of symbols in space whenever you mention them. This will encourage the client to continue the work in the three-dimensional environment in and around them.

Taken from Wendy Sullivan and Judy Rees’s new book, Clean Language, Revealing Metaphors and Opening Minds

Metaphor and Movement
Jennifer de Gandt and Lynn Bullock and are to stage a workshop which combines Clean and the Feldenkrais Method to explore stress and habits. The ‘Metaphor and Movement’ event, hosted by Philip Harland, takes place in London on 2-3 October. Details at www.powersofsix.com/seminars.php.

Clean grows in Holland
This summer’s magazine coverage has raised the profile of Clean Language in Holland. As a result, more and more people are interested in getting hands-on experience. Extra trainings are being planned for 2009, and for those who have already started, November will see the first ever Module 3 in Dutch, following straight on from Module 2. Find more information here or email Maaike at Maaike(at)gewoonaandeslag.nl.

Clean Business Exchange: 19 & 20 November 2008, West London
If you’re using, or planning to use, Clean Language/Symbolic Modelling in an organisation of any kind - whether as an employee, in your own business, or as an outside consultant - why not join us at the Clean Business Exchange? The Exchange is a powerful networking opportunity; we guarantee an infusion of new ideas, contacts, projects, and how to market all you’ve gained.

Confirmed speakers include Caitlin Walker, Carol Wilson, Lynne Cooper, Wendy Sullivan, Judy Rees and Annemiek van Helsdingen.

It’s possible to come for one or both days. Reserve here, or for more information email Margaret Meyer, margaret(at)cleanchange.co.uk.

Now it’s easier to become a Clean ‘Jedi’ in 2009
As Clean Language and Symbolic Modelling has become an increasingly international field, with people joining Summer School from all over the world, we’ve been under pressure to make our calendar of Advanced Modules (dubbed the ‘Jedi Modules’ by participants) more accessible to people from overseas. We’ve responded for 2009. Modules 5 and 6 will take place in a single week in May, with a day between them and a Certification Masterclass immediately afterwards. And Modules 7 and 8 will take place in September, with Clean Conference sandwiched between them.

This pattern is likely to be a very intense experience for participants, since personal development is always a big part of the learning on these courses. So this is an experiment - the same pattern may not be repeated in future.

To join the Jedi Modules, you will need to have completed Modules 1 - 4 of Clean Change Company’s programme, or an equivalent with another organisation, but need not have completed Foundation-level Certification. The next Modules 1 - 3 take place from 9 - 15 October and the next Module 4, 1 - 3 December, both in West London.

Participant Celia Burns said: “I’m on the edge of my seat wondering what I’m going to learn next!”

Alongside the skill-building and personal development, we’ve been making sure there’s time for fun too - see below for a Clean game to try with friends. Judy Rees

In this issue:
Try Clean for yourself, by phone or face-to-face in London
Cleaning Tip: Speed Clean
Clean Language book to launch in November
Success Story: Clean in a grievance procedure
All change on the website
Conference recordings now available

Try Clean for yourself, by phone or face-to-face in London

Back by popular demand, Wendy Sullivan and Judy Rees will be running one of their famous taster teleseminars on 9 September, at 7pm UK time. The call is a great way to experience Clean Language for yourself, and to question Wendy and Judy about all things Clean. Book your place here. The normal price is £10, but as a newsletter reader you can claim a f’ree place by using the discount code NL0409

Judy and Wendy are delighted to have been asked to stage a one-day public workshop on Clean Language for the long-running London personal development group Alternatives. Why not join them on 1 November? Full details are at the Alternatives website.

Cleaning Tip: Speed Clean
Here’s a fun way for you and a partner to get familiar with the most common Clean Language questions. To start with, both of you need to think about a hobby or pastime you enjoy.

Begin your ‘turn’ by asking your partner the un-Clean question: “What hobby or pastime do you enjoy?” You then have a couple of minutes to find out more about it, using only three of David Grove’s most useful Clean Language questions:
- (And) is there anything else about X?
- (And) what kind of X (is that X)?
- (And) where is X? or And whereabouts is X?
and your partner’s own words.

The questions can be asked several times, in any order, about any aspect of what your partner has said. After two or three minutes, swap roles and see what you find!

Clean Language book to launch in November
The new book by Wendy Sullivan and Judy Rees, Clean Language: Revealing Metaphors and Opening Minds is due to be launched at the NLP Conference in London in November. If you’d like to be there to celebrate with us, go to www.nlpconference.co.uk. And you can pre-order through Amazon.

Success Story: Clean in a grievance procedure
An NHS director in Lancashire found he was able to use his recently-acquired Clean skills when he chaired a grievance procedure for the first time. Read the full story.

Many thanks to Caitlin Walker of www.trainingattention.co.uk for this story. You can check Caitlin out on YouTube here.

All change on the website
When you visit www.cleanchange.co.uk you may notice some changes! We’re working to make the site more user-friendly so that articles and other content can be found more easily, and to add extra features such as a regular blog. During the changeover some content may be unavailable for a time, but we think the results will be worthwhile.

The online store is unaffected by these changes, so if you need a pack of Clean Change Cards to take with you on holiday, don’t hesitate

Conference recordings now available
The first recording from Clean Conference is now available from our website. It features NLP modeller and innovator Charles Faulkner with his own fresh look at the Clean Language questions. To download this and other Clean audio files, go to the website.

Some convenient places to stay (with B+B prices as at October 2008) include:

Forest Road B+B
34 Forest Road, Kew, Surrey TW9 3BZ
020 8332 6289
approx £25

Holiday Inn Brentford Lock
High Street, Brentford, Middlesex TW8 8JZ
020 8232 2000
approx £129

Premier Travel Inn
52 High St, Brentford TW8 0BB
0870-990 6304
approx £69 - £83

Travelodge Kew Bridge
North Road/High Street, Brentford TW8 0BD
0870 0850950
from £29

Kew Gardens Hotel
292 Sandycombe Rd, Richmond TW9 3NG
020 89402220
approx £90

The Swan Private Guest House
17 Thornton Avenue, Chiswick, London W4 1QE
0208 994 2870
approx £30

They will not be formally training Symbolic Modelling, but will be giving a short workshop to:

· Demonstrate Symbolic Modelling and Clean Language

· Answer your questions on the model and the process

· Provide Clean Language questions for you to experience the process for yourself.

Outside the workshop, they will also be available to do private therapy sessions with individuals or for group work.

Their detailed schedule is still taking shape, but if you’d like to be kept informed as plans develop please email OZ(at)cleanlanguage.co.uk or call +44 (0)845 3 31 35 31 (UK office hours).
Judy Rees

In this issue:
Australia 2009:
Clean Language Goes ‘Down Under’
‘Big four’ success for Clean Language
Last call for Summer School 2008
Cleaning Tip: Tacking like a sailing boat towards a goal
New Clean Language book out this year
Another way to air your metaphors
Practice, practice, practice!
Clean at London NLP Conference
Article: Using Clean with large groups

Australia 2009: Clean Language Goes ‘Down Under’
Penny Tompkins and James Lawley, authors of Metaphors in Mind: Transformation through Symbolic Modelling will be in Sydney for 6 weeks in January/February 2009. They will be giving a workshop to:

- Demonstrate Symbolic Modelling and Clean Language
- Answer your questions on the model and the process
- Provide Clean Language questions for you to experience the
process for yourself.

They will also be available to do private therapy sessions with individuals or for group work. For more information as it becomes available please contact: OZ(at)cleanlanguage.co.uk or call 0845 3 31 35 31.

‘Big four’ success for Clean Language
More than 250 managers at Pricewaterhouse Coopers, one of the ‘big four’ accountancy firms have been introduced to Clean Language, and it’s gone down a storm!

Last call for Summer School 2008
Places are still available for the two-week intensive Clean training at one of the historic Colleges in Cambridge, UK, which takes beginners straight through to Certification as Clean Facilitators in the space of a fortnight (16 - 29 August). If you can’t attend the whole event, but don’t want to wait until the next London training in October, it’s also possible to book for one or more Modules in Cambridge.

Cleaning Tip: Tacking like a sailing boat towards a goal
When you’re asking Clean Language questions it’s worth asking yourself: “Where would I like my client to be in five minutes?” Obviously, we’d all like them to have achieved the outcome they desire in a single move! But failing that, rather than just asking about the last thing the client said, the best Clean facilitators choose a ‘tack’ (for example: ‘I am going to ask questions to elicit a sequence’). Unless something unexpected happens, they then keep their questions focussed on that single aspect for a few minutes before deciding where to head with their next five questions or so.

New Clean Language book out this year
The long-awaited beginner-level book on Clean Language is scheduled to be published in November. Clean Language: Revealing Metaphors and Opening Minds by Wendy Sullivan and Judy Rees aims to introduce Clean not just to coaches and therapists, but also to parents, teachers, managers and more. You can pre-order your copy (www.crownhouse.co.uk/index.php?page=productdetails&product_id=382) from Crown House.

Another way to air your metaphors
Want to have one (or possibly more) free Clean Language/Symbolic Modelling session with Penny Tompkins and James Lawley? We are looking for volunteers willing to be demonstration subjects for audio or DVD recording, and to sign a release for the recording to be used publicly. The recording will take place in or near Bath in England. If you are interested in participating, please call 0845 3 31 35 31.

Practice, practice, practice!
If you were inspired by last month’s Clean Conference to dust down your Clean Language questions, why not join a practice group? For example, the central London group meets in Piccadilly on the second Wednesday of the month. Find full details at our website. If you missed the
Conference, you’ll be pleased to hear that downloadable recordings of some sessions will be available from September onwards! Look out for information in our next newsletter.

Clean at London NLP Conference
Clean specialists Penny Tompkins, James Lawley and Wendy Sullivan are included in a top-quality line-up of presenters at this year’s NLP Conference from 7 to 9 November. Booking opened earlier this week: the event is usually full weeks in advance so you might want to move fast! Book here (www.nlpconference.co.uk/booking_first.php).

Using Clean with large groups
If you’ve been thinking of Clean as just a one-to-one process, think again! This newly-published article (www.cleanlanguage.co.uk/articles/articles/216/1/Self-Organising-Systems—Findhorn/Page1.html)tells the story of how Clean was used with a group of 80 people at the Findhorn community in Scotland.

"I am an American, but I have lived most of my life in Britain. For 18 years I was a director of a company manufacturing oil field equipment, with sales offices world-wide. Attendance at a 12-step program unexpectedly triggered a train of events that resulted in me leaving the company, leaving my marriage, and embarking on a journey of intense self-discovery."

James:

"I was enjoying the benefits of being a senior manager in the British telecommunications industry until the day I realised that becoming a more successful businessman was not my life purpose.

" I left business and set off on a year’s travel which included joining an expedition to look for undiscovered Mayan temples in the jungle of Belize! To my surprise I discovered a long-hidden sense of my spiritual self.

Penny:

"Our paths crossed in 1991 while studying a form of applied psychology called neuro-linguistic programming and we began a personal and professional partnership. We became psychotherapists registered with the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) through the Neuro-Linguistic Psychotherapy and Counselling Association (NLPtCA) in 1993 and established a private practice in London."

James:

"In 1995, Penny’s intuition to seek out a therapist called David Grove — originator of Clean Language and pioneer in the therapeutic use of client-generated metaphor — was yet another turning point. This started a five-year research project, culminating in the publication of our first book, Metaphors in Mind: Transformation through Symbolic Modelling and the training video, A Strange and Strong Sensation."

We asked them, “When you’re working at your best in a challenging situation, you are like what?”

One man felt like he was in a fog, searching for the door - but once he found the door he had the world in his hands. Another felt like a bear, climbing a tree as people took potshots at him. And a woman saw herself as Gadget Girl, with a ’social worker’ gadget and a ‘mum’ gadget and a whole range of other gadgets which she could use to suit various situations.

Which of these would you choose to stay on your downsized team? Judy Rees

We deliver the most comprehensive training publicly available, which attracts students from around the world. Our students are now using their skills on five continents, in a huge range of different contexts.

Our programme includes a 10-day foundation training in Clean Language and Symbolic Modelling, leading to Certified Clean Facilitator status, and an advanced programme featuring the latest developments in the field.

In the business world, our services include team communication development, executive coaching and training managers as coaches.

We worked closely with the founder of the Clean Language field, the late David Grove. Penny Tompkins and James Lawley, authors of Metaphors in Mind, train on our advanced courses and assess our students for accreditation as Certified Clean Facilitators.

We are the authors of Clean Language: Revealing Metaphors and Opening Minds, due out in November 2008 and the creators of Clean Change Cards.

We are based in Isleworth, West London and offer our services worldwide.

• Read more about company founder and director Wendy Sullivan and fellow director Judy Rees.
• Sign up for our Newsletter
• Contact us
• Read acknowledgments
• Read terms of business (inc Shipping and Returns)
• Read website Ts + Cs

Formal information

Clean Change Company Ltd. 

Registered Number: 04040558

Registered Office: 18 Byfield Road, Isleworth, Middx TW7 7AF

VAT Registration Number: GB 836964775

You will learn in a relatively small group - normally up to a couple of dozen participants - supported by a good ratio of qualified assistants.

Lead trainer Wendy Sullivan loves to pack value into her courses. As an expert in accelerated learning techniques, she prefers activities to lectures, so you will spend plenty of time ‘doing’. If theory is important to you, expect to read outside workshop time.

Facilitation exercises are your chance to put what you are learning to the test as a facilitator, as well as a golden opportunity to develop yourself in the client role. Typically, you’ll work in a group of 2 (client and facilitator roles) or 3 (as for 2, but with an observer), and then the activity is repeated so each person experiences each role. A trainer or assistant will normally observe a small group, offering additional learning points as well as feedback and support.

Participants come from all walks of life: there will normally be some coaches, counsellors or therapists, but also a mixture of people with plans to use Clean in some other context - for example, teaching, market research, management or sales.

Most participants have tertiary eduction and a good proportion have some training in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) but neither of these are essential.

We live our metaphors. Someone who thinks their work team is like a Formula One pit crew will live their work very differently from someone whose team seems to them to be like a group of strolling musicians.

In fact, metaphors and stories are central to how we think, both consciously and unconsciously.

Politicians, salesmen, teachers and other persuaders are accustomed to using the metaphors they think up as a short-cut to influencing the unconscious mind.

But in Clean, we work with metaphors generated by the client themselves. People can discover and share information from below the level of their ordinary consciousness in a way that feels appropriate for them.

And these self-generated metaphors are powerful ‘persuaders’ which can help them to make the changes they desire for themselves, in ways which work for them.

One is simply to find out what’s going on for the person (for example, marketing guru Gerald Zaltman, author of ‘How Customers Think’ and ‘Marketing Metaphoria’ uses a Cleanish process to find out about customers’ metaphors for products).

Another is to model an expert, as discussed elsewhere.

A third is in a change process, for example coaching or therapy. The coach uses Clean Language questions to keep on exploring the metaphor, until things change. Typically the metaphor transforms, this transformation is isomorphic with a real-world change, and the client gets what they wanted: a change which fits them perfectly because it originates from their own system. (There is more skill to it than this, which is why we run training courses, but that’s the structure.)

There are a number of reasons you might want to elicit a person’s metaphors.

One is simply to find out what’s going on for the person (for example, marketing guru Gerald Zaltman, author of ‘How Customers Think’ and ‘Marketing Metaphoria’ uses a Cleanish process to find out about customers’ metaphors for products).

Another is to model an expert, as discussed in this thread.

A third is in a change process, for example coaching or therapy. The coach uses Clean Language questions to keep on exploring the metaphor, until things change. Typically the metaphor transforms, this transformation is isomorphic with a real-world change, and the client gets what they wanted: a change which fits them perfectly because it originates from their own system. (There is more skill to it than this, which is why we run training courses, but that’s the structure.)

2. Because it’s a very good way of getting clarification about what a person is talking about.

I’m guessing that you accept the idea that we all have our own unique map of the world. If I ask you to think of a flower, the kind you think about will not be the same as the kind I think about.

Imagine that I’m thinking of a rose, while you’re thinking of a sunflower.

Which is the more effective question for you to ask me:
a. “Is it a sunflower?”
b. “What kind of flower is your flower?”

There are probably some other reasons but those seem like the main ones to me.

They were designed to help him avoid ‘leading the witness’ by introducing his own assumptions into a session, and to help people to fully explore and develop their metaphors for their experience.

Symbolic Modelling, developed by Penny Tompkins and James Lawley, codified and extended David’s work. Their book about the process, Metaphors in Mind, was published in 2000.

As he developed his unique style of working with trauma victims, he focussed his attention on
1. How to make his questions ever ‘cleaner’, minimising the presuppositions and metaphors in the questions
2. Asking his questions about with the metaphors the person used spontaneously in their language.

As a result of a modelling project by NLPers Penny Tompkins and James Lawley, this was formalised into the 12-question system now generally referred to as Clean Language (cap C, cap L). For the full story, you need their book, Metaphors in Mind. Be aware that this is a pretty solid read with a therapy focus!

Basically, it turned out that the ‘cleaner’ the questions were, the more effective they were at eliciting metaphors. Metaphors casually used in language tend to be quite fleeting and out of conscious awareness, so jumping on them with big size nines doesn’t help.

But because they are out of conscious awareness, and therefore presumably generated by ‘the unconscious’ they provide vital information about what the person is really thinking, unconsciously.

Of course, no question can be completely clean. Charles Faulkner gave a very good talk on the presuppositions which remain in the standard Clean Language questions at the Clean Conference, which is available here.

Both client and facilitator use this to create their own dynamic models of whatever’s going on for the client, which in turn leads to further questioning.

In a context where change is wanted (eg coaching or therapy or a problemy business situation) the questioning process is used to develop a desired outcome (usually in the form of metaphor) and to find out how it may be achieved (often still in metaphor). Working at a metaphoric level often seems to allow the other-than-conscious system to make the necessary changes spontaneously. In other cases, the client gets a greater understanding of what’s going on and is able to discover new choice-points at which they can do something differently in future.

In contexts of modelling excellence, both client and facilitator find out more about how the client does something, in a form which is easily communicated to others – a metaphor.

It’s a great way to align your head, heart and gut - to harness the power of your unconscious mind to work towards the life you desire.

Metaphors have a profound influence on our behaviour and yet are usually outside our conscious awareness – we notice them as little as a fish notices the water it swims in. This is increasingly recognised by leading academics such as Steven Pinker and Gerald Zaltman (both of Harvard University).

Clean Language is a tried-and-tested method for bringing a person’s own metaphors into consciousness, improving inter- and intra-personal communication and with the potential for driving powerful, long-lasting change.

Effective in situations as diverse as psychotherapy and sales, school teaching and business management, coaching, complementary health and computing, and across different languages and cultures, it’s an approach which is catching on worldwide because of its profound impact.

"One of my team had reached a time when he wanted to move on to something new.  He wanted some clarity on what this new thing might be.  We had a first session using some NLP do elicit his values hierarchy, which gave him a set of criteria against which he could consider the job vacancies he found. 

"Subsequently he was uncertain about applying for a particular job he was interested in and asked if we could talk about this. 

"I used a few Clean questions - e.g. what kind of challenge is that new challenge? - and he spent some time reflecting and processing, during which he apologised saying "Sorry about all this rambling, I’m talking to myself really," which of course told me the questions were working! 

"He decided not to apply for that job and perhaps with a little synchronicity was approached by another manager a little while afterwards and invted to apply for vacancy on her team, doing a job very much closer to what the values and Clean work suggested would be congruent for him.  He got the job."

My first coaching session with G. was pretty straightforward. We agreed to work together over 6 monthly sessions, and G. set 3 goals:

We talked a while about these goals and as usually happens, these were more complex than at first appeared. G. explained to me that she ‘nearly died’ a year and a half ago, with what was eventually diagnosed as IBS (irritable bowel problem). It still bothered her but it was under control. By the end of our first session she went away with clear strategies and actions for each of her three goals.

A month later I saw her for her second session. I was shocked when she walked in. Previously she had been very slim. Now she was skin and bone.

I asked her how she was. She was quite positive and upbeat and spoke of a few successful actions she had achieved, and spoke excitedly about ambitious aims for the future.

She also explained that her IBS had been bad over the month and she had lost a lot of weight. She said that she now realised she needed to take care of herself and put herself and her health as a priority.

She explained that when her IBS gets bad she can lose half a stone in a week.

“What triggers it?” I asked.

“It’s actually not much to do with what I eat, it’s about what goes on up here” she said, pointing to her head.

“What happens just before the IBS gets bad?” I asked.

“Some kind of stressful situation, usually an argument with my partner,” she answered.

"Okay," I was thinking, "It might be worth modelling out what’s going on inside her head that then affects her digestion. I wonder if we can do that symbolically?"

I explained in very simple terms what I was going to do. G. closed her eyes and I asked CL questions of the ‘here’ where it ‘goes on’. In a relatively short while we were able to map out a process, which started with an electric spark that came into her head, then flowed down her body like a rush of water. In her stomach it churns round and round, then gets flushed out to remove all the stressful toxins, leaving her cleansed. "Hmmm. A positive intention here," I thought.

“And when it gets flushed out, and you want to put yourself and your health as a priority, what would you like to have happen?”

“I’d like to be able to absorb the nutrients from all the food I have eaten before it leaves my body." We were able to take this back to the metaphor, where G. ended up floating in slow-flowing water, holding on to a dolphin and being completely still and relaxed. The final piece was a simple spiral that moved around anti-clockwise, rather than the clockwise churning she previously had. At the end of the session she was drawing spiral after spiral, getting the size and speed of turning just right. I knew something had shifted.

We talked about how she could physicalize this shift, and represent the spiral somehow at home around her. She had the perfect idea. A large, beautiful stone she had collected from the seaside. She said she would draw her spiral on it as soon as she got home.

After the session I thought hard about what I would do when she returned for her next session, and after speaking with my supervisor I recognised that if she had lost further weight I probably needed to have her stop coaching and seek further medical help.

She came for her next session last week, and had gained nearly a stone in weight. “I don’t know what happened exactly, but the electric spark doesn’t have the same energy as it did before.”

And she had drawn her spiral on her stone. “I hold it every now and again” she said.

What was so interesting about this was we were modelling out an unconscious bodily process, how her digestive system was working.  Just so fascinating to see how ultimately it was all being controlled by the mind and how the positive intent of ‘cleansing the toxins’ was affecting her, without her realising on a conscious level.

‘Of course metaphors are the obvious way to sell anything,’ I thought. ‘Does it really need a whole book to say that?’

But the truth is, it’s not obvious to everyone that all those powerful politicians etc are using metaphor to communicate directly with the audience’s unconscious minds. It’s not obvious that metaphor matters that much - until you start to explore the subject. It’s only then that you start to notice metaphors everywhere, scattered liberally through every sentence.

In fact, particularly if you learn Clean Language, you start to notice everyone using metaphor, all the time. Metaphor is not just the preserve of the powerful, the famous, and the influential - it’s part of how each of us constructs our inner worlds. One or two carefully-placed Clean Language questions will bring out the detail in a casually-used metaphor, fill in the colour, bring it to life.

What the ‘metaphorical sellers’ are doing is using metaphor consciously and more-or-less overtly to influence people. And it works!