The essence of Clean Language is an attitude with which you shape the interaction with others:
- You are constantly aware of the difference between experience and that of the other.
- You listen:
- you do not talk
- you do not think about talking
- You try to explore someone’s perspective without judgment or mixing with your perspective.
- You use the language (Clean Language) that goes with it.
- And sometimes you make a conscious choice to deviate from this.
The tools and models that support this attitude are:
- A set of questions consisting of twelve basic questions and some specialized questions;
- Symbolic modeling, facilitating the other as cleanly as possible so that they gain a better understanding of their own experience;
- Systemic modeling, the commonality of groups towards an inclusive, curious and therefore learning culture;
- Working with metaphors that bridge conscious and unconscious processes;
- Outcome-oriented work, whereby you focus on what the other person really wants (and not on the problem);
- Working with space, this method can best be compared with (family or organizational constellations);
- The Clean Set-up, the way to express expectations at the start of every meeting;
- Clean Feedback, the Clean version of the Drama triangle and much more …
Examples about what you can do with clean language:
- Harvest known information
- Elicit unknown knowns
- Shift emotional states
- Motivate people to change
- Enhance relationships
- Give and get good feedback
- …
