What kind of Clean is that Clean?
Working as an agile coach is not an easy job. I often start with a client who has had several agile coaches before and goodness knows how many ‘change programs’. This means they are mainly in contempt with me, the system, or agile in general.
Taking them from a place of contempt to curiosity is not always easy, but luckily I have found some tools that really help. Which brings me to the topic I am in contempt with myself. Has the word clean language become dirty?
Let’s talk about clean language for a second. Clean was created by David Grove for use in psychotherapy. Later his work was taken and used in many different flavours including health, education, business and coaching.
This has caused the same 2 words ‘clean language’ to mean many things to many people. In the clean community people generally seem to understand how they all fit and support each other, but what about for people new to clean?
What are the different kinds of Clean Language?
Within the agile world, there are 3 main types of clean language being used, but they often get mixed up. Below I have ranked them in the order I have found the most value from. This is my view and context which might be different from yours.
However, there are also some similarities including the core clean questions you can find below.
Symbolic Modelling (1 on 1 Coaching)
Symbolic Modelling adapted from David’s work by James Lawley and Penny Tompkins. This seems to be the most popular use of Clean Language in agile which has some drawbacks. Symbolic modelling is normally used in a 1 on 1 session and tends to take the client into a metaphor to unearth information they have hidden within them. Judy Rees calls this the coaching horizon or the unknown knowns ‘the sweet spot for coaching’.
From my experience, things can go pretty deep pretty fast and therefore we have to be extremely careful with what permission we have from the client to do this kind of coaching. If you are curious about this kind of clean then I would suggest exploring it in some detail before practising it with your team.
Clean Questioning (Consulting)
The most well-known use within the agile world of what I am calling ‘clean questioning’ is Agendashift. Using clean language as a high-level questioning tool to help move problems to outcomes, generate ideas and align strategy works very well.
I use to dislike it because using clean at a high level discourages metaphor, which has been a key part of my clean experience. I have now got over that, however, I see some limitations as it is more of a consultancy approach rather than a coaching approach which I prefer.
Systemic Modelling (Team Coaching)
Systemic Modelling was created by Caitlin Walker influenced heavily by David Grove and many others and beautifully explained in the book from contempt to curiosity.
Systemic Modelling focuses on a few simple tools and techniques that whilst easy to understand are difficult to master. The general idea is to create a network of attention in a group around a theme such as working at your best. This is then explored not by the coach but the group themselves whilst they are slowly starting to learn clean questions and some of the other concepts such as the Drama Triangle and Triune brain.
The quicker I can move an organisation from contempt of me and the change to curiosity, the quicker I can make a difference. So far I have not found a better way to do this than using systemic modelling. It is also how we run our training course at Agile Affinity, creating a safe space to explore as a group the topic of agile coaching.
Why am I writing this?
This is the first of a series of blogs I will be writing on Agile Coaching. A lot of what I talk about uses clean language and specifically systemic modelling. Whenever I talk about clean language I am probably referring to Caitlin Walker’s work that I have adapted to an agile context. Whilst the other uses of clean language are valuable, I value systemic modelling more.
Over to you…
What is your experience of clean language?
Have you got any other tools you use at the start of an engagement?
What would you like to hear more about in future posts?