[OSList] metaphorum: a clean language one-day online gathering

Thu Sep 1 00:55:24 PDT 2016

Hi Michael,

Yes I would agree that experiencing how clean language and clean coaching
works is important, and then clean space as well. It is a bit like open
space, some people just don't get it until they jump in and then in makes
sense in the first minutes!

The clean approach that I experienced really made sense to me because of my
open space experience. Open space supports the force of self-organisation
in groups, clean language supports the force of self-organisation in
individuals.

Let me try to explain my understanding of it. Normal coaching approaches
are quite directive, like many facilitation processes. They involve a
series of steps, usually starting with goal identification, and then
questions are used as a way of controlling the process and therefore the
person to some extent. There are times when this is useful, and other times
when it is not.

The clean approach recognises that we are deeply complex individuals with
all sorts of stuff going on inside. We are influenced by so much internal
and external stuff of which we are only slightly aware and out of all that
comes that small part of reality that we are conscious of!!! So WHO KNOWS
how it all works, we barely know ourselves... and then add to that all the
cognitive science pattern detecting biases that we have.

One way to work with a complex adaptive system called a person is to use
symbolic language / metaphor. Words will never describe that deep complex
reality of ourselves, however metaphors probably get the closest to
expressing it because they can hold so much more than explicit descriptions
can. Abstraction rather than explicitness may be much more important than
we presently recognise when it comes to human learning.

So the clean approach has 9 very light content free questions that provide
just enough minimal structure to support a person work with their dynamic
self-organising complexity through noticing their metaphorical landscape
from which emerges self, meaning, and all else.

Clean does not attempt to define a goal and reach an action plan like most
coaching does. It starts wherever the client wants to start, and even
starts wherever the client wants to sit down, and even how they want to sit
down, if they want to! Once it starts the coach simply asks the relevant
question from the 9, and then sees the response and then based on that asks
the next question, and the client ends up wherever they end up by the end
of the session.

So if someone is wondering if you can use open space with one person in a
coaching context, the clean approach gets close to it.

As I said that is my take on it. Here is an article with the two people I
spent 3 days with: http://www.cleanlanguage.co.uk/CleanLanguage.html

Smiles Bhav...

On 30 August 2016 at 21:37, Michael Herman via OSList <oslist at lists.
openspacetech.org> wrote:

> thanks Jan and Bhavesh for the references to clean space.  i think i only
> half-understand what it is or means or how it works.  maybe i will raise it
> at the metaphorum event.  maybe i need to see it working.  i think i need
> to discover the shape of mind that allows one to ask these questions and
> have them feel/sound normal, rather than like a set of hoops to jump
> through.  m
>
>
> --
>
> Michael Herman
> Michael Herman Associates
> 312-280-7838 (mobile)
>
> http://MichaelHerman.com
> http://OpenSpaceWorld.org
>
>
>
> On Sun, Aug 28, 2016 at 12:40 AM, Jan Höglund via OSList <
> oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:
>
>> This is a sidetrack. Clean Language seems to be related to Clean Space.
>>
>> Found this...
>>
>> "The technology that came to be know as 'Clean Space' evolved alongside
>> Clean Language. Space was no longer empty area. It had properties and
>> peculiarities of its own. Physical space became psychoactive and therapy
>> took a new dimension."
>> —Philip Harland, The Power of Six, p. 18.
>>
>> The Power of Six, by the way, seems to be simplicity itself (the exact
>> wording varies depending on the situation):
>>
>> - What do you know? x 1
>> - And what else do you know? x 5
>> - And *now* what do you know? x 1
>> - Repeat x 6 (or as needed)
>>
>> Jan, Sweden
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> To: michael at michaelherman.com; oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
>> Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2016 12:12:49 -0400
>> Subject: Re: [OSList] metaphorum: a clean language one-day online
>> gathering
>> From: oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
>>
>>
>> Clean Language! Sounds a little suspect to me. But walking the talk, and
>> talking the walk is definitely what it (real invitation) is all about.
>> Doing all of that is not something you will learn in a “facilitation”
>> class. Actually, don’t even try. Find a native speaker.
>>
>>
>>
>> ho
>>
>>
>>
>> Winter Address
>>
>> 7808 River Falls Dr.
>>
>> Potomac, MD 20854
>>
>> 301-365-2093
>>
>>
>>
>> Summer Address
>>
>> 189 Beaucauire Ave
>>
>> Camden, ME 04843
>>
>> 207 763-3261
>>
>>
>>
>> Websites
>>
>> www.openspaceworld.com
>>
>> www.ho-image.com
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* OSList [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] *On
>> Behalf Of *Michael Herman via OSList
>> *Sent:* Friday, August 26, 2016 11:37 AM
>> *To:* OSLIST
>> *Subject:* [OSList] metaphorum: a clean language one-day online gathering
>>
>>
>>
>> there's something interesting happening that some of us might want to
>> join on september 9th.  i don't think it's been mentioned here yet.
>>
>>
>>
>> i first heard about "clean language" from harold shinsato.  it seems
>> useful in our conversations with sponsors about invitations, to help us
>> work with their story in their own words.  it'll be useful in other
>> settings, too, like coaching.
>>
>>
>>
>> the event on the 9th is a 12-hour online gathering, i would say heavily
>> informed by open space or maybe it's an experimental online adaptation of
>> open space.  but come for the topic, the ideas and practice, and the
>> learning, not for the process.
>>
>>
>>
>> here are the links where you can check it out.  i'm planning to
>> participate in the window that will be daytime in chicago.
>>
>>
>>
>> what is the metaphorum online gathering?
>>
>> http://judyrees.co.uk/metaphorum-2016/
>>
>>
>>
>> what is clean language?
>>
>> http://judyrees.co.uk/what-is-clean-language-2/
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Michael
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Michael Herman
>> Michael Herman Associates
>>
>> 312-280-7838 (mobile)
>>
>>
>>
>> http://MichaelHerman.com
>> http://OpenSpaceWorld.org
>>
>>
>>
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