Clean Language is a way of asking questions without presuppositions. Questions are often far from clean: we disguise opinions inside them and so partly determine the answer. Clean questions carry no assumptions, and they often evoke answers rich in metaphor.
Clean Language was developed by the psychotherapist David Grove and has since been used widely in coaching, research and facilitation. Exploring the metaphors people use, with further clean questions, can open up rich and expansive conversation.
The ice breaker
I used a single clean question as a warm-up with a group of fifteen participants:
"When you are at your best in workshops, you are like what?"
- Ask the question, and give people a few minutes in silence.
- Each person writes or draws their answer on a gridcard.
- Go round the group. Each person shares what they wrote and what it means to them.
- Post the cards on the wall where everyone can see them for the rest of the workshop.
Why it works
The exercise gives the workshop a participatory beginning: everyone has spoken within the first twenty minutes. It also tells the group, and the facilitator, what conditions help each person be at their best. Each metaphor said something useful about how that person likes to work.
Useful clean questions
A few of the basic clean questions you can use to explore an answer further:
- "And what kind of [their word] is that [their word]?"
- "And is there anything else about [their word]?"
- "And that's [their word] like what?"
- "And what would you like to have happen?"
Use the person's exact words, and resist adding your own. That is the discipline, and the power, of a clean question. For more ways to open a workshop well, read six lessons on facilitation.
Sean Blair is the founder of ProMeet and Serious Outcomes, an IAF Certified Professional Facilitator and a LEGO® Serious Play® Master Trainer. About Sean.