Judy

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Posts by Judy

Are You “All In Your Head”? How Would You Know?

May 1st

I’ve recently started working with a personal fitness trainer. He’s got no idea about Clean Language or what I do. That’s a plus in lots of ways – not least because I can write about the experience here.

In our session yesterday he was busy telling me I’m “all in my head” – and I think he’s wrong.

Let me stop being offended for long enough to say, “That’s an interesting metaphor. All in my head…?”

How “all in your head” are you? And how would you know?

As a Clean Language coach I’m in a position to know how “all in my head” my clients are.

In coaching sessions, it’s my job to pay attention to where the symbols in their metaphor landscapes are. Some will be in their heads, some in their bodies, and some in the space outside them.

It’s often my job to draw my clients’ attention to symbols in their bodies, which they might have mentioned in passing but not attended to directly before. I’ve heard the surprise in their voices as they discover physical aspects of their thinking for the first time, and I know how transformational that awareness has been for them.

I’ve also done the pronouns exercise with lots of people and know More >

How Can Your Body Make You A Better Coach?

Apr 25th

Posted by Judy in Body-Mind

5 comments

When you’re in a conversation – particularly a “coaching” conversation – how much attention do you pay to your own body? If your answer is “Not much” then you’re probably missing out on a huge reservoir of information.

That’s probably the main thing I learned at the London Coaching Group last night from a talk by Sue Glasser, who uses her background in dance and choreography in her own coaching and facilitation practice.

When I’m using Clean Language to coach a client I pay a lot of attention to their body. For example, when they mention a “feeling” I often ask about it: “What kind of feeling is that?” and “Whereabouts is that feeling?” That will typically help them to get much clearer about what exactly they are feeling, or would like to feel.

As a quick side note, you might think that “feeling” means either “emotion” or “sensation”. But really, it means both. Typically if someone says they are feeling something, that means they are feeling it – they are experiencing a sensation somewhere in their body. If you gently ask them where they are feeling it, and are patient, they can usually say where it is… and possibly much more.

NOTE: Care is required here, because putting someone’s More >

Getting Specific With Clean Language

Apr 24th

Posted by Judy in Clean Language

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One of the most valuable ways to use Clean Language in everyday conversations is to help somebody to get specific about something.

For example, in coaching, I’ll often use the Clean Language questions to help my client to get really clear about what they want – and what the implications of getting that will be. Once my client has a clearer vision of what they want, it becomes much easier for them to see how it can be achieved.

If I could only use one Clean Language question to help someone achieve increased clarity, it would be: “What kind of X (is that X?)”

Here’s how I’d use it. Let’s imagine my client said they wanted “a great weekend?”

I’d probably ask: “What kind of great is that?”

Or: “What kind of great weekend is that great weekend?”

Or (most conversational): “What kind of great weekend?”

The Clean Language question “What kind of X (is that X)?” is one of the 2 Lazy Jedi questions.

Most of my clients find that it helps to narrow their focus, to become more and more specific, while its partner, “Is there anything else (about that/X)? widens the focus, to become more and more general.

But that’s not a universal pattern. Some people More >

How To Resolve Conflict Using Clean Language

Apr 17th

Posted by Judy in Clean Language

2 comments

One of the most interesting ways of using Clean Language – and one that’s closest to my heart – is to resolve conflict.

That might be conflict within families, between children, within work groups and teams… and longstanding communal conflict in places like Northern Ireland, Kosovo, South Africa and the Palestinian Territories.

Earlier this week I posted my podcast interview with teacher Julie McCracken, in which she describes her Clean Language questioning model for resolving playground conflicts.

And today I had an interesting and inspiring chat with a new friend, Marcus Hopkins of Humanising Conflict. He’s worked in peace and reconciliation projects in a lot of post-conflict areas, and has done a PhD which looked at the way symbolism (aka metaphor) fuels conflict.

I already knew that Martin Snoddon had used Clean Language in exciting ways in post-conflict work around the world. Now Marcus brought a new perspective.

Marcus described watching Martin at work with groups in Kosovo a few years ago – he had been curious about the unusual syntax Martin used, which seemed not to be noticed by the Albanian-speaking locals, and impressed by the work overall.

Now Marcus has re-discovered Clean Language, and is loving it!

There seem to be a number of ways in More >

Boosting Children’s Thinking Skills – And Stopping Playground Fights

Apr 16th

Posted by Judy in Clean Language

2 comments

What if a simple set of questions could not only raise children’s thinking level by by two to three years – and also help resolve their playground battles?

Teacher and coach Julie McCracken believes it is possible.

She’s one of the foremost experts in using Clean Language with young children – and in this podcast she shares her secrets.

Click the link to learn:

Her specific Clean Language model for resolving playground conflicts quickly and easily
How the Clean Language Questions help her five-, six- and seven-year-old pupils develop thinking skills equivalent to those of much older children
The powerful effects of Clean Language on gifted and talented youngsters
How to have more effect on children – with a lot less effort.

Listen to this 30-minute interview with Judy Rees here.

You can contact Julie via her website here: http://www.coachingmagic.co.uk/blog