Posts tagged coaching

What Is Clean Language?

Nov 28th

Posted by Judy in Clean Language

1 comment

Welcome! If you're interested in how people think, click to get The X-Ray Listener's Quick Guide To Metaphor and unlock a new perspective on the mind... for free.

I talk a lot about Clean Language on this blog. But you may be wondering what Clean Language is, and why it’s interesting. So (thanks to a nudge from a friend on Facebook) I’ve decided it’s time for a few short introductory YouTube videos. Here’s the first one:

If you prefer to read your introduction, check out Wikipedia or BusinessBalls

And here’s another, about why Clean Language is called “Clean Language”:

, , , , ,

Where Do Good Ideas Come From?

Jul 4th

Posted by Judy in Clean Language

No comments

The world is awash with ideas. And that’s not surprising, according to cognitive linguist Prof Steven Pinker.

Our universal human abilities to think in metaphor, and to combine thoughts in new and innovative ways, result in a ceaseless geyser of novel ideas and new ways of expressing them, he says in The Stuff of Thought.

“People can discover new metaphors in their efforts to understand something, and can combine them to form still newer and more complex metaphors and analogies…

“With the use of metaphor and combination, we can entertain new ideas and new ways of managing our affairs.”

All kinds of techniques have been used to encourage creativity, to help people to unplug the “idea geyser” and let the metaphors flow.

And Clean Language is one that can work very well here.

I’ve often used it with business groups, asking people to come up with a personal metaphor. For example I might ask: “When you’re working at your best, you are like… what?” (a Clean-ish question devised by Training Attention)

We’d then use The 2 Lazy Jedi Questions to explore the metaphors as they developed and deepened… or perhaps, were rejected in favour of a different metaphor.

For as Pinker points out: “People are not handcuffed to a More >

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Who’s making you fat – and how?

Apr 5th

Posted by Judy in Influence

1 comment

Your colleague’s husband’s sister can apparently make you fat, even if you’ve never met. But how does that happen?

In Connected, Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler explain that there are two main ways that people may influence each other.

  1. By changing what you do… and
  2. By changing what you think.

My focus has mainly been on how language – and specifically listening, questioning and metaphor – can be used to influence the way another person thinks. That’s a vital set of skills to master. It’s subtle, and it can be used in a huge range of contexts.

But at the same time I want to acknowledge that when you influence someone by changing what they do, it often has a greater impact.

Real-world action is so much more obvious, so much more measurable, and so much more convincing than “thought”!

For example, the great hypnotherapist Milton Erickson told stories to influence his clients. And he also gave them assignments in the real world, which typically gave them an experience of doing what they said they could not do. For example, legend has it that he once sent a shy young man to conduct a “survey” outside a ladies’ underwear shop, thus giving the chap physical, incontrovertible proof that he More >

, , , , , , , ,

How does Instant X-Ray Listening actually work?

Aug 16th

Posted by Judy in Clean Language

No comments

I recently tested a new approach to coaching: offering instant, short (30 minutes max) phone or skype sessions to anyone whose thinking was “stuck”.

Many thanks to everyone who helped me trial the idea. It seems people certainly valued being able to get inexpensive help, from their own home.

Most clients got the breakthrough they needed very quickly. For example, Lesley Lyle said: “Ten minutes into the conversation and Judy had put me in touch with the things which had seemed like thoughts just out of my grasp. Whispy thoughts that have turned into simple, practical tasks that I just need to get on with. Judy, thank you so much, one simple session has cleared my head and allowed me to see the light.”

I had no doubt that my clients would get dramatic results: it’s been my experience for so long that I’d be shocked if that didn’t happen. I knew I’d enjoy the work and want to do more of it (read on if you’d like to book a session).

What I’d failed to realise was that people who didn’t know me or my work would need to be convinced that such rapid change was even possible. And once they were convinced More >

, , , , , ,

Harnessing the power of your attention

Feb 6th

Posted by Judy in Listening

No comments

I wonder if you realise just how valuable your attention can be? As Nancy Kline puts it: “The quality of your attention determines the quality of other people’s thinking.”

If you’re an expert in a particular subject, it’s easy to believe that people pay you for your expertise, your knowledge, your advice. But in fact there’s more to it than that – they may well prefer to pay for your expert attention.

  • Yesterday I visited an expert in gait and gait-correction, hoping to resolve a nagging running injury. She paid full attention to the shape and movement of my feet and watched closely as I walked and ran up and down the corridor. But she paid no attention to me – she didn’t introduce herself, asked only closed questions, and actively discouraged conversation. I ended up thinking: “Can I really trust this woman to make intelligent recommendations for my body? She knows nothing about me or my life.”
  • At a Learning Technologies exhibition recently, I led a friend over to a particular company’s stand, knowing that one of their software products could be the solution to a problem he has in his small business. Within seconds we were pounced on by an expert More >
, , , , , , , , ,