This post assumes some knowledge of NLP, the Meta Model & Dilt’s Logical Levels.
At Empowerment Trainings and Talisman Training there is an emphasis on ‘Clean Processing,’ in their coaching, modelling, therapy and training. Which honours the NLP Principle, “Everyone has all the resources they need.”
Caveat.
“Everyone lives in their own unique Model of the World.
All posts are opinions, either mine, mine through reading or experiencing someone else’s or those of other contributors. It is hoped that the opinions expressed here will inform and encourage you to question and develop the ideas; thereby forming yet another opinion, your own.
There is no such thing as ‘THE TRUTH’ only truths. Edward de Bono speaks of ‘Proto Truth’ a workable truth until another better truth comes along. What follows is my truth until a better one comes along. New truths are not always better. We now have Quantum Physics, however if you want to build a bridge you will still use Newtonian Physics. One builds on the other, Quantum Physics doesn’t usurp Newtonian Physic it adds to it.” Other times a truth changes and destroys the old truth. The Ancients thought that the Sun went around the Earth and that the Earth was the centre of the universe. We now believe that the Earth goes around the Sun and who knows we may discover that something else is also true.
The Article
Some of you may be familiar with the work of David Grove and ‘Clean Language,’ the modelling of David Grove by Penny Tompkins and James Lawley called ‘Symbolic Modelling.’ In my view Symbolic Modelling is a complete process in its own right and worthy of study and practice. And to me it is a tool, methodology and a principle I use both explicitly and implicitly in all my work.
Here ‘Clean’ in the term ‘Clean Language’ refers to the absence of content imposition by the therapist or facilitator, keeping their stuff, opinion and or judgments out of the session. Very few, if any, questions are totally content free; my aim is to keep my questions as content free as possible and to always be on my guard when a question I ask is loaded with my content.
My early introduction to Clean Language has disciplined me into keeping my stuff out of any session I do with clients. This is also in keeping with most coaching models and whilst I love the syntax of the ‘Clean Language’ of Symbolic Modelling, there has been many times I have not wanted to go into Metaphor and some people do find Metaphor uncomfortable. So thinking around the issue and with my commitment to ‘Clean Therapy’ I have come up with what I consider are operational principles based on ‘Clean Language’
Before I go into the questions I would like to set out my frame and what I mean by ‘Clean Therapy.’ One of the operating principals of NLP is that “Everyone has all the resources they need.” I would like to add something to that and that is, “though they may not have access to those resources.” If they did, they would not need a facilitator. Operating out of this belief I don’t have to install something in my client they will discover their resources themselves by my questions. Here I would like to paraphrase Dr Richard Bandler, “The dividing line between elicitation and installation is fine, if it indeed exists at all.” Or put another away, elicitation is installation.
Problems or issues cannot exist in a vacuum. What I mean by that is that a problem will have either or both a complex equivalence or a cause and effect holding the problem together and that the C>E and C.Eq. must have a comparison, either known or unknown consciously. This is also getting into the structure of beliefs which have a ‘Cause’ and ‘Effect’ and a ‘Meaning.’ More about beliefs in future post.
Patterns, habitual behaviours, are a product of our beliefs either known or unknown and they generally process outside of our conscious awareness.
Beliefs can occur through a one instance learning such as a ‘Phobia,’ or they can be constructed by multiple exposure to our empirical experiences or they can be installed by others. Here others can be anyone, parents, authority figures, advertisers, politicians, sales people etc.
Why do we learn patterns in this way and once learnt let them run at the unconscious level?
The answer is quite simple, as human-beings we like to label things and put them into categories. If we had to question everything, each and every time we had an experience, we would spend all our time checking things out.
Just think of the things you like, if every time you came to, for example an apple if didn’t have the pattern or memory of I like apples, you would have to go through a process of experiencing the smell, the look the taste to see if you liked apples. Not so bad when you think of apples; however a bit more dangerous if each time you came across a man eating tiger you have to check out if it is dangerous or not. If that were the case then there would certainly be fewer humans alive. Your system, I’m not going to say ‘your brain,’ because it might not be, processes information at the speed of or faster than light. See a man eating tiger and your system immediately goes in to fight or flight, outside of conscious awareness.
Another example might be useful, if you drive a car, when you drive you are constantly adjusting the distance between you and the car in front and varying your speed to other factors such as weather conditions and speed limits etc. Most of the time this is done outside of your conscious awareness, even the sudden breaking you do to avoid the odd bad driver in front of you. You react then think consciously. That process is one best left to your unconscious mind, also referred to as unconscious competence.
So what is ‘Clean Processing Elicitation?’
To us at Empowerment Trainings and Talisman Training clean elicitation is any question with the minimum of presuppositions in it. So, “Tell me more,” is a clean question. Here the presupposition is that there is more to tell. A friend of mine who is a teacher has a nice one word clean question and that is,“Explain?”
One stock question that NLPers use is ‘How do you know?’ Whilst this is a very good question and is seeking process, there are in my view better ones.
When (x) is true for you…what’s going on inside that’s letting you know that this is true?
This question paces the client’s belief and validates it, “When (X) is true for you,” also has the opposite possibility that there are times when (X) is not true, a possibility that the individual may not have considered. “What’s going on inside that’s letting you know that this,” has a number of implications, here the ‘That’ disassociates the client and puts them into the observer position of their process and the ‘This’ re-associates them into their belief. They maybe observing their process or questioning their own belief for the first time.
What processes are you going through that is letting you know this is true for you?
How do you know this is true for you?
What comparisons are you making that is letting you know this is true for you?
The use of Dilt’s logical levels is also very useful. For example you can take, “When (x) is true for you…what’s going on inside that letting you know that this is true?” and replace the ‘When’ with ‘Where.’ Again this question, by implication opens up the possibility that there are places where the issue, problem or belief is not true.
Clean questions give you the most information and lets you know how someone is processing, I hope this is useful and that you will go on to develop many new clean elicitation questions of your own.
© Alan Jones 2008
