Clean Language: Revealing Metaphors and Opening Minds

by Wendy Sullivan

This book will teach you a new way to communicate which gets to the heart of things! By asking Clean Language questions to explore the metaphors which underpin a person's thinking, you can help people to change their lives in a way that intrinsically respects diversity and supports empowerment. Both you and they will gain profound new insights into what makes them tick. The approach was originally used to help clients to resolve deep trauma. It is now being used to get to the truth and to solve complex problems by some of the sharpest and most innovative people in the world -- coaches, business people, educators, health professionals and many others.

242 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 24, 2008

Reviews

[L. Marquet]

I used to think I was pretty good at asking questions until I read Wendy Sullivan's and Judy Rees' book Clean Language: Revealing Metaphors and Opening Minds.

The book to me was a revelation.

Here's an example, someone comes to you and says, “Hey, I'm having problems in a relationship.”

You ask, innocently enough, “Do you have the courage to stand up to them?”

Now it turns out this response, even though it's a question, is injecting many of your own biases into the way the question is asked.

First of all it's a binary question which they call a closed question -- Do you? This limits the responses to yes or no.

Next, “do you have the courage…” The implication is that courage is the scarce resource that you need to draw upon.

…and finally, “to stand up” to them, which implies that you need to resist or respond to them and that “standing up” is the correct metaphor, not push them, or lean into them or lean away from them, or walk away from them. And so with this innocent question you're injecting many of your own biases and assumptions into the question.

Clean Language has a set of structured questions which help get away from this. I find it hard to remember the specific questions but the idea of asking questions in a more neutral open way is compelling and one which we all can practice more of.

I thoroughly enjoyed Clean Language and lean on it as I wrote my own book.

[Maged Zakher]

Good book! Such a useful tchniques especially in research interviews, I'd say.

[Yasha]

to-read

[Christian Zenker]

i read it to support my hypnosis and think it helped quite a lot.
defenitely a recommendation

[Julia Papworth]

Well laid out, clear introduction to both the concepts and process of using clean language in a variety of settings. Very useful additional tool in coaching, teaching and learning.

[K Tan]

Excellent book on asking good questions as a coach.