A series looking at coaching interventions examines the technique Clean Space

The tool

What is it?

Clean Facilitation is a technique that aims to direct the client’s attention to new possibilities in a non-interpretative way. The specified questions and syntax of Clean Language are used to help the client build their own model of their desired outcome, as well as of the things that may get in the way and those that can help. The model takes the form of a landscape of metaphors, where new meanings and possibilities emerge as the client self-models.

One metaphor that coaches often use is “holding the space” for a client, where they can safely reflect and learn. The process of Clean Space, an application of Clean Language and Symbolic Modelling developed in the UK by James Lawley and Penny Tomkins and based on the work of the late David Grove, embodies this metaphor.

It uses the physical space of the practice room to explore the changes the client wants to make. Clean Space invites the client, literally and metaphorically, to find a new perspective on their outcome. It can do this because space is a crucial part of how we make sense of our experience. Whenever we see, hear or feel something, we do so somewhere in space.

For example, if someone is asked to remember last Christmas or think of a blue elephant or to recount an experience that makes them feel excited or anxious, the answers that arise can be found in the space around or within that person. It is as if we represent our experiences or imaginings in a virtual space of our own construction, in order to describe, understand and use it.

How does it work?

At the start of a Clean Space session the client draws a picture in answer to the Clean Language question: “And what do you want to have happen?” Next, they place their drawing where it needs to be in the room, and then place themselves where they need to be in relation to it.

Clean Questions are used to develop the information contained in the picture. The client then gives a name to the space where they are standing. Next, the client is directed to “find a space that knows something else about all of that”, indicating their drawing and all they have said about it.

During the session, the client finds six spaces where new knowledge can arise. The client then gives each space a name and places a label for it on the floor. At each space the client’s emerging knowledge can be developed using Clean Questions. The client’s experience at or around space four is often marked by a sense of breakthrough or crisis, where significant new insights appear.

The collection of six spaces constitutes the system through which the client’s perception of their desired outcome and its relation to their present state operates. It also contains previously unnoticed resources. One of the telling stages of the process is when the resources are “introduced” to each other by revisiting chosen spaces.

For example, “Now return to [name of space]. What does this space know about [name of space]?” At the end of the session, the client returns to their first space and answers the question, “And after all that, what do you know from here now?”

The client now makes a second drawing to capture their new knowledge about their outcome and identify and commit to an action towards it.

For more information visit www.cleanlanguage.co.uk.

To find out about training in Clean Facilitation go to www.cleanchange.co.uk

The administrator

Using the tool

I’ve been using Clean Facilitation in my coaching for about a year now. At first the questions and syntax seemed artificial and constraining; it can certainly be a challenge using it conversationally if you are new to Clean. But there is a simplicity and elegance about it that helps the coach to manage the risk of overlaying their own interpretation on top of the client’s narratives.

Obviously I can’t interpret what the client’s model of their situation or outcome really means, but I can help them to know more. For the coach, the art is in knowing where to aim each question. Clean Space makes this easier as the space co-facilitates with you. I’ve been privileged to witness some profound and joyful realisations for clients when using it.

I was particularly attracted to using Clean Space in this case because I knew, from the client’s professional training and her language patterns, that she had a preference for visual information and that using the drawing and developing symbols in it could prove fruitful.

Ken Smith is head of learning and development in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and founder of the Coaches in Government Network.

The client

The experience

I had hit a crossroads with my career path and decided to seek advice on what direction to choose. As someone with a design background, I had lost confidence in my creative work and found that this was holding me back.

The application

Ken explained that the session would use drawing and required me to move around the room. He started by asking me to draw what I wanted to achieve and anything else about it that occurred to me at that particular time. I felt able to engage more, and I felt less restricted and confined than I would if I had been coached just sitting at a desk.

In some ways, it felt and looked as though I was mapping and planning a large event; confidently plotting what I wanted. I kept stepping to a new point or perspective in the room after each had been discussed and, most importantly, stepping away from the negativity that was in the drawing at the start.

By the end, I had gained new information from each space, and now had a new confidence about what I wanted. I was able to clarify what I should do to achieve it and how to resolve things along the way.

The verdict

As a very visual person, I found that this exercise was an easier way for me to communicate. As well as visualising, I was also “physicalising”; able to relate to and reason with what I had drawn more clearly than by simply staying stationary. As a result of the session, I have now updated my design portfolio and have been approaching companies without the nagging self-doubt that I previously had. I am now fully aware that a creative career path is the right direction for me.

Clean Space: pros and cons

UPSIDE

  • Has a simplicity that helps to reduce the risk of overlaying the coach’s interpretation on the client’s narrative
  • Helps the coach to aim questions
  • Good for clients who like visual data
  • Useful for personal development issues
  • Can be used outdoors

DOWNSIDE

  • The questions and syntax can feel constraining
  • It can be challenging getting used
  • to the technique within a conversation
  • The technique can sometimes be rejected by clients who have rational/abstract styles

Volume 3, Issue 2