22
Management Services Winter 2012
Clean Language
Improving productivity Language
Lynne Cooper presents an approach that is transforming thinking and behaviour in business organisations.
Faced with the rapidly shifting sands created by the precarious economic situation, globalisation and dynamic change in technology and communications, improving productivity in the workplace has rarely been more important, and some argue has never been tougher. The development of new processes, systems, technology and organisational structures is an essential and constant activity for organisations striving for success. Realising productivity gains in full however, depends on the organisation’s people functioning effectively. The workforce must be fl exible, people must actively engage in new ways of working, and the individual’s contribution must be maximised. This is the challenge for businesses and other organisations alike, more often than not addressed with training interventions designed to change behaviour, with mixed results. Over the past decade however, a new ground-breaking approach to change has quietly penetrated organisations. Clean Language is increasingly being used to improve awareness and thinking, change behaviours and transform performance.
Transforming thinking Clean Language was originally
devised by therapist David Grove as an innovative and hugely effective approach for working with individuals in psychotherapeutic settings. So successful was it in creating transformed thinking and behaviour that it has subsequently been embraced and adapted for use in many different settings, particularly business.
In its simplest form Clean Language entails a suite of quite specifi c questions. They are designed to ensure that as the questioner you have the minimal amount of infl uence as possible on the person you question. You do not ask questions that are of particular interest to you or introduce your own opinion, experience or prejudice. This is the meaning of clean. Instead you ask the defi ned question about specifi c words and phrases that you hear said – someone’s language. Within organisations, Clean Language is applied to enhance a broad range of different processes, including: • Gathering excellent quality information
For research, user requirement scoping, project planning, investigating and just about any context in which good information is essential, basic Clean Language questions are very powerful. • Improving team working
Developing metaphorical representations of people’s thinking for faster, more effective communication, improved team collaboration and the development of shared vision. Achieved through Clean approaches such as Symbolic Modelling and Metaphors@Work. • Improving productivity and performance
One of the most accessible Clean performance improvement frameworks is the Five-Minute Coach, designed for managers squeezed between the pressures from above, for improved productivity with reducing resources, and below, from staff looking for to them for solutions to problems.
The Five-Minute Coach The Five-Minute Coach is a very simple collection of Clean Language questions which can be used to run a short formal coaching session, or just employed in everyday conversations in as little as fi ve minutes. It drives people to take ownership – to devise solutions, to innovate and to make decisions - and it helps managers to relinquish responsibility.
A key part of its success is its simplicity in guiding people to move from ‘problem thinking’ towards an outcome orientation. The problem
“Clean
Language is increasingly being used to improve awareness and thinking, change
behaviours and transform performance. “
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