spatial location for asking clean questions

[robert g]

Hello all of you,

When asking clean questions it may be useful for the guide to use only one location in space for the questions, as a way of marking out the questions and enabling the guide to use distinct locations for the symbols & metaphors the explorer uses during the exploration.

and further down that train of thought, is there a process of guiding the explorer to finding a clean space for the guide to ask the clean questions from?

thanks for your feedback from the experience enriched clean language users,

later.

[phil]

In the standard opening for Symbolic Modelling, the facilitator asks 'Where would you like to be?' and 'Where would you like me to be?' which goes some way to acknowledging a place for the client and the fac and in that arrangement is implied a spatial relationship. I wonder if spending much more time than that on establishing a space for questions might draw the client's attention away from their experience? It would be a good exercise to try.

See also 'Arc of Engagement' in this forum.

Phil

[JamesLawley]

Robert, you identified one of the perennial dilemmas for a facilitator when using a process where the client moves about: Do you follow or do you stay?

It has to be a call in the moment because to do either might be appropriate or inappropriate.

I've seen David Grove follow a client over several fields during a Clean Space process that extended several hundreds of metres. I've also heard him say to a client who said that the next space they needed to go to was outside the building and across the street, "Go to that space, find out what you know from that space, and what that space knows, and come back and tell me!"

[Bill Sutherland]

I agree with you, James. I've seen David both follow and stay put. He personally sent me out of the building to find out what I knew from the wind (which happened to be a source of knowledge for me at the time). It was November in the Lake District, and he stayed inside. What's interesting to me is that out in the cold wind I picked up plenty of information. There was no reason for him to be there with me. I assume he trusted my ability to report upon my return.

On the other hand, when I'm working with someone and looking for a sweet spot, I follow. If the client finds a space full of information, I want to be close enough to hear it. I feel out of the loop when I'm out of earshot.

Of course if the client climbs a tree, I'll wait on the ground and ask for a report.

Would it be too simple to say it depends on the space?

Bill