REPROCess and the First Principle by Penny Tompkins & James Lawley

These notes were first presented at The Developing Group, 14 May 2011

REPROCEss and the First Principle

Penny Tompkins and James Lawley

Introduction

While we were in Australia earlier this year we ran a few Introductions to Symbolic Modelling and Clean Clean Language trainings. We presented the latest simplification of our model which we are calling 'Symbolic Modelling Lite'. Coincidently, we were asked to write a chapter for a forthcoming book, Innovations in NLP (an anthology edited by Michael Hall and Shelle Rose Charvet due to be published in November).

Our chapter included the first written presentation of the Lite version of Symbolic Modelling. We didn't have the space to include all of our latest thinking in the chapter. The main model we left out was REPROCEss and its combination with four fundamental modelling processes. In addition, we have begun referring to three guiding principles for facilitators using Symbolic Modelling:

1. Know what you are modelling, i.e. what kind of experience the client is having (REPROCess is one way to do this).

2. Know what you purpose is:

- The overall frame/contract
- The client’s desired outcome
- Where you are heading (i.e what vector you are on)

3. Calibrate whether you are encouraging conditions for change - or not

Below is an overview of REPROCess, how it can be used to satisfy the first principle and how it dovetails with other models. (The July Developing Group will examine the third principle.)

Summary

In May 2008 REPROCess evolved into its current form. It has gone through several stages, growing ever more encompassing since the birth of our Problem-Remedy-Outcome model in March 2002.[1]

REPROCess stands for:

Resource	any aspect that is valued or proves to be useful.
Explanation	a description of the relationships between ideas, actions and events – especially those giving a cause, reason or justification (also called ‘Becausation’).
Problem	a current difficulty the client does not like.
Remedy	a desire for a problem to not exist, to be reduced or avoided.
Outcome	a desire for something new to exist (that currently cannot be enacted).
Change	a difference that makes a difference. It will occur over time – i.e. between an event ‘after’ and an event ‘before’ — and can therefore only be detected retrospectively.

[Note: Necessary Conditions can be Resources, Explanations, Remedies or Outcomes]

On the concrete-abstract scale, the REPROCEss categories come somewhere between sensory and conceptual experience. That makes REPROCEss a middle-down or middle-up modelling methodology. REPROCess can be used as an overt framework where the client is made aware of the categories. In Symbolic Modelling it more commonly remains in the background helping the facilitator to model the client's information and to track and guide the process. REPROCess has been designed as an aid to modelling, not a substitute for it.

Definitions

A Resource is any aspect of a person's experience that they value or has a useful function. A Resource can be anything that a person 'has', from a general quality to a particular attribute of a symbol. The index of Metaphors in Mind has lots of references to Resources. In particular see pp. 134-138:

"A resource is a symbol (or attribute of a symbol) that a client regards as having value, use or goodness in its own right, or in relation to another symbol or context. Clients experience resource symbols as empowering, uplifting, redeeming, problem-solving, mystical, balancing, grounding, protective, enlightening, etc. — depending on their preferred metaphor. When a resource symbol is present and its function fulfilled, it will have a beneficial influence on other symbols (including the perceiver). A resource symbol such as a key may simply unlock a door, or it may resolve a double bind which transforms the whole metaphor landscape." (p. 134)

An Explanation is a description or account of the relationships between ideas, actions or events - especially by giving a cause, reason or justification. Every explanation involves beliefs (either overt or presupposed) about how we envisage the world working. Explanations account for intangible relationships. They are one of the principal ways we glue our REPROCesses together into a coherent and consistent unity. And therein lies the rub. Sometimes, the only thing more frightening than changing a fundamental symbol in our metaphor landscape – a translation – is changing the glue that holds the landscape together – a transformation. [Because explanations often involve the word ‘because’ we dubbed the process 'Becausation'.]

Problems, Remedies and desired Outcomes form our PRO model. How to recognise them and how to respond within Symbolic Modelling are described in our article ‘Coaching for P.R.O.s’ in Coach The Coach, Feb. 2006. As a test, how many Remedies can you find in the following answer to the question, And what would you like to have happen?:

"Something to help me get over what happened to me in my job. To put the lid on the box and keep it on tight so that’s it’s not shaking. And to not be waiting for something to pop out of that box and if something does come out of that box I need to know how to handle that and not go home and hide in the house because I need a mechanism inside of me that if it does happen it’s not going to completely shatter me and leave me like it did in the past. I need something — a big stick in my head that I’ll be able to beat that problem away from me. I need something there that’s going to help me if it ever gets to... ‘cos it is, it’s happening now. I need a way of dealing with it."[2]

Metaphors in Mind includes lots on what a Change is, with plenty of examples of how to spot one. See the index for the references. In particular see pp. 35-39:

Gregory Bateson makes clear that “Difference which occurs across time is what we call ‘change’.” (Steps to an Ecology of Mind, p. 452) What is different is detectable in the form of the system. Even changes to higher-level patterns will be embodied in changes to lower levels of form—but not necessarily vice versa. When a person moves, all their cells move with them, but when a cell changes, it rarely changes the person. This means for a change in a metaphor landscape to be noticed, one or more attributes of a symbol, or group of symbols, has to be seen, heard, felt or in some other way sensed by the client as different compared to how they were before. Even changes to organising patterns will be embodied in differences to the attributes and location of symbols. (p. 35)

By maturing each change as it occurs we are seeing whether the difference actually makes a difference.[3]

REPROCess and Patterns

REPROCess can be a useful way to consider: How do the client’s patterns (i.e. repetitive behaviour) contribute to what happens in their life (actual outcomes), and on the likelihood of them achieving their desired outcomes?

REPROCess can help facilitators become more proficient at working with structure/process compared to content. This can help keep the facilitator from getting lost in the wealth of client information. Here are some of the more common patterns to look out for:

Does the client spend much of their time in one or two categories?

At the beginning this might be the Problem. The PRO model is designed to support clients to balance the amount of time they spend living in their desired outcome landscape in relation to how long they've spent on the problem.

Most of some client's words are used in Explanation, not realising that one of the results of explaining is to ‘stop the action’. No doubt it seems safer but it doesn't get them what they want. The use of ‘And ...?’ with a rising inflection can help a client to realise that their explaining is just that and that perhaps they would like to put their attention on something more productive. Also, with repeated use ‘And ...?’ can subtly point out the pattern of explaining.

Do they seem to keep clear of some categories?

Some clients are unaware of their Resources. Patient use of the developing questions (and if it is a strong pattern, the use of adjacency) can support the client to learn to access and appreciate their strengths and qualities.

Is there a pattern to when the client switches states?

An example might be a client who regularly follows a move into a desired outcome with a problem. (It is like they are ‘yes, butting’ themselves.) Clean Language can facilitate them to catch the moment of the switch and to explore what is motivating the pattern: ‘And when [desired outcome but problem] what happens just before that but?’.

Can the client distinguish between the categories of experience?

As we know, distinguishing between a Remedy and a desired Outcome is a real skill. Those who haven’t learned how can get good at solving problems but not so good at creating the kind of life they want.

How ‘permeable’ are the client's 'boundaries' between categories?

A good way to separate different kinds of experience is to put them in different places. However, a person who has, say, Resources, Problems and desired Outcomes all in the same place can find they have great difficulty with ‘state management’.

Is the client engaged in a higher-level pattern?

Perhaps during each session the client’s journey through the categories follows the same pattern. For example, a person who appears to experience a major Change in every session, but actually little changes in their life. [See Modelling the Structure of Binds and Double Binds.]

Four fundamental modelling processes

Having studied hundreds of Clean Language sessions we have concluded that experienced facilitators make maximal use of just four modelling processes: Identify, Develop Form, Relate over Time, and Relate across Space:

IDENTIFY	To establish, recognise or distinguish what something is; to name and give something an identity; to individuate an element or characteristic. At each level a different kind of something can be identified: an attribute, a symbol, a relationship, a pattern, a context.
DEVELOP FORM	To elaborate what has been identified; to identify enough attributes of something that its nature becomes apparent; to bring a (symbolic) perception to life – like a pre-digital photograph emerging from developing solution.
RELATE across SPACE	To identify relationships between separated things, places, perceptions, frames, contexts, etc.
RELATE over TIME	To identify a sequence of events (Before - During - After); to identify temporal relationships such as: cause, effect, contingency, precondition, provenance and expectancy.

These four modelling processes are ‘fundamental’ because they are so widely applicable. They can be used them to model resources, desired outcomes, problematic situations, changes, the structure of excellence, conflict, corporate metaphors, etc. The figure below shows how the four processes relate to each other.

Combining REPROCess with 4 fundamental modelling processes

When the six categories of REPROCess and the 4 modelling processes are considered together it can be depicted as a grid:

The first thing to note is that in expressing an experience (verbally or nonverbally) the client is in effect identifying it. Our job is to model the client’s model from their perspective which will usually enable us to distinguish which of the six kinds of experience the client is ‘having’. If there’s ambiguity, a single developing question such as ‘And what kind of ...?’ or ‘And is there anything else about that ...?’ will usually give enough information to settle the matter. Having said that, we always hold our model of the client lightly since (a) we can mis-model, and (b) the client’s interior world can change in an instant: a resource taken to an extreme can become a problem; and the most horrid symbol can transform right before the client’s mind’s eye.

Having identified an experience as a R, E, P, R, O or C our first instinct should be to acknowledge what is happening for the client. Then we always have a choice about what to do next. Resources, desired Outcomes and Changes can usually be developed into embodied metaphors. For Problems and Remedies the PRO model is our guide. Ways to respond to Explanations depend on the kind of explanation it is and its relevance to the client achieving their desired outcome.

It is important to facilitate a client to notice relationships across space and over time within a category. Thus the sequence of events which together make up the before-during-after of a Resource, Problem, Remedy or Outcome can be brought into awareness. Similarly the spatial relationship between symbols within a category can be identified, developed and explored with ‘And when ... what happens to ...?’ (where both ... ’s are in the same category).

Spatial and temporal relationships are a primary way people relate different kinds of experience across categories. Thus a Problem can be considered in the context of a desired Outcome or a Change. Equally the effects of applying a Resource or Remedy, recapitulating a problem, or achieving a desired Outcome can be envisioned in relation to other kinds of experience. You can use the same question ‘And when ... what happens to ...?’, but this time the ... ‘s are in different categories.

Symbolic Modelling Lite

The most basic version of Symbolic Modelling used as a change process (which we call Symbolic Modelling Lite) consists of six phases:

The core phases (2-5) of Symbolic Modelling Lite in the above flow chart can be mapped onto the REPROCess-4 Modelling Processes grid:

Can you figure out which boxes get most attention when Symbolic Modelling is used in exemplar modelling?

NOTES

¹ We acknowledge a debt to Robert Dilts and Todd Epstein's SCORE model (Symptom, Cause, Outcome, Resource, Effect) which contributed to the development of REPROCess, see nlpuniversitypress.com/html3/SaSe15.html. And we are grateful to Wendy Sullivan and Phil Swallow for helping us to clarify our model and to come up with the name REPROCess.
² Our answer: 9 (or there abouts).

³ In Mind and Nature, Gregory Bateson adds: “The interaction between parts of mind is triggered by difference, and difference is a nonsubstantial phenomenon not located in space or time.” p. 97.