The notes of a prototype model of how to use Vivian Gladwell's (of Nose to Nose) approach to training clowns to develop any skill that can benefit from in-the-moment feedback which does not interupt the process. The example given is enhancing skills of Symbolic Modelling.

If you search for 'iteration' on the web you will find precious little outside the domain of mathematics and computing. And yet iteration is commonly seen in nature as a way for organisms to grow and develop and as a change process in an increasing number of psychotherapeutic procedures. So what is iteration and how can we make use of it? These are unpublished notes written for The Developing Group.

Adjacency is about 'next to-ness'.  It creates meaning in people's minds - naturally.  This article examines the significance of adjacency, how we can recognise it, and how we can work with it for ourselves and our clients, taking a 'clean' approach to adjacency.

Are you aware that your clients use metaphor several times a minute? And that your clients reason and act in ways that are consistent with their metaphors?  And that the nature of metaphor makes it ideal for working with out-of-the-ordinary problems and high-level goals? And that Clean Language keeps coaches' (unconscious) metaphors out of the coaching process, and facilitates clients' metaphors to change — and as they do, so do their perceptions, decisions and actions? If not, you need to read this article.

We summarise 15 years experience of conducting formal modelling projects and training modelling. Our ideas are presented as working notes and guidelines rather than a finished article. We intend to keep updating and expanding these notes. Please revisit this site and let us know if you think there is something we should add. All contributions will, of course, be credited.

This article has been written in dialogue format. Some of these dialogues have actually occurred, although most of the questions are composites of those we have been asked over the years. It describes differnces between Therapeutic and Product modelling, and between Top-down and Bottom-up modelling.

An introduction to the Perceiver-Perceived-Relationship-Context (PPRC) model. It enables a client’s verbal and nonverbal behaviour to be used to infer how they construct their model of their world, i.e. it is a model of perception from the client’s perspective.

Being able to make the distinction between a Problem, a Remedy and desired Outcome statement is vital to being an 'outcome orientated' facilitator. This article gives detailed instructions on how to recognise client's PRO statements and how to respond so that you have more choice about where you guide their attention.

PRO can also be used to keep meetings on track, to keep a group in a creative state, to move people beyond conflict towards a joint outcome, or in numerous other productive ways.

Translation into French of Clean Language Revisited: The evolution of a model (2004)

La Modélisation Symbolique est une discipline jeune qui continue de changer et de s'améliorer. Dans cet article, Penny Tompkins et James Lawley expliquent les évolutions de la méthode depuis ses débuts et proposent une nouvelle métaphore de la perception en Clean Language.

Traduction de Eric von Saenger.

We published our first article on David Grove's Clean Language, Less is More, in 1997.² Since then our model of Clean Language has undergone two revisions. Below we document these changes and explain why they happened. By charting the development of our thinking we demonstrate how modelling over the long-term is an evolutionary process.