Clean Language: Powering Up By Slimming Down

Clean Language can make expert communicators even better at what they do: it offers an upgrade to however you’re currently communicating.

My friend and colleague James Tripp recently likened Clean Language to the Chinese martial art Bagua Zhang. Apparently the founder of that art taught its central piece, called “circle walking”, only to people who already practised a martial art. Each of his students added circle walking to their existing approaches: each had a different experience depending on where they started from.

If you’re an experienced hypnotherapist you’ll have a different experience of Clean Language than, say, the leader of a team of software developers. Both will find it valuable, but they’ll find it differently valuable.

Even when a hypnotherapist or an executive coach run their sessions using no words other than the Clean Language questions, they’ll inevitably do it differently. The words of the questions will be the same, but each will make different choices about which of the client’s words to ask about.

The other week I was writing about Clean Language as a force multiplier. I was saying that when you add it to your existing communication toolkit, as well as being useful in its own right it makes everything else more effective.

Then, my mobile phone ran out of storage space – and I realised a different metaphor might be more appropriate.

Maybe Clean Language actually acts as a force multiplier because it slims things down. It clears away the unnecessary “bloat” and leaves us with much cleaner, more streamlined communication channels.

It’s not so much about adding to your existing communication techniques as subtracting from them. Powering up by slimming down.

As a result, your conversations feel lighter, less onerous – and allow the pure energy of genuine human connection to shine through.

• What’s your experience? Was Clean Language an addition to your toolkit, a subtraction, or something different? Please comment below.