What do you mean by that?

The late Judith Glasser said, “words create worlds”. What she was saying was that words create reality. Words influence how we understand and experience the world, and how we connect (or not) with others. 

I’m excited
I’m delighted
I’m busy
I’m stressed
I’m depressed
I’m retiring
I’m firing

What do any of these words mean when leaders, partners, parents, staff say them? If we don’t get curious about what they mean by those words, we rely on our own interpretation and can easily make assumptions. As Einstein said “ Assumptions are made, and most assumptions are wrong.”

Clean language questions are a neutral, simple way of exploring others meaning and experience and creating connection. Two simple clean language questions to experiment with are:

“What kind of X is that X?” E.g. What kind of busy is that busy?
“And is there anything else about that X?” E.g. And is there anything else about busy?

These questions can be repeated a few times, always using the other persons words.
The Clean Language communication technique created by David Grove was developed to eliminate interpretations, assumptions or judgements of the questioner.
It’s a way to understand, connect and listen to how others experience the world. And let’s face it, in a world where there seems to be MANY labels used, checking for understanding makes sense.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash