From Contempt to Curiosity - Creating the Conditions for Groups to Collaborate

by Caitlin Walker

The book is a series of stories from Caitlin’s first meeting with David Grove to the development of Clean Modelling for groups and contains the principles and models underpinning Systemic Modelling. It’s as relevant to business leaders as it is to parents, to organisational development as it is to creating learning communities.

Genres: Communication, Leadership, Psychology, Nonfiction, Management, Business

216 pages, Paperback

First published March 13, 2014

Reviews

[Andrea Chiou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Caitlin Walker has written a brilliant book recounting her own 15 year journey with Clean Language as applied to groups - a compilation of stories illustrating the models that she developed along the way which she now groups together and calls Systemic Modelling. This work builds on the work of others as well - the originator of Clean Language, David Grove, and his original modellers, Penny Tompkins and James Lawley, with whom Caitlin trained and learned. She acknowledges these and many others who assisted her in her consulting practice, Training Attention, along the way. There is a nifty appendix of the major influencing works at the back.

The title of this book hints at the fact that the places that Caitlin took up work using her models were usually starting from a place of high dysfunction, disarray, miscommunication with silo'ed and competitive subcultures or inappropriate reward systems. Her aim in each new engagement was to bring her learning, tools and Clean Language to create the lasting conditions for change - collaboration through questions, curiosity, modelling and metaphor. It is a compelling journey of hope.

Each story elaborates how she had her cohorts broke new ground in the application of Clean Language in a specific group setting. The breadth of settings includes schools, business, IT, recruiting offices, and university. Each chapter covers the context, constraints, the current situation, the desired outcomes, the training provided, the documented progressive learning and experimentation, as well as cautionary tales of each endeavor. The Systemic Modelling techniques are introduced chapter by chapter as she developed and refined them: (not in any particular order) Clean Feedback, Clean Scoping, Clean Set Up, Developmental Tasks, 5 Senses, Drama to Karma, Metaphors at Work, and When You're ____ at Your Best. There are wonderful illustrations throughout to help clarify concepts that are introduced and there is no shortage of sample Clean interactions so that even a novice or someone not familiar with Clean Language can get a solid grasp of the possible applications by the end of the book.

I have read most of the Clean literature and this new book is a fantastic addition to the catalogue. Addressed equally to the Clean Facilitator as to the potential customer interested in Clean Language and Symbolic Modelling for groups, the stories are accessible, smoothly written, and also compelling. Indeed I think this book has a very broad audience. Consultants, executives, and coaches involved in organizational development, communication, culture change, and engagement issues will find this an inspiring guide to a refreshing, revolutionary way to create the conditions for change in group and business settings. What I (and many of my colleagues may) appreciate with Caitlin's approach and the rich contribution of David Grove's Clean Language applied here - is the intent to lay the foundation, train folks, and have the resulting behavior changes remain sustainable - basically, for the Clean Facilitator - to work oneself out of a job successfully. Caitlin shares all the stories, even ones that over time, did not quite sustain as well as she hoped - since even those were fertile material for analysis. Why did they not stay sustainable? What were the systemic issues at play? Turnover in leadership? Amidst those are some fabulous success stories and you will relish them all.

I desire nothing more than fostering workplaces and school learning environments in which folks exhibit curiosity towards one another, exploring problems and solutions in a safe way, taking collective ownership and pride in their work. Other authors and thought leaders have addressed well the need for learning organizations in works such as Peter Senge's Fifth Discipline or created models such as Chris Argyris' Ladder of Inference. And while I admire those models, none spoke to me with the hope that they could be widely disseminated or fairly easily learned by a broad cross-section of people and industries. Caitlin has given us a concrete, laid out foundation for systemic change at an organizational and group level, based on concrete practices and the foundation of Clean Language. As I work towards my own vision for success as an agile coach with IT groups and organizations, I am very committed to sharing, utilizing and, training on these models.

The book is sturdy with all glossy paper. It won't mind getting a spill of water or wine on it. Those who like to annotate in pencil or pen straight in their books may find that annoying, but I like the quality of the book. I hope to take it around and share it liberally with folks who are interested. There will soon also be an ebook as well as audio book available. Most major Clean Language literature books, by contrast, are not available in either of those formats.

Thank you Caitlin Walker, and all of your collaborators, for bringing these stories and your journey to us in such wonderful detail.

[Johan Dahlbäck · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book about communication and systemic thinking for interaction between individuals and groups. The introduction of the subject follows the writers own path of understanding the subject, and is shown through case studies that are relevant for introducing the next level. As I already have clean language tools I have been using for more than a year I can't answer for how someone new to the subject takes it in through the book. The usefulness of the book for me will proably be to add to the context around clean language and seeing better when and where to use it.

[Jason Swanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an amazing journey to actually observe what humans are doing and saying in a systems theory type of way, and mirror communication in a way as to not corrupt someone else's thoughts with your own thoughts. This allows for a greater chance at empathetic communication as everyone is communicating through a different lens. The clean communication style is able to help everyone's lenses align to a greater degree.

[T. Laane · Rating 5 out of 5]

WTF only 11 reviews? I loved this book! It deserves the high 4.6 rating. "Clean Language" is such an important never-told subject (there are NO OTHER audio-books on that subject, only a few text books). It's well written with a lot of examples and stories - about the impact "Clean Language" and meaning of it all, too. If You’re into psychology and coaching, You have to read about these methods. This is a technique of digging inside of people's heads to solve problems, especially in a group. We all have metaphors that we understand the world with - the problem is that we don’t know them consciously, and of course neither do the group around us. And in the same way, it would help us A LOT if we’d know the metaphors that the group is understanding the world with. The book is about discovering those metaphors (yes also with people who are 100% certain they do NOT have any metaphors at all). David Grove ("founder" of "Clean Language") emphasizes that when people talk about metaphors, they are not lying / making them up, but giving opinions from the heart. What I loved most, is plenty of dialogs to show different ways of examples from the author’s past successes. I would love to read more books on that topic, it is truly valuable.
And I always praise books that are written by authors why are practical experts on that subject - well, THIS author waited for 10 years to make that book, always thinking that there is still not enough evidence or new content to write it. There totally was, she could have written it 5 years ago, she was too modest :) And I actually praise her criticism about her ways, usually people try to hide their failures or play it down - but she was her own biggest critic, in a good way.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first read this book seemed like some interesting stories and techniques. With the second read I discovered it is much more. Understanding that everyone has different invisible architecture underlying all of their thoughts, and that this architecture is wholly unique for every person, so much so that I can't even say one word and you think the same thing I'm thinking .. that's just mind-blowing. There really isn't a right or wrong, black or white, anywhere for anything. I think of the whole world differently now.

Because of this book I took a course with Caitlin Walker, and it's taken me even deeper into how to understand others and how to understand myself. I simply can't recommend this work highly enough.

[Pisketti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was keen to learn more about lean language and all its potential applications.
The subject was somewhat familiar but I knew I had a lot learn. I was not disappointed.
Systemic modelling, the use of metaphors in recognizing our own patterns and ways of making sense of the world was enlightening.
In the beginning Walker describes how she found clean language and how her journey started and then goes to document several cases where she with her colleagues achieved positive impact using these methods in various challenging environments.

[Mr R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhere between a personal memory and a how to. It felt slightly 'cultish' in expounding on the power of this coaching technique. The technique itself leans heavily on metaphor - I can be quite literally minded and that was a turn off for me. Though I did like a lot of the basic concepts - taking value statements and your own content out of questioning is powerful and I will adopt bit of it.

Content is OK, don't like delivery.

[Chris Downey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished the audiobook and it was a really enjoyable listen from start to finish. What a great example of taking a concept and evolving it into something that is both context aware and universally applicable. I hope to make use of the techniques going forward and weave them into how I facilitate. I was also at the same table as Caitlin at a recent conference workshop and she seems a lovely person too :-)

[Guillaume Bailly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for teams and organisations in search of a better way to collaborate. Warning: the tools described will challenge your thinking and will require some discipline to get the most out of them. Yet, I do believe that they are worth the effort and spending some time to practice and spread across the whole organisation.

[Antti Kirjavainen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book about an approach of group and team coaching. Lots of new insights even for experienced coaches. The clean language approach is novel and offers a different viewpoint to many other coaching stances.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Feels like a good summary of bits from Five Whys, EQ, How to talk to kids, and OKRs, mixed into a clean approach. I'll have to revisit the book for details but the basic method is super simple and effective.

[Arjan De · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reminded me why I like clean language so much. It is captivating, and feels realistic. There's a lot to unpack, and I'm fairly sure that I'll read it again to grasp everything I've read.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the juiciest and most intriguing books about group dynamics and collaboration ever. Looking forward to learning more and using this wonderful, insightful approach to respectful change.

[Riley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life changing! Opened my eyes to a whole new world of thinking.

[Lena Sobel · Rating 5 out of 5]

very good. nice to follow author's learning journey. very useful and inspiring