Registered users of our cue cards received an update a few days ago – we’ve added a sixth Clean Language question.

The new question is the one at the bottom of the card: Is there a relationship between X and Y?

As with all the Clean questions, the coach (or the player in the coaching role in our game 15-minute FOTO) replaces any placeholders (the X and Y here) with words or phrases previously spoken by the client (or player in that role). Both in the game and in Clean Language generally, the coach’s job isn’t to offer/impose advice, but to help the client explore some landscape and build up some kind of model of it.

In 15-minute FOTO (the FOTO standing for “From Obstacles To Outcomes”), that landscape consists initially of goals and obstacles to those goals. Then comes the chance to discover outcomes hiding behind those obstacles, more outcomes behind those outcomes, outcomes that are more abstract or more specific, intermediate outcomes (stepping stones), and so on.

Technically, these outcomes are the raw material from which maps (plans), options, and then actions are generated. In this regard they’re a great unit of currency, as they don’t force us to choose (or prescribe) solutions too early. It’s worth spelling out also that they describe things that we want; instead of worrying about buy-in for change, we start with it!

If you’ve read the preview chapter you’ll remember a description of the game but not this new question. This isn’t an oversight. It is saved for chapter 2, Exploration, where it provides the opportunity for connections to be explored between the outcomes generated after debriefing the Agendashift survey and the goals and other high level outcomes captured during Discovery (chapter 1, the preview chapter).

Health warning

• Is there a relationship between X and Y?

One reason for delaying this question’s introduction is that it might be asked judgmentally, breaking the flow of the game (or worse). It is better introduced second time around, when players already have a good feel for how the questions work.

Get yours

Both of these free resources (and more) are available via  www.agendshift.com/resources:

• A PDF of the cue cards (I get mine printed on satin card, A5 size)
• The preview chapter of the book (PDF also); this includes a description of the 15-minute FOTO game

Questions? Comments? Discuss this post right here, in our LinkedIn group, or in the #cleanlanguage channel in our Slack community. Or just drop me a line.

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