"LKB “CLEAN in PARIS”

Train to become a CLEAN Coach in FRANCE

5 modules of 2 days each once every 2 months +
2 day community assessment process on completing the course

(Note: This programme is conducted in French only. Download the French programme here)

What is CLEAN Coaching?

Processes that help the client to engage with his own “material” from whence solutions will emerge, with a minimum of interference from the coach and his own “material”. These processes use specifically defined questions, spaces and numbers. They are deceptively simple in appearance but require training and discipline to use them intelligently and humbly with a client. The power to influence change in the client, inherent in these processes, does not depend on the coach but they do ask the coach to treat them with respect and to use them wisely. This work is the work of David John Grove adapted for use in the coaching field.

What is a CLEAN Coach?

Someone who can facilitate the emergence of the client’s ‘story’ and who is comfortable using CLEAN questions, space or numbers to do so.

Someone who can trust that the process will co facilitate the client’s work

Someone who has developed enough internal discipline to hold the client in a state of creative tension long enough for the client to engage with his ‘inner world’. Once the client is engaging with his own world and not with that of the coach, information pertinent to his objective will emerge.

Someone who is at ease with bottom up processes rather than top down solution seeking (a coach!!)

Someone who has already acquired the basics of coaching and who is familiar with his own ‘story’ and has developed some awareness of the entanglement of the Self and the Story and the way it plays out in daily life particularly under stress.

Someone who is at ease with vulnerable states and who can listen and question someone’s vulnerable state without judgement.

Pioneering CLEAN in France

After David’s death I decided to take the plunge and dare to teach his work to other coaches pretty much in the same manner as I had become a founding member of SFCoach and the creator of my own school of coaching. Click here to see the first group to pioneer with me in Marseille.

As an MCC with the International Coach Federation I have delivered a number of workshops at European conferences. I pioneered David’s work on CLEAN numbers (Emergent Knowledge) in Geneva 2008 and in Madrid as a keynote speaker also in 2008. Click here to access the slides I used at the Madrid ICF Conference and to try out an exercise yourself.

The Story of David John Grove

David died suddenly of a heart attack in Kansas City on January 8, 2008 at the age of 57. He left behind him a wealth of ideas and friends from all over the world. He was a fellow New Zealander and I met him in a garden in Normandy, France in 2002. He generously shared his latest ideas and experiences once a year in November with a small group of us who gathered together for 4 days of personal journeying at La Bouvetière (the home of Jennifer de Gandt in Normandy). We called it a “salon” so as to differentiate it from workshops and trainings which tend, in general, to be top down learning events.

I describe some of my experiences during these “salons” in the “Out & About” part of this website so suffice to say here that my personal work with David took me on a journey deep into the soul where I do believe all healing takes place. I do know that I completed my own journey with him in November 2007 and was just beginning, like a number of other people from the group in Normandy, to develop some ideas and techniques to explore with teams in companies before he left for his final trip to the States. The last time I saw him was November 29th, 2007 when he came to one of my coach supervision groups in Paris.

The gyroscope – device for visiting the spaces of the mind from multiple angles
– a David invention -

David Grove - Creator of Three CLEAN Processes:

CLEAN Language – work with metaphor, mapping inner worlds, perceptual space and time, working bottom up…..

CLEAN Space – small world networks, edges, iteration, scaling…….

CLEAN Numbers – the Power of Six, cardinal & ordinal numbers, emergence….

This is of course a gross over simplification of the man’s genius and the wealth of his contribution to the field of therapy and latterly to the field of coaching. You will get a much more in depth look into his work via the website where you will find many articles written by Penny Tompkins & James Lawley. They modelled his work over several years and produced a book in 2000: “Metaphors in Mind”. It is THE reference book on his work on CLEAN Language but it is also their own contribution to the field which they refer to as Symbolic Modelling. His most recent work is beautifully captured in Philip Harland’s book (about to be published) “The Joy of Six”. You will find more information via his website.

Jennifer de Gandt who hosted David in France and with whom he explored his work on Emergent Knowledge can be reached via www.innovativepathways.net.

Why pay for training when all the material is accessible via the web?

Because doing it and getting feedback from your ‘client’ is totally different from just reading about it.

Because all three processes require an internal discipline that come from the practice of contemplative or meditative activities. Holding the space for your client so that he can go ‘inside’ and being able to finely tune your capacity to ask questions that will facilitate this process requires a lot of practice and humility. As David said, ‘you’re only as good as your next question’.

Because you need to be trained by someone who knows the field of coaching and has experimented with the applications of David’s work in the field. It is also valuable to be as close to the Source as possible.

Who is offering training in CLEAN?

In France: Lynne Burney (me!!) and you are on my website at the moment!!) Click here to download the programme and the calendar

In the UK: Wendy Sullivan & Judy Rees

Who is offering associated CLEAN workshops in France?

Jennifer de Gandt
Silvie de Clerck