A summary of the models involved in Systemic Modelling - a way of training groups of individuals to code their interactions, reduce conflict and attend to one another.

1. 1
Systemic Modelling - reference manual

2. 2
Introduction
Welcome
This manual gives an overview of the
main models and tools underlying our
behavioural change process. As a change
agency Training Attention employs an
underlying approach to paying attention
to what you want, reflecting on and
unpacking what is happening and agreeing
simple discrete actions to get more of what
you want.
If you want something to change, use this
book as a tool - ask someone to support
you, pick the most appropriate place in the
cycle to start, and get going!
What would you like
to have happen?
What would you like
to have happen now?
Outcome
Action
Feedback
Outcome
Action
Feedback
Victim
Rescuer
Persecutor
R
V
P
?
?
Clean questions: A way
to get curious about
what’s going on p.8
The drama triangle:
A model of stasis p.4
The triune brain: Getting into
the right state for change p.3
Problems to outcomes:
Shifting attention p.11
The change cycle: A
process for getting more
of what you want p.12
©2013 Caitlin Walker www.trainingattention.co.uk

3. What kind of things put you in your
reptilian brain?
What kind of things settle this brain?
What supports your learning brain to
be at its best?
What kind of things upset your
mammalian brain?
What kind of things settle this brain?
3
Getting into the right state for change
Being in a good state of mind before we begin can make all the difference to
getting the most from the change process. One way of thinking about our state is
to use Paul MacLean’s Triune Brain Model. Although it isn’t strictly accurate given
current knowledge of how the brain works, it’s a very useful model for checking
our emotional state. The rest of this manual depends on engaging the‘learning’
brain by ensuring that the other levels have been taken care of.
Reptilian
Mammalian
Learning brain
(neocortical)
(limbic)
The reptilian brain is the oldest part
of your brain, and its function is to
keep you alive. When it is triggered it
can put you into fight, flight or freeze.
If you are tired, cold, hungry or thirsty,
the reptilian brain is more likely to be
triggered and you may over-react to
situations.
The mammalian brain is responsible
for emotional safety, social behaviour,
beliefs/values and laying things down
in long term memory. We take care
of this brain through agreeing shared
rules, choosing the right people to be
with and finding the environments
that suit us.
The neo-cortex is the part of your
brain responsible for learning new
things. It detects patterns, makes
connections and comes up with
creative solutions. In order for it to
work at its best, the other two brains
must be taken care of.

4. 4
The Drama Triangle
Reptilian
Mammalian
Learning brain
(neocortical)
(limbic)
The fact that different people need different
things to get what they want often leads to
‘drama’states. In a drama state, something is
wrong and someone is to blame, but as no one
takes responsibility nothing changes.
R
V
P

5. 5
“Look, I’m only trying
to help ...”
“Everyone knows
it’s your fault ...”
“You’re wrong.”
“He does it
deliberately ...”
“If it weren’t for you,
things would be OK ...”
“I’m the one who
always has to ...”
“Don’t worry,
I’ll do that for
you ...”
“I can’t say no
because ...”
“Nothing ever
changes ...”
“We could never
do that ...”
“She won’t ... so I
can’t ...”
“I’ve tried but it’s
no use ...”
“Yes but yes but
yes but ...”
From a persecutor position a
person is likely to believe that it
is the other party that needs to
change.
From a victim position a person
is likely to believe that they are
powerless to effect any change.
From a rescuer position a person is likely to:
t believe they are helping everyone else
t train other people to behave like victims or
disempower them
t pacify persecutors and build up latent anger
towards them
t burn out as what they do is unsustainable
Anyone who is in a drama position is likely to look
for evidence that proves their point, and ignore
evidence that contradicts it.
They are unlikely to be taking any personal
responsibility for change.
Persecutor
Victim
Rescuer
I’m OK,
You’re not OK
I’m OK,
They’re not OK
I’m not OK
R
V
P
www.karpmandramatriangle.com

6. Moving from dramas to outcomes
6
I’m OK,
You’re not OK
I’m OK,
They’re not OK
I’m not OK
The rest of this manual gives a series of tools that
stimulate curiosity about the situation then focus
attention on the outcomes each of us want to
achieve and the actions that will get us there.
R
V
P

7. 7
You’re OK, I’m OK.
What do we want to
have happen?
Outcome
Action
Feedback
©2013 Caitlin Walker www.trainingattention.co.uk

8. Clean questions
8
Clean questions were devised by David
Grove, a Maori psychotherapist working in
America, the UK and New Zealand. It was
originally designed for use in a therapeutic
context, to be used solely with individuals.
Caitlin Walker developed his work for
use between individuals in a group, i.e.
using it not just as a tool for modelling
an individual’s system, but for modelling
a system of individuals in support of
organisational change.
And ______(summarise) ...
And when _____ (focus), ...
Clean questions should be thought of less
as questions and more as pointers that train
attention to particular aspects of the other
person’s mental model. Asking these kinds
of questions stimulates curiosity and forces
us out of the drama triangle, because they
stop us from inputting our own beliefs and
interpretations.
Learning to model with clean questions is a
skill that takes time to master. Initially the
questions can feel like a barrier to“normal”
conversation, but
with time they start
to act more as“filters”,
reducing noise by preventing
us from forcing our own interpretation on
what the other person is saying. This then
trains our attention in“normal”conversations
to separate our interpretation of what
someone says from what she actually means.
... what kind of ____ is that?
... is there anything
else about ____ ?
... does ____ have a
size or a shape?
... what happens
just before?
... where does
____ come from?
... then what
happens?
... what happens
next?
... where is ____ ?
attributes
sequence
metaphor
location
... whereabouts is ____ ?
... that’s like what?
?
?

9. Start by
asking any of the clean questions
about any part of the initial statement.
Use the full range of questions to build a robust model. Some ques-
tions will be more useful to the listener than others. If the
question falls flat, just ask a different one.
If any of the
preliminary answers seem interesting or
catch your attention, ask a secondary question to expand further,
though try to avoid asking“that’s like what?”about an answer that’s already a metaphor.
While you’re practising, keep your attention close to the focus of the session: After asking
a secondary question, use“and ...”to summarise key words, bringing the
coachee’s focus back to the focus statement.
Initial
question
Secondary
question
When _____, that’s like
what?
Start here
... where does
____ come from?
9
Whatever the person’s first
statement is, think of this as
the“focus”of your modelling
and build outwards from here.
... is there anything
else about _____?
... whereabouts
is _____?
... does _____ have a
size or a shape?
... what kind of
____ is that?
... that’s like
what?
... where is
____?
... what happens
next?
... what happens
just before?
?
?
... then what
happens?
©2013 Caitlin Walker www.trainingattention.co.uk

10. “A busy bee”
“Flying from flower to
flower, never stopping
more than a few minutes”
“I hate being
interrupted”
“Very serious and
on my own”
“When I’ve visited enough
flowers I like to rest and
think”
“About six different
topics”
“I like to stay in my
room to rest and
recap”
“I’m always worried I’ve
missed an important
point so I like to learn
widely and keep
checking back”
“I keep lovely neat
notes that make
really good sense
to me”
What kind of busy?
And when you’ve visited
enough flowers you like
to rest and think. Is there
anything else about enough?
And really good notes and
busy bee and flying from
flower to flower, and is there
anything else about flying?
And is there anything else
about the busy bee?
And when busy, what
happens next?
And where does the busy
of that bee come from?
And rest and recap and
keep checking back and
what kind of checking?
And busy bee, very
serious and on my own.
And whereabouts is on
my own?
When you’re learning at your
best, you’re like what?
8
1
4
3
7
6
2
5
9
Clean modelling example
10
Learning to model using clean language is an excellent discipline for
becoming more open to what is actually going on for other people,
rather than assuming that we have all the answers. This helps us to
break through the inertia of drama states in which everyone is right,
nobody takes responsibility, and nothing changes. Indeed, everyone
is listened to, ideas are clarified and change can happen.
©2013 Caitlin Walker www.trainingattention.co.uk

11. 11
Switching from problem to outcome focus
Problem focus Outcome focus
“I feel completely
overwhelmed”
“I want to have time
to think”
“I’m surrounded by
things I can’t control ...”
“Out of the office,
with the team ...”
“I talk to my
managers about it ...”
“I go home from
work stressed ...”
“Like finding a
quiet oasis ...”
“It’s like travelling
without a map ...”
“Enough time to
feel refreshed ...”
“My boss is
ineffectual ...”
“I organise time
in advance ...”
... and what would you
like to have happen?
?
?
? ?
?
? ?
?
?
When modelling, it is important that
you can tell whether the focus is on a
problem or an outcome. Focusing on
problems can be useful for exploring
the situation and“pacing”with where
the client’s attention is, but is unlikely to
lead to change and may even reinforce
the patterns that have led to the drama
situation.
This is not a one-off switch. In
modelling the situation the person
may well raise additional problems
associated with the outcome. The
important thing is to be aware of where
the attention is, and where possible to
end on an outcome that can be taken
through the change cycle.
The simplest way to switch
to an outcome focus is to
periodically ask“what would
you like to have happen?” It
may take a while modelling
the problem and you may
have to ask this question
several times before the
person shifts their attention,
but it’s crucial that the
outcome is one that they have
stated for themselves.
www.cleanlanguage.co.uk

12. 12
Clean Setup
Once you’re clear about what’s been
happening and what outcome you’d like
to focus on, you can take the outcome
through the change cycle.
The first step in this cycle is the Clean
Setup. This is a way of mentally
rehearsing the outcome you want to
achieve. The Clean Setup helps to:
t Make the outcome more tangible by
determining what the evidence will
be that you are achieving it
t Get you into the state you need to
be in to achieve it
t Put the responsibility for achieving
the outcome firmly in your court
t Get other people clear about how
they can best help
The questions in the Clean Setup are
really just an adaptation of the regular
clean questions above, adapted to focus
on setting up an outcome.
You can use two or three clean
questions during the Setup to help
people expand their thinking.
The Clean Setup can be used as a tool
to set outcomes independently of the
formal change cycle, but it does need a
clear frame if it is to make sense.
For example, if you’re going to run a
Clean Setup at the start of a meeting,
the attendees will probably want to
know your purpose for the meeting
before you ask them what they want it
to be like.
t For this to go just the way you’d
like it to, it will be like what?
What will we/you see or hear?
What will we/you see or hear?
t You’ll need to be like what?
t What support or resources will
you need?
Clean Setup
Outcome
Action
Feedback
©2013 Caitlin Walker www.trainingattention.co.uk

13. 13
Developmental Tasks
Once you have a clearly defined
outcome, setting yourself a
Developmental Task is a great way
to start developing your behavioural
flexibility in that direction.
To set yourself a Developmental Task,
think“what is the smallest thing I could
do now that would be an example of
and/or move towards the outcome I
want to experience?”
For example, if you tend to focus on
negatives in a situation, you could
set yourself a task to say one positive
comment each hour, with colleagues
giving you a thumbs up whenever they
hear you taking a positive viewpoint.
If you tend to dominate meetings, you
could set yourself a task to summarise
other people’s point of view and then
ask one clean question to clarify before
responding. Colleagues could put their
hands over their ears when they notice
you speaking over someone, and give
you their full attention with eye contact
and silence when you ask a clean
question.
A good Developmental Task is:
t c completely within your sphere of
control
t designed to stretch you just enough
to pull you out of your normal
patterns, but not so much as to spoil
your performance
t shared with other people so they
can give you feedback about what
they’re noticing. If the change is
primarily internal, you may need to
invent a way of indicating to people
that you are doing it
t noticeable - it may be useful to try
something that’s conspicuously out-
of-the-norm temporarily in order to
emphasise the change
t Name one thing you can do that
will be an example of the outcome
you have set?
What will we see or hear that will let
us know you are doing it?
... or aren’t doing it?
What do you want us to do when
we see you are doing it?
... or aren’t doing it?
Developmental
Task
©2013 Caitlin Walker www.trainingattention.co.uk

14. 14
t What’s working well?
t What’s not working so well? / What
would work better?
What’s the evidence (what have you
seen or heard)?
What’s your interpretation?
What’s the impact?
Clean feedback
Clean feedback
Giving feedback cleanly means
describing what you have seen or heard
(the evidence) and keeping it separate
from what you’ve taken the behaviour
to mean (the interpretation).
For example, instead of saying
“You were very confident”
you would say
“You held your head high, stood still and made eye
contact across the whole group as you spoke, and I
interpreted this as you being confident”.
Giving clean feedback is hard! Most
of the time we just assume that our
interpretations of the world are correct,
and so the feedback we give tends
to project our own prejudices and
perspectives in a way that can easily
lead back into drama.
It can be helpful to practise with
non-important things to get good at
describing what actually happened,
rather than just recounting your
interpretation of it.
When giving feedback:
t Notice when you are too emotional
(or in the wrong brain) to do it
cleanly. Change your state, take
time to reflect, or ask someone to
help you model what’s going on
t Notice that the feedback you give
reflects your own patterns as well as
those of the person you are giving
it to. For example, telling someone
their delivery was too slow should
also inform you of your pattern of
wanting information at a faster pace
Clean feedback is a systemic process
in that both the giver and the receiver
learn from the exchange.
©2013 Caitlin Walker www.trainingattention.co.uk

15. 15
The change cycle: Putting it all together
Change
These three tools together give us
a process for turning outcomes into
action via feedback. Doing this process
formally and regularly means it can
become ingrained in your thinking and
start to feel effortless.
t By completing a clean setup you
are mentally rehearsing a positive
outcome
t By setting a developmental task you
are developing your behavioural
flexibility and training your attention
outside of your normal patterns
t By getting feedback you can reflect
and learn and bring that awareness
into what you can do next
What would you like
to have happen?
What would you like
to have happen now?
Outcome
Action
Feedback
Outcome
Action
Feedback
Victim
Rescuer
Persecutor
R
V
P
?
?
©2013 Caitlin Walker www.trainingattention.co.uk

16. 16 All content ©2012 Delta 7 Change Ltd
Delta 7
Change Through Dialogue
©2013 Caitlin Walker www.trainingattention.co.uk