Overview of Amphora's experience using Clean Language and Systemic Modelling in Business

1. Amphora & Clean
Simon Coles
2014-01-17
simonc@amphora-research.com
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2. Intro to Amphora
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Niche software company focusing on Record
Keeping software for R&D Scientists
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Privately held, bootstrapped
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Over 10 years old, profitable, no debt
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Customers all over the world, mostly in North
America and Europe
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One of the few (the only?) surviving early vendors
in this space
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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3. Sales Challenges
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Sorting out sales is the key to growth and profitability
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Typically a complex sale
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Selling something the prospect hasn’t bought before (we’re solving a latent
problem)
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•
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Sales needs to guide prospects, rather than convince
Help them understand their problem and company
“Soft” sales approach
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We manage the business for the long term
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If we do the right thing by prospects and our customers they’ll reward
us
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This is a hard skill set and attitude to hire
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But it is paying off now, huge amount of referral activity
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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4. Technical Challenges
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Staring at a computer screen all your life isn’t normal
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The desire to do this is seldom correlated with high
communication skills
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The issues which need to be discussed are complex
and often involve subtleties which are easily missed
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Left to their own devices technical teams can be a
hotbed of politics and resentment
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And that’s without considering relations with other
departments
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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5. “Software development is composed of two
primary activities: learning and
communication.”
“Apprenticeship Patterns” by Dave Hoover and Adewale Oshineye
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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6. Organisational Challenges
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Quality of internal relationships is key to
productivity and innovation
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Particularly between different groups, and those
groups have little in common
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This is often the first time our employees have
direct, intimate exposure to other disciplines
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Then throw travel and remote work into the mix…
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Keeping everyone aligned is crucial, and that
means communication
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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7. 3 Pronged Strategy
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Everyone is trained in Clean Questioning
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Everyone is Neuroprofiled, results shared openly
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Monthly Life Coaching
!
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All of these are in the culture
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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8. The Story
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Many years ago Caitlin Walker came and taught
Clean Questioning and Metaphor at New
Information Paradigms
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This directly led to the ELN product
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Helped us work in a new developing area
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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9. Book Plug
(I’m almost famous!)
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The initial metaphor
development is written up in
Caitlin’s upcoming book
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Really helped us identify the
adoption and architectural
issues inherent in this new
market
•
“Systemic Modelling - Adventures in Living,
Learning and Working Collaboratively”
Useful both internally and also
for external discussions
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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10. Fast Forward
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As is the way, I was doing most of the sales effort
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We had sales people, but were struggling to scale
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Sales people were managing the sales
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But I was doing all the meetings
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Didn’t work if someone else did it
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Something was missing
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My time was becoming a real bottleneck and it was
starting to be a barrier to growth
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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11. Caitlin Returns
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Nearly a decade later, I find Caitlin again
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This time we did two important things for the sales
process
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A metaphor for what I do in sales meetings so I
could pass it on
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Taught all of the sales people Clean Questioning
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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12. Clean and Sales
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Clean Questioning in sales is awesome
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Completely changes the dynamic
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Allows you to go into situations you wouldn’t have
done before
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Suits our “Soft” sales approach extremely well
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Our sales approach is a major competitive
differentiation, we often win deals because we’re
not “Like the other guys”
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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13. Clean Everywhere Else
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We then taught everyone else Clean and Systemic
Modelling
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New recruits get it as part of internal training
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Helpful for
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Understanding how people look at the world
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How they work at their best
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How to communicate respectfully
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How to resolve issues
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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14. Neuroprofiling
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Then we started to get interested in how people’s
brains work
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Turns out this is fascinating
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Working with Caitlin and colleagues we
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Gave everyone an IQ test and produced a profile
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Used that to explore how individuals can work at
their best
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And how the rest of us can help
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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15. Neuroprofiling
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Turns out that everyone is different, especially
when you have different professions
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Hugely helpful for everyone
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Raises awareness when talking with external
parties as well
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Significant impact in software design,
documentation etc.
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Helps us be more productive, and more
harmonious
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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16. Life Coaching
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Regular Monthly thing for everyone
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“Compassionate Coaching”
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Sessions are completely confidential and can be
on any subject (personal or work)
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Everyone nervous at first but greatly valued
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Making it a general thing is important, no stigma
involved
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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17. Corporate Summary
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Clean helped us clarify the product
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Clean helped us sell the product
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Clean helps us work together
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Neurodiversity helps us understand each other
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Neurodiversity helps us get the best from ourselves
and each other
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Regular Coaching settles everyone and helps
resolve issues before they become issues
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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18. Unexpected Stuff
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Helped our family relationships
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e.g. your wife isn’t being obstinate, that’s how her
brain works (and vice versa!)
Helped us be better parents
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More insight into how people learn
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More openness in allowing children to explore
how their brains work
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Clean questioning is excellent for talking with
Children
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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19. Unexpected Stuff
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When you are using your brain in the way that is most natural
you have a lot more fun
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Asking someone to do something in their “Neuro sweet spot”
is like asking them to be paid to do their hobby
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It’s no burden to swap activities between people
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e.g.
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Some people love organising stuff, get real pleasure out of
bringing order to chaos
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Some people really enjoy reading and summarising
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Some people love finding the one number that’s out of
whack in a spreadsheet of financial detail
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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20. Recommendations
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Clean is part of the basic skill set everyone should have
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Neuroprofiling is awesome for individuals and teams
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Life Coaching is hugely hugely helpful
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Problems
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You need the culture right to pull it off, some of this
might backfire without a lot of trust
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In my experience Caitlin’s skill set and approach is
unique - I’ve tried other people/programmes without
success
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Fortunately she’s very keen on self-sustaining work
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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21. Recommendations
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Life Coaching can/should be done ASAP
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It is expensive but well worth it
Start with the senior team - lead from the front
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•
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Find a coach you are comfortable with
There are many different styles, don’t be afraid to
experiment
Then roll it out to everyone, without exception
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1 session a month
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Everyone is expected to have a session
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Completely confidential (and make sure people feel this)
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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22. Recommendations
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Then roll out Clean Questioning
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Start with a small group, probably senior managers
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You can train internally but would recommend
someone like Caitlin for
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•
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Group training
Difficult situations e.g. people who aren’t that
used to talking or where there is discord
Note that Clean is a multi-faceted tool and will bring
a myriad of benefits
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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23. Recommendations
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Life Coaching and Clean are probably a good
basis for any company
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You can stop there if you want
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Once those are embedded, you could look at
Neuroprofiling if you feel your culture can handle it
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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24. Neuroprofiling
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Really insightful for individuals and groups
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Needs to be handled with sensitivity but also a firm hand
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Don’t start it if there’s any hint of insecurity or politics in
the organisation
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Be careful how you position and implement it, be aware
of the HR issues
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You will almost certainly need external assistance
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As far as I know Training Attention are the only ones
providing this
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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25. Questions
(After the presentation there were questions. These
additional slides cover a bit of what was asked)
simonc@amphora-research.com
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26. Q: Risk of people being
typecast
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When we Neuroprofiled people, was there a risk of them then being
defined by their profile, and restricted in what roles/tasks they perform?
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Answer: Not really
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Everyone is in the right jobs, they are all well qualified and
performing well
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This is about understanding ourselves and each other better
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The Neuroprofile doesn’t really tell you what someone’s real-world
capability is, more how they use their brain to get it
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With this knowledge, we can easily help them be more effective and
happy with small little changes
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If you want to know what someone is capable of… look at what they
do in the real world!
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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27. Q: Example outcomes of
Neuroprofiling
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Don’t give X big spreadsheets of lots of numbers
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Can easily understand the concepts, it is the presentation which
makes it hard
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Split into 3 less dense spreadsheets is much more digestible
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Don’t expect X to research and summarise large blocks of text. Y
is much better at that (and enjoys it).
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X’s Verbal is so high he really can talk, think 3 steps ahead, and
resolve the technical issue - at the same time. But don’t ask him to
read notes while doing it.
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Y really needs to pre-plan things because they can’t think on their
feet so well, but that means they are very insightful about strategy
etc.
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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28. Q: Example of Clean
Interactions
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Sales issue being discussed, a techie joins in the conversation
with a clean question which leads to a new product resolving the
sales issue
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Techies are excellent debuggers!
Clean gives them a voice
Manager makes an “opaque” decision which no one
understands
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Instead of allowing the confusion to continue, Clean Questions
deployed to challenge/clarify in a non-threatening way
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Turns out manager was unconsciously using a variety of
additional considerations in the decision
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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29. Summary
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If you want a miserable workplace, avoid Clean
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If you want a happy, empowered, joyful workplace give everyone the gift of Clean Questioning
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If your company’s success is based on Knowledge
Worker productivity
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You’ll have a lot more fun
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You’ll probably make more money as well
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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30. Pointers
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Caitlin’s TED talk which is a good intro to Clean
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Caitlin’s book (when it comes out)
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Clean Coaching book
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Sort your culture out… :-)
!
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Happy to be contacted if you would like to discuss
further
simon.coles@amphora-research.com
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