What
Is NLP?
"Leadership is lifting a person's
vision to higher sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher
standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations."
Peter Drucker
Discover how to lift your vision to higher sights by
using Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), now seen as one of the most powerful
communication tools available.
NLP
is the study of personal excellence and modelling behaviours which create
higher standards beyond people’s normal limitations. It provides some of the
quickest and most effective techniques to create leadership excellence and can
play an important part
in your personal development and growth.
NLP can help you recognise what you want to change in
yourself and provides tools for you to form better ‘programmes’ and responses
that help you change your own and others behaviour.
Neuro-Linguistic-Programming has
been called “the art and science of personal excellence” and “the study of the
structure of subjective experience”. It helps us understand the difference
between what we do that produces mediocre results or failure, and what we do
that brings about success, or excellence. It addresses questions like “How do
I do what I do well?” “How could I do it better?” “How can I acquire the skills
I admire in others?”
Significantly,
NLP is not confined to external observable behaviour, but includes the way we
think – the mental processes that control all our experience and achievements.
It deals with the whole structure of human experience – in effect what makes
people tick – attempting to model the thought processes, feelings and beliefs
that result in any behaviour. Especially, it is about communication – with
yourself as well as others.
“Neuro” refers to our thinking, or perception –
the brain processes and nervous system which form the basis of any behaviour.
Specifically, if refers to the neurological processes of sensing – seeing,
hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling.
“Linguistic” refers to the language patterns which
affect our understanding and upon which much communication is based. It is
hard to imagine conscious thought without language – how often do we have
conversations with ourselves, give ourselves advice, or a telling off?
“Programming” refers to the way we can organise and
program our thoughts, including feelings and beliefs, to bring about desired
changes in behaviour and outcome – much as we program a computer for specific
tasks with appropriate software.
In NLP, success is not measured on the basis of adherence to a script or
system, but according to whether what you do works. In any interpersonal
communication, this means knowing “where the other person is coming from” –
somehow bridging your different perspectives of the world. Understanding how
the other person thinks and feels is vital in establishing the rapport upon
which successful communication depends. It is a more effective basis for
achieving your outcome that the most sophisticated communication system or
carefully prepared presentation.
Communication
is to do with transferring understanding, from one person’s mind to someone
else’s. It starts with you and me rather than “them”. You may first have to
communicate with yourself; to know just what you want, and what effect your
desired outcome might have on other aspects of your work and life. Then you
have to get inside the other person’s mind – see things as they see them – so
that your communication will make sense to them. If it doesn’t, it is unlikely
to succeed, however clever the presentation.
The
meaning of your communication is the response you get. NLP puts the responsibility for the outcome of a
communication on the communicator. The first thing the communicator needs to be clear on is the outcome
he/she wants. If what he/she does, doesn’t work, he/she needs to do something
differently rather than blame the other person, by responding with comments
such as “I can’t make it any clearer”, “he can’t have been paying attention”,
“he got the wrong end of the stick”.
It is a precept
of NLP that you cannot not communicate. You can upset someone without
saying a word, or seemingly moving a muscle. Have a go at not having an effect
on the people around you for an hour or so. You may be quieter than usual,
take on a poker face, or cover yourself with a blanket, but you can be sure you
will still communicate something to somebody.
Historical Background
NLP started
more than twenty years ago at the University of Santa Cruz in the USA. Its founders were John Grinder, who was an assistant professor of linguistics, and
Richard Bandler, who was then a student of psychology and mathematics, having a
particular interest in psychotherapy.
Their research
‘modelled’ three psychotherapists who were known internationally to achieve
outstanding results in their work: Fritz Perls, an innovative psychotherapist
and the founder of Gestalt therapy; Virginia Satir, an outstanding family
therapist who has
been able to bring about resolutions of seemingly insurmountable relationship
problems; and Milton Erickson, the world famous hypnotherapist, who has been
described as the father of modern hypnotherapy.
Grinder and
Bandler’s aim was to establish the patterns of communication behaviour used by
successful therapists, which could then be passed on to others. Rather than a
grand theory, the result of their early work was a model, which can be used for
better communication, faster learning and personal achievement in any field.
NLP has now advanced rapidly, in discovering patterns of success in outstanding
people, and more widely, patterns of excellence in ordinary people in many
fields.
Strategies for Success
The significance
for you and me is that success strategies can be identified and emulated to
bring about equivalent results in whatever area we are working. Because skills
are transferable, you don’t need to depend on luck or the right parents. You
can learn the knowledge and skills of personal excellence; this is the
essence of NLP.
Have you
noticed how you can be really good at some things and not so good at other
things? Have you ever admired somebody else who seems to be much more skilled
at doing something than what you are? For example, you may admire another
person for:
·
Leadership skills.
·
Making decisions.
·
Self- motivation.
·
Managing money.
·
Managing weight.
·
Memorising names.
·
Networking at social
events.
·
Selling and
influencing skills.
There’s a whole
host of skills and traits that can be admired, understood and replicated. You
may find yourself asking “what makes this person so good at what he or she
does?”. What can you see this person do or be that you would like to be more
like? How are they successful? What can I do to manage my weight, money,
presenting skills etc in a new way?
Have you
considered your strategy for:
·
Influencing.
·
Motivating your team.
·
Making decisions and
problem solving.
·
Energising yourself.
·
Being creative.
·
Managing your time.
·
Listening.
What successful
strategies do you have? Which strategies would you, your teams or your
organisations like to improve upon?
Learning new or
changing old strategies for the better, will change your perceptions and
increase your performance.
Organisational Strategy Design
Organisations may
want to take best practice from other organisations where there is a skill,
product, service or reputation that they would like to be known for, replicate
or take on components that are viewed as beneficial to their organisation. To
stay ahead, it is good for organisations to benchmark with other organisations.
It’s good for organisations to learn where they can be and what they can do to
be more successful.
