Introducing NLP by Sue Knight

Institute of Personnel and Development, 1999

ISBN 0-85292-772-X

 

What is NLP?

 

NLP has a wide variety of applications:

  • Developed in 1975 by Richard Bandler and John Grinder
  • Neuro = our thinking patterns
  • Linguistic = Our inner dialogue
  • Programming = Our strategies to get results

 

Applications are

  • building relationships with contacts at work
  • develop skills of self-management
  • making change stick
  • find out what you really want
  • build skills of mentoring
  • develop coaching skills
  • inspire and motivate those around you
  • develop skills to facilitate change
  • encourage accountability

 

 

Getting Through

 

Build rapport with others by matching their style

  • are they visual, auditory or kinaesthetic?
  • Are they problem oriented or desired-future-state oriented?
  • Look at eye movements, for example it is common for people to look to their left when thinking of the past, you in the eye when thinking of the present and to their right when thinking of the future, but there are exceptions

 

Leading the Way

 

Sometimes the building bricks of NLP are defined as:

  • establishing rapport
  • create a compelling direction
  • sensitivity towards yourself and others
  • flexibility to make new choices if what you are doing isn’t working

 

Make your goals achievable:

  • picture what you really want
  • is the goal within your control?
  • Does it fit in with your long term goals?
  • What is the payoff?
  • Is it compelling?
  • Are you willing to pay the price?
  • What is the first step?

 

Communicate your goals to motivate others to work towards the same goal.

 

Negotiating the Journey

 

Appreciate situations from different perspectives:

  • look at the situation from your point of view
  • from the other person in the situation’s point of view
  • from that of a neutral observer

 

Try to think win/win

 

Making Meanings that work for you

 

Reframing means trying to look at things that upset you in a more positive way. For example criticism can be seen as feedback and a form of learning.

 

Examine your own beliefs and see if any are holding you back from what you want to achieve. For example do you think we cannot change how we are, we are at the mercy of fate etc? Such views prevent us from believing we can make change happen.

 

  • There is learning in everything that happens
  • The map is not the territory
  • There is a solution to every problem
  • There is no failure, only feedback

 

Making Change Stick

 

We have associations with things that affect our mood for good and bad. We can use these associations to create a positive frame of mind. An anchor is a trigger to quickly create the mood from a positive association – for example touching your earlobe can be used to trigger your positive mental state.

 

This can also be used with others – get people to feel positive about something that went well and use this feeling to move towards feeling positive about other tasks and projects.

 

Spatial anchors can be used when presenting to fill a particular area with a positive association, and use that to make a link to a new idea you wish to have a positive association.

 

Do Unto Others

 

Learn to communicate with both the conscious and the unconscious mind. Analyse a problem at the following levels:

 

  • What for – what is my overall purpose?
  • Who? What kind of person am I?
  • Why? What is important to me?
  • How? How do I do what I do?
  • What? What do I typically do?
  • Where? Where do I want to do what I do?

 

 

Taking Your Learning Further

 

Institute of Personnel and Development web site: www.idp.co.uk


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