​The meaning of NLP is simple. It is an epistemology – a model of how we know what we know. How do you know that you
like something or dislike something? How do you know that something like a bill you have paid is in the past or an unpaid bill is something in the future? Neuro linguistic programming is a jigsaw puzzle of your mind. It teaches you where information is stored and how to retrieve it easily. It also contains the methodology of eradicating negativity fast and permanently…

In one of my earlier blogs “What is NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming)?” I defined NLP as an epistemology – a model of how we know what we know. Many people ask “is it beneficial to learn NLP?” As human beings we think and feel then apply language to our actions. These produce results in our lives whether in our career or family contexts. So just imagine if you knew how to change your thoughts and feelings? And if you had language models to influence others? Wouldn’t these produce amazing results in your life?

Well this is what NLP Training does. I teach you models that produce accelerated outcomes, ones that high performers use to achieve outstanding performance. And why wouldn’t it? After all NLP was created by two geniuses in the late 70’s. Co-founded by a Professor of Linguistics, Dr. John Grinder and a computer scientist, Richard Bandler, I had the pleasure of meeting them both on many occasions. I wanted to learn NLP from the masters themselves! So you may be wondering what NLP stands for?

Neuro
We process our experience through the five senses – what we see, hear, feel, taste and smell. Our filtering through values
and beliefs for instance differs from one person to another. We capture and store these experiences.

Linguistic​
We then assign our own meaning to the data we have received and apply verbal and non-verbal language to what we have
captured above in the five senses.

Programming
Our unconscious mind works in patterns which we call habits – good and bad. We are programmed emotionally from young.
We are able to change/break these patterns and install new ones that produce better results.

NLP consists of more than 100 processes, each one for a specific problem. It caters to every type of issue found in a person’s life. Whether it is resolving team conflict, deepening rapport with friends, managing a state of mind to achieve personal goals or understanding how values drive motivation, there is a process for it. The first level of an NLP course that is certified, is the NLP Practitioner program. It starts off by helping to shift mindsets and work with context rather than content.

This migration to resolve issues out of the content of an experience creates accelerated results. We do not need to ask WHY, WHO, WHAT, WHEN or WHERE an experience occurred. For example, if you know the language of influence and use its structure to negotiate a sale or engage your child in a conversation, just imagine the stress you could ooad at the workplace or home.

When an organisation views NLP training as an investment it is an awesome step in re-directing the mindset of employees towards the corporate mission. This leads to clearer and transparent communication which harnesses engagement and ultimately higher bottom line results. It is worth every dollar spent for everyone in the organisation tolearn NLP. Which corporate wouldn’t want such a return on investment? I have seen successful companies get their money’s worth signing up for an NLP course in the following ways:

They invest in upgrading employee skills during downtime, prepared to hit the ground running when good times come around again. It is highly recommended that the NLP program be rolled out over several months to allow employees time to assimilate knowledge learnt and integrate application in small chunks. They launch a corporate wide NLP course to create a common language that opens up communication and transparency.

Here are three major reasons why an NLP program is worth much more than the corporate’s initial investment:

1. Mindset shifts create a healthier culture of working with context and this leads to happier people who take charge. This reduces hours lost in sick leave, conflict resolution and demotivated staff who drag their feet getting things done. A case in point is the CEO who hired me to “make his people happy”. He felt that if his people were happy at work and at home, the rest would fall in place. It was a win-win situation all round. Within 6 months of conducting the NLP program, bottom line results started to spike and once the momentum began, there was no turning back.
   
2. The current workplace scenario not only requires producing exceptional performance but more importantly to behaviour and motivate your team to greater outcomes. An NLP course gives you the tools for effectiveness. NLP training would first teach you to identify the leverage points for making behaviour change. This sets the stage to solve problems and improve team effectiveness fast, working within the context of a person’s experience rather than getting into an endless “he said, she said” altercation.
3. Improving sales is at the heart of business generation and this is why many organisations who sign up for an NLP course always start with their sales force. When the sales force is put through the steps of learning how to build rapport, match language, negotiate effectively and motivate clients there’s no stopping the upward sales curve. Ideally, I would recommend that you learn NLP face-to-face but in the current Covid scenario I’ve changed my format to an NLP online course, blending components of pre-study in audio and book formats plus face-to- face, to pull it all together.
   

I find that this has its advantages too, allowing participants to learn through different styles by engaging in all their five senses. There are myriad reasons why an NLP training is well worth the time and money invested in it. With such a range of processes at your disposal there will always be a solution for any problem in your organisation. An organisation is only as good as its people. Take care of the people and the rest will fall in place.

​Knowing that NLP training is an effective way to empower people in your organisation to solve problems and perform at their optimum level, doesn’t it make sense to pave the way for them?

​Following on from our blog about how to solve problems with Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), a common corporate application is to model high performers. After all, the entire body of knowledge that is called NLP today, emerged from modelling high performers in the field of psychotherapy.
 
Today, we need to think different. We need to understand context of the environment we are in, the players we are up against and the resources needed to achieve our Vision.
 
Whether in an organisation or personally, the ability to extract “excellence strategies” from a high performer with a view to transference to the team, is fundamental to success.
 
Wouldn’t every senior leader want this? Isn’t this something a parent could teach their child?
 
Setting ourselves apart from the masses is the key. Eliciting internal strategies of high performers is knowledge that most do not have. An NLP Practitioner Certification course is the starting point to learn the ropes.
 
A lady in one of my programs found she had no internal dialogue when she was ready to close a deal. She was a high performer in sales. Others in the sales team elicited their closing strategies and realised that they could eliminate this aspect of what they did.
 
True to form, team performance elevated to greater heights as soon as some of them amended their internal strategies. It was only one step that needed a change.
 
Many said it was unbelievable. They wished they had learnt it before. Wouldn’t you want the same for your teams?
 

​Post-Covid 19 Approach

​1. Structure
It is ever so important to learn structure of anything you would like to master. To understand how the mind works is an essential part of progress, for this is where you replicate your talent to others in the workplace.

What do I mean by structure? At an NLP for success at work course, you will learn the art of delivering a message. It isn’t only in the words that you use, in fact the right tonality gives way to a far better outcome.

This is only one side of effective communication in the workplace.

2. Listening power
The other large component is listening power. We have two ears and one mouth to be used in that proportion.

Listen for what is not being said, to diagnose communication problems in the workplace. Often the problem lies beneath the surface and needs to be unravelled, for a solutions-focused approach.

3. Exercise professionalism
In the years that I was an employee working in large corporates, I had a very strong philosophy of leaving my personal and professional life separate.

This continued into my years as an entrepreneur and I am the better for it. I built credibility and colleagues took me seriously. The NLP for success at work course helped me tremendously in tweaking my style of communication to suit the people I was interacting with.

4. Keep the face-to-face meetings
We are human at the end of the day and we need socialisation. With most of our communication now online, we must realise that many communication problems in the workplace stem from this.

If you have the authority to call the shots, decide to bring your team in to the office, at least once or twice a week. This human connection accounts for a lot and reinforces team members’ sense of belonging.

​5. Transparency is key
The last thing you want is for your team to find out about something relevant to them, before you have updated them. If you keep communication rolling, the open nature of downloads will deepen belief in you and the system in place.

Trust is then installed and this is probably the ultimate aim of achieving effective communication in the workplace. Once you have established this, you have everything.

6. Feedback loop
Ensure that the feedback loop is active and works. In many ways your ability to learn is based on receiving feedback. Living in a silo where you are not connecting or communicating with others will make you myopic and unable to relate to others.

Ego and stubborn headedness are also setbacks to effective communication in the workplace. There is no value in this, as colleagues disengage from you and problems like conflict begin to sow their seeds.

You will find many NLP online courses in the marketplace today. Simply put, I would recommend you go for any NLP-based course as the tools you learn will blow your mind away.

Regardless of role in the company, these tools will help you resolve communication problems at work. Highly applicable to the workplace, you will be able to use them immediately.

Sylvia Fernandes is the Founder & CEO of VIA Frontiers. She is a Master Trainer of NLP who is specialised in corporate applications. She started her business in Sydney in 2002 and has been operating in the Asia Pacific Region ever since. She is currently based in Singapore. She is also the author of Bye Bye Black Cat -- Turn Your Luck Around and Realise Opportunities. Visit VIA Frontiers for more information.

Rapid success coaching emerged as a by-product of more than 30 years-experience in changing and aligning organisational cultures. The one thing organisations yearned for was change in a short timeframe.
​
As I worked through organisations in a top-down approach, I had the opportunity to understand how I could mesh processes within the Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) toolbox to create more impactful results. The Rapid Success Coaching model was brewing within me.
 
I observed how employees turned around fast, given a few self-management tools. Like catching a tiger by its tail, managers found their teams flew to accelerated results. What underpinned this rapid transformation?
 
I spoke to participants who met with this success. They were animated and eloquent in explaining their internal unblocking experience and were quick to add that NLP processes were at the source of this change.
 
Little did they know that there were other modalities that I was working with too, that they were not aware of. I was adding to the Rapid Success Coaching model which essentially targets self-management.
 
As a change facilitator my objective was to help individuals, departments and organisations make a change…..as graciously as possible, whatever it took. Most organisations were time poor. They were on the search for fast results.
 
Being a quick processor myself, I had the methodology to empower leaders, coach managers and mobilise teams to higher levels of performance. And so Rapid Success Coaching using rapid success technology was born.
 
More and more, leaders realised they needed help. Most worried and shied away from coaching in the beginning as they were concerned with having to divulge private and personal information.
 
However, when informed that these self-management tools comprised a toolbox of facilitated processes like visualising and meditating, they were put at ease. In so many instances, leaders shared at the end of sessions how much they looked forward to the next one.
 
When you master NLP as a coach and are able to use this as a fundamental transformation pillar, then add unique talents and expertise to the brew, this produces magic. The trick is to stay out of content which is noisy and only serves to distract from the issue at hand.
 
As I worked through the context of a person’s experience, they knew what needed to be changed so they made the necessary changes. For instance, one leader felt his hands would involuntarily shake as he presented at the lectern.
 
In a few processes he eradicated this and couldn’t imagine he had lived with that all his life. In fact that also led to other wonderful side effects like restful sleep at night and a feeling of relaxation, something he had not experienced in a long time.
 
Hard to believe and feeling incredulous at the results he had achieved, this was the door that opened him to master NLP. In so many cases as Rapid Success Coaching goes beyond the boundaries of one’s mind, it has to be experienced to be believed.
 

Workplace conflict is normal. In fact, arguments, disagreements and misunderstandings are to be expected when you put a group of people together in any context. It’s all part of communication problems at work or life for that matter. 

​
Of course, it’s also normal that we find conflict rather unpleasant and seek to avoid it as far as possible. But that’s being unrealistic. Rather than wish for no arguments, it’s more helpful to accept that conflict will occur now and again. How you handle it, is what matters more. 

The good news is learning how to resolve conflict in the workplace gives us tools which become handy in our personal lives too. It is valuable to look at conflicts or arguments as useful and as a sign of engagement. It shows that people care.

That’s a positive sign compared to apathy, where people feel anything goes. It is also an opportunity to improve teamwork in the workplace.  It would augur well to equip yourself with some techniques on how to be a good team leader. This will boost confidence with the team and reduce stress when conflict arises. 

Here are four ways to improve communication problems at work: 

1. Content Reframing

​This is a very efficient technique to apply when you feel stuck in an argument. I’m sure you recall moments of digging in and standing your ground, not wanting to give in, feeling so strongly about whatever ideology you believed in. 

Reframing will empower you by changing the meaning of the argument into something useful. It’s natural to become defensive when you’re in the thick of an argument but this just blows it out of proportion.

It’s more useful to shift your focus. It helps clear the head and resolve conflict in the workplace faster. For example, if your team is arguing about the approach to be taken for a particular project. 

2. Build Rapport
The world revolves around relationships, at work, at home or in social settings. Lack of communication is the root cause of most communication problems at work. 

The feeling of being on the same wavelength with someone is called rapport. When you’re in rapport with co-workers there is mutual understanding, trust and empathy. Communication is made easy.

Wouldn’t it be great to learn how to resolve conflict in the workplace? Then, build better relationships? People who attend NLP for work courses often report that they see a significant improvement in this area, not just at work but in their personal lives too!

Having empathy for your colleagues and understanding their position enables you to see other perspectives. Participants in my NLP program never fail to be amazed by the immediate shift they experience by stepping into another’s shoes. 

You can resolve conflict in the workplace by learning how to read non-verbal communication cues from the person you are communicating with. A hint is to look for what they are doing rather than what they are saying. It is observing unconscious actions that will boost your skills and set you up for success on how to be a good team leader. 


3. Manage Your Emotions

An NLP for work program will set you up for life. It will teach you one of the most powerful tools, i.e. how to be well-versed with managing your emotional state. And being knowledgeable about how other peoples’ emotions work. 

For example, when you are faced with an angry colleague or boss and you fly off the handle too, the situation will surely go downhill. The intelligent alternative is to acknowledge his or her emotion and then respond with empathy.

Anger is just an expression of some other issue - fear, perceived injustice or lack of rapport, contribute to communication problems at work. So, before you react, step into their world, understand where they are coming from and then respond.   

When you respect your co-workers view of life, which is probably different to yours, arguments are significantly reduced. 

4. Listen Actively

Listening actively is an invaluable skill in any situation, be it professional or personal. It establishes rapport and reveals what the other person needs which helps improve teamwork in the workplace.

For example, dealing with a team that argues all the time can be challenging. It’s a sign of serious communication problems at work. It’s crucial to give team members the time and space to vent their frustration, disappointment or unhappiness.

One way of learning how to be a good team leader is to provide them a safe outlet to freely express their feelings. It’s important not to interrupt them. Or worse, listen with the intention of rebutting what they’re saying.

Nod at appropriate moments to indicate you understand what they’re saying. This gives them the assurance that you’re listening. And finally, ask questions to clarify anything you don’t understand after they have fully explained a problem.

In conclusion, every working person finds themselves in an argument now and then. Disagreements are part and parcel of the workplace. But we have choices too. We can learn how to resolve conflict in the workplace faster and more efficiently, by attending an NLP for work program.

You can go a step further and even learn to reduce arguments through clearer communication with the people in your life. Learning to navigate the minefield of human interaction will certainly make life smoother all around. This is one of the major benefits of NLP for work.

​Signing up for an NLP for work program is a life changing experience. Why live in fear of arguments at work? Empower yourself and your teams with tools to build rapport and manage emotions with the right NLP training! 
​

I lived in the banking world for 13 years and loved every minute of it. When I foundmy self-growth at a plateau I knew it was a sign to leave the industry. Transitioning through headhunting and IT consulting recruitment I started my own business in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), focusing on corporate applications.

From leadership to coaching, communication to sales, I worked in different organisations in the Asia Pacific Region helping companies align their teams for high performance. With that great bandwidth of knowledge and experience 18 years later, I knew that selling in pandemic times, required me to change how I sell and communicate with my clients.

The VUCA world we live in today assumes volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity in our environment. Hence the
first call was to operate with resilience, sell with flexibility and prepare for a challenge anytime. These are some thoughts I had about the mindset required to produce sales results with NLP today;

The adventurer salesman who creates an infrastructure for selling from home in person and online will be the winner. The technologically-savvy salesman who knows where to find leads online and how to access them. A salesperson who has invested in “selling online” courses so they know how to engage their audience and create a win-win. The psychologically-savvy salesman who knows working with the unconscious mind gives them the edge that high performers have.

​Having trained and consulted 100% face-to-face since starting my business, I was one of many who had to make a right turn, to still be in the game. To start selling online required a totally new approach. I used the Covid lockdown time as reprieve to create and develop, to get back in the game. Assessing my products and services I asked myself “How could I start selling from home and selling online?” I needed new products. So I set out to re-invent my face-to-face courses as well as create new courses into the online space.

To differentiate myself I showcased sales results with NLP that a client would derive. Selling in pandemic times required deep work through the unconscious mind to get rid of fears and anxiety the general population were feeling. Many salespeople carry the fear of speaking to senior people, cold calling, etc. It was about changing the way a sales person operates. I had to be cognizant of the fact that I would be working through a computer screen to achieve sales results with NLP processes.

I started with all the things that applied to both worlds of selling online and face-to-face; Rapport will always be fundamental to success. If you are a master of rapport you will sell regardless of business landscape. Eradicating negative emotions for example fear, are of utmost importance. Having a fearless attitude rather than one of fear will augur well when approaching a senior decision maker.

Learning structure to negotiate and close deals. These are important tools to have when the time comes to swoop the contract. Understanding the buying strategy of a potential client. This can be elicited on the phone or in person. Creating states of mind like resilience, flexibility and confidence to capture the entire sales life cycle effectively.

The points I raised above are but some models that create outstanding sales results with NLP. Simple to learn, fast and profound in impact. It is the difference that makes the difference! Moving on to selling from home I created a workspace where I would be relaxed and comfortable to be selling online.

​The next and biggest hurdle was to embrace the technology to conduct my courses. I started with small groups then progressed to larger sessions. Working through my business model I also realised that seeking approval for Skills Future Government funding would help citizens access my courses with the balance available to them.

A fundamental aspect of this entire process was about stepping into my clients’ shoes to understand what they would be seeking. This entire process that I went through in my business augured well for selling in pandemic times. It has only been a year plus since the pandemic struck yet my entire business has been turned on its head and I am operating with ease, in fact totally loving it. I asked myself “what did it take?”

A bit of resilience, flexibility and confidence to move forward into the unknown and make it happen!

Neuro Linguistic Programming is an epistemology – a model of how we know what we know. Co-founded by a Professor of Linguistics, Dr. John Grinder and a computer scientist, Richard Bandler in the late 70’s, Neuro Linguistic Programming found its roots in psychotherapy.

More recently, corporates have begun to realise the power of conducting NLP certification courses in the workplace. Comprising a series of models, an NLP course would typically be most impactful for the higher echelons of a corporate.

This is understandably so, as senior leadership teams understand models and the big picture of how things connect with each other. Hence NLP Practitioner programs would largely be offered within a corporate to senior leadership, Human Resource and those responsible for teams.

Imagine if you could understand the leverage points to change behaviour and know how to influence others for better results? Wouldn’t that take the pain out of the day?

Well, Neuro Linguistic Programming consists of more than 100 processes, each process geared towards a specific type pf problem. So whether it is resolving team conflict, deepening rapport with clients, managing a state of mind to conquer and win a deal or understanding how values drive motivation, an NLP course is worth every cent you spend.

Seen as an investment rather than an expense, an NLP course gears the mindset of employees towards the corporate mission which in turn drives engagement and eventually bottom line results.

The first level of NLP certification is the NLP Practitioner program. It is here that mindsets shift to gain perspective of working with context rather than content.

As an example if you knew the Language of Influence and used it’s patterns and structure to negotiate, engage your client and have good conversations with your teams, this would take the stress out of life.

So working with context (language structure & patterns) rather than content (the actual conversation) yields faster and better results.

Some hints of what I observed about the successful companies I worked with over the years;

• Smart corporates skill their people in downtime and ready to hit the ground running in good times
• They do a modular-style NLP course which is phased over months to allow for immersion of the technology and gives employees time to integrate learnings in small chunks
• Corporate wide initiatives like Neuro Linguistic Programming courses are launched throughout the whole company to create a common language that opens communication and transparency

Designing a dream team would be easy to do if NLP certification was rolled out to the senior leadership. It is here that leaders would understand the true meaning of working together as a team and what it is to be a leader.

The first step of certifying each member as an NLP Practitioner only serves to make the corporate a better culture one that would attract talent easily. Especially with the younger generation who look for inspirational leaders today, this would be a drawcard to hire only the best.

A CEO I worked with, hired me to “make his people happy”. He felt if they were happy, they would be happy at work and home. The rest would fall in place naturally and the corporate he ran would benefit. He was 100% spot on.

Within 6 months of conducting Neuro Linguistic Programming courses, bottom line results started to spike and once the momentum began, there was no turning back.

The corporate’s Return on Investment was high. They went from strength to strength. A decision that led to great success. Don’t you wish you were in their shoes?

Sylvia Fernandes is the Founder & CEO of VIA Frontiers. She is a Master Trainer of NLP who is specialised in corporate applications. She started her business in Sydney in 2002 and has been operating in the Asia Pacific Region ever since. She is currently based in Singapore. She is also the author of Bye Bye Black Cat -- Turn Your Luck Around and Realise Opportunities. Visit VIA Frontiers for more information.

I told Bill it sounded like his work-life balance was off kilter and that it was important to find that balance to feel joy again. I added that it’s been proven that achieving work-life balance reduced stress and boosted satisfaction at the workplace and home. 

I shared cases of how people could use NLP to gain work-life balance by creating new mental programs. A consistent practice of NLP in work life was bound to create effective habits. Most importantly, it would help him de-stress and stay focused. 

Broadly speaking, maintaining a stable work-life balance means finding ways to work in a consistent and sustainable manner, while taking care of one’s health and general well-being.

The concept of work-life balance is however subjective and personal to each individual. It very much depends on factors such as values and attitudes towards life, age, state of health, commitments and personal events. 

Add to this mix, the current pandemic and the fact that most people have to work from home. It starts to look daunting and overwhelming!

​For example, Bill in his late thirties, married, with an eight-year-old daughter and an elderly parent at home, found it hard to find that niche where he could have time-out for himself. 

His spouse who worked part time and daughter who was in school, made it a life with three generations living under the same roof. All with different needs and priorities. Lucky for Bill, his father was still healthy and able to baby-sit, when needed. 

We came up with a plan of action that would help Bill use NLP to gain work-life balance. Bill told me his priorities were to spend more quality time with the family and go cycling at least once a week, apart from getting his work done.

So, knowing what Bill’s ultimate outcome was, we worked backwards to understand the kind of action he needed to do. From there we figured out the state of mind that would help Bill make all this happen. 
​

Interestingly the more Bill heard the words “calm” and “relaxed” the more at ease he began to feel. Like tension seeping out of his body, he was able to think clearly. It made this work from home concept so much easier. 

Bill remembered that he had learnt this goal-setting tool at an NLP in work-life balance course he attended many years before. It was all coming back to him. Continuing on from there, we prioritised three ways Bill could use NLP for work-life balance :

1. Set Boundaries

Whether you work from home or at an office, you must set healthy boundaries. When you respect your boundaries others will respect them too.

Space boundaries - Effective habits such as keeping your work space for work. It gives the signal to others around, that it’s time to work. People will be less likely to cause disturbance or encroach into your space. 

Time boundaries - starting and ending the work day at consistent times creates a routine. Allowing yourself to work outside these hours, will most definitely have you slipping into deeper trouble. Before you know it, work will own you 24/7 which is the start of mental health issues. 

Values boundaries - be clear which way you’ll choose when it comes to the crunch. Would you pursue that promotion at any cost? Or would you prefer work-life balance because you value a better relationship with your family? 

2. Use Time Effectively

When you work from home, do you attend to personal tasks during office hours? This is a big NO! You wouldn’t want work to encroach into your home life, so, respect that. Do the right thing by your employer.

Chatting with colleagues often during office hours or checking social media are signs of poor self-management skills. NLP in work life can help you master fundamental self-management skills of accountability, initiative and time efficiency in order to be successful. 

Productivity is directly linked to how you stay focused, and efficiently utilise the working hours available to you.

3. Be Flexible
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Though it’s important to set boundaries and create a work structure, it’s best to be realistic and flexible about it. You may have certain rules that can’t be compromised when you work from home e.g. related to your work space or specific times you can’t be disturbed. 

The idea is not to become too rigid either with your routine and structure. It’s additional stress and no fun when everything has to be done by the book!
​
Take advantage of the tools and techniques of NLP in work life. Incorporating some flexibility here and there can help you build resilience. As the NLP success belief goes, the person with the greatest behavioural flexibility often takes control. 

Bill and I met for coffee a month after this plan was set in motion. He reported that he managed to cycle three times since we put the plan in place! He was laughing again and his family certainly felt a lot happier, having seen the changes in him.
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He said he could stay focused for longer periods of time and felt much less frustrated when things didn’t go according to plan, because he knew a little flexibility went a long way in winning the day. 

And since consistency was the key to creating effective habits he made sure he followed the plan as best he could, every single day.

Interestingly, he observed that his environment was still the same but he felt so much better. All he did was raise his awareness and practise some self-tools to work from home. At the end of the day he conceded, it was all in the mind! 

One of my biggest learnings from my very profound father was to be proficient in what I did, whatever I chose that to be. The more reliance on self, the faster I could achieve what I wanted. The more I depended on others, the less control I would have on my outcomes.

So from a young age I learnt self-management skills – to do as many things myself as possible, that I had an interest in. This ranged from cooking and baking which I learnt from my mother, to driving skills when I cruised into the eligible age.

Further on, as I moved into corporate life, my boss reinforced this point of self-management at work. I still recall his words to do whatever was given to me whether it was my job or not, with the ultimate aim of learning as much as I could.

This did not allow for laziness or blame. Self-management at work pushed me forward in my career, as answers that were sought by senior management often rested with me. I became a “reliable person” in the eyes of the bosses and someone to turn to, as they felt my deep sense of accountability and knew the job would be done.

Today it is easy to register and sign up for an NLP for self-management course as components of what I learnt intuitively along the way, are condensed into a course. How convenient has life become?

Self-management skills have increased in importance now that the workplace landscape has changed so tremendously. We have to manage our time effectively, make quick and good decisions, drive teams to high performance and heighten our leadership capabilities.

If I were to encapsulate self-management at work I would categorise the four pillars as follows:

If you are managing a team, one of the greatest skills you could mentor your people in is self-management at work. I know I was eternally grateful to my boss for teaching me these skills at the start of my career, for they are still with me to this day.

These self-management skills augured well too when I migrated from employment to entrepreneurship. Today I know my success has come from having a myriad of fundamental skills, most of which surround self-management.

In conclusion it is the same with anyone. Whether you have children or a team, teach them self-management skills. Over-protecting and doing things for them does not allow their muscle for self-management to develop.

Throwing them into the deep end has so much more value especially because people have all the resources they need. They just have to dig deep and access them.

So the next time you think of helping your child or your team member, bite your tongue, sit back and allow them to fumble. The project may take longer but over time they will pick up efficiencies and do the job better and faster than when they first started.

Sylvia Fernandes is the Founder & CEO of VIA Frontiers. She is a Master Trainer of NLP who is specialised in corporate applications. She started her business in Sydney in 2002 and has been operating in the Asia Pacific Region ever since. She is currently based in Singapore. She is also the author of Bye Bye Black Cat -- Turn Your Luck Around and Realise Opportunities. Visit VIA Frontiers for more information.

​NLP is an acronym for Neuro Linguistic Programming. In existence since the late 70’s it has been hailed as a magical intervention that works well with the inner self, to help individuals self-manage and attain better outcomes in life. 

With a toolbox of more than a hundred processes, NLP techniques help in the following ways: 

• Eliminate unwanted habits
• Motivate yourself
• Identify gaps in strategies
• Eradicate phobias
• Set Goals  

Practising NLP in daily life helps you become aware of your behaviour, belief systems and emotions. NLP will transform your life by giving you skills to handle career, relationship and family problems as well as manage stress levels. 

The basis of NLP is that there’s an unconscious link between how the brain works and our behaviours. The language patterns we use reveal our life experiences and the posture we take in life. NLP co-founders Richard Bandler and John Grinder believe that all these components when changed, have the ability to improve our lives. 

For example, the simple act of thinking, which we do every minute of the day, involves pictures, sounds, feelings, touch, smell and taste. One of the main benefits of practising NLP is that you’ll soon become adept at understanding how you process your senses, which is a highly advantageous position to be in. 

Our minds constantly run unconscious emotional and mental programs. Most of the time we are not aware of them. If a program works for us it’s fine. But if it sabotages our best efforts and we don’t achieve our desired goals, then it becomes a problem.

NLP techniques focus on deleting such unhelpful programs and installing more generative ones.
​

Here are Five NLP Techniques That Will Transform Your Life: 

1. Eliminate Unwanted Habits
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The Swish pattern is a useful technique to help address unwanted habits and redirect focus to healthier habits. It works on changing your response to a specific trigger, by changing key building blocks of what you see, hear, feel, taste or smell. 

It’s most effective with compulsive/obsessive behaviours such as nail biting, smoking, addiction to foods like sugary snacks. As an example of impact, a person who stops consuming sugar maintains good physical and mental health, which eliminates inherent underlying stress and makes them happier individuals. 

Imagine the freedom of eliminating a negative habit you’ve always struggled with. This is just one way NLP will transform your life. 

2. Values Motivate You 

We are ultimately motivated by our personal values. So, the ideal way of achieving goals is to align values within. As an example, if you’re passionate about protecting the environment and a plastics company offers you a job. Would you take it? Perhaps with much reluctance as it helps pay the bills. 

This is a sure fire way to make yourself unhappy and my guess is, you will eventually leave. As values are our deepest unconscious filter, it pays to understand and acknowledge the values that drive you. 

When values are aligned with what you do at work or in your personal life, you feel comfortable, happy and in a natural state. It’s no secret that employees whose values are most aligned to the organisation become high performers. They’re able to see their role clearly and know how they’re contributing to the overall results. 

NLP improves motivation as it provides the opportunity for people to know themselves better. 

3. Identify Gaps in Strategies 

In NLP, a strategy is the train of thoughts a person goes through to make a decision or achieve a goal. These strategies are described using bodily senses i.e. what you see, hear, smell, taste and feel. In other words, a strategy is a set of internal procedures that produces a specific outcome. 

For example, you face a stop-start situation with your exercise routine. When the alarm rings, you often go back to sleep instead of choosing to go for a walk. NLP strategy elicitation can be used to take a closer look at the chain of events leading to this decision. 

It reveals gaps that need to be filled to successfully make the right choice of what you want to do, which is to get exercise. Once this initial start to the day is sorted, other suitable NLP techniques can be applied to intervene and rectify the problem. 

Another situation may be about relationships. For example, breaking off a relationship every time someone you date gets closer? A strategy elicitation can reveal what’s causing you to do that. 

The power of NLP helps individuals eradicate bad programming and install new ones.   

4. Eradicate Phobias 

One of the benefits of practising NLP is getting rid of phobias. People with phobias suffer from anxiety and their quality of life is diminished. 

The NLP Fast Phobia Cure is best carried out face-to-face by an experienced NLP practitioner. The process involves dissociating the client completely from the negative emotional experience, in contrast with traditional phobia treatments that require repeated exposure to the subject of the phobia. 

It is one of the few NLP techniques which requires a Practitioner to stick closely to the process. Carried out successfully, it’s like magic. In just one session, the client is free from the cloud they’ve been living under for years. 

NLP is fast and efficient. Once the program is interrupted, it is gone forever.

5. Set Goals 

If you do not set goals, write business plans or have any objectives, you’ll be at the mercy of random fate. It is difficult to manifest what you want, if you are unclear about what to focus on. NLP will transform your life in this area. 

Goal setting is all about congruence. We call this ecology. Does it feel right in your head, heart and gut? What impact or consequences does it have on your life and the lives of others around you? 

To check ecology, it is important to decipher how the goal will enrich your life. What will you do with it once achieved? Will there be impact on self, family and friends? These questions help to clarify in the individual's mind and open new neurological connections. 
 
As NLP techniques use all five senses for visualisation it is fundamental that you prime your unconscious mind as to what your goal could look like once it is achieved. This gives clarity and definition to the goal and creates a magnetic attraction to go out and get it. 

Last but not least installing the goal in your future involves placing the vision of your success on your future timeline. The benefits of practising NLP with processes like these, ensure that your unconscious mind and energy are aligned with your desired outcome. This is oh so powerful! 

In conclusion, NLP will transform your life if you care to learn it and integrate it to the point of embodying it. If you’re aware that your beliefs, emotions and behaviour drive your experience, chances are you’re already practising some NLP in daily life.

You’ll find it easy to take the next step of practising NLP in a systematic and structured way. There’s no doubt about it, the benefits of practising NLP will certainly have a positive impact on your life. 

Having the tools at hand means that if you’re facing any of the situations described above, you can always explore the relevant NLP techniques to resolve your way out. 

The concept of achieving work-life balance is very personal and subjective as it is determined by so many variables;

• changes in family status
• age
• family commitments
• state of health
• personal events

Factor in the busy and uncertain world we live in. Are we yearning for too much? Is this achievable or just pie in the sky stuff? Achieving work-life balance today is a tough call.

Defining work-life balance is difficult as it differs for everyone. Values and attitudes towards life, are thrown in the mix coupled with factors like the generation they belong to.

Ask a Baby Boomer, Gen X or Millennial what maintaining a healthy work-life balance means to them and you’ll likely get very different answers. The older generations were happy going to work and spending time with the family at home.

Younger generations love the component of eating out at restaurants during the week and socialising with colleagues and friends, to break the week’s monotony.

In the broadest sense, maintaining a healthy work-life means finding ways to work in a stable and sustainable manner, while taking care of one’s health and general well-being. In this case, to prevent burnout and chronic stress too.

Billions of dollars are spent globally, on keeping mental health at work on the radar. Many employees suffer due to the psychological and physical problems created by burn out. So, as the saying goes, “prevention is better than cure”.

Observing clients over the years and global trends, we don’t need to look far or research statistics to know the effects of not achieving work-life balance.

So, it makes sense that achieving work-life balance should be one of the primary goals of anyone who has to juggle a career and family. As an advocate of self-management, I urge people I meet, to attend a stress management course before it is too late.

Stress has a way of internalising within a person’s being and gripping the person, much like a knotted up rope. An NLP for self-management course would teach many tips and tools, to unknot one’s self. I find clients believing that this is their fate and nothing can be done about it.

John Grinder, the co-founder of NLP once said to someone who believed this, “don’t flatter yourself”. It was a huge moment for me when I heard this statement. The person understood and realised that he was not unique. If someone else was able to change, he could too. I use this line to this day with clients of a similar disposition.

You are not so different or unique that a stress management course would work on everyone else but you. So just register and attend, for achieving work-life balance has been proven to reduce stress and boost satisfaction both at the workplace and home.

More companies are addressing work-life balance issues to help keep employees satisfied. Some companies go the extra mile and tempt their flexible work environment and work-life balance ethics to hire employees.

Whether you’re lucky enough to be in such a company or not, I’d like to share five ways to achieving work-life balance.

1.Evaluate Your Life
Scan every area of your life - career, home, family, community, health, wealth, spirituality and social life. Observe if some areas are more problematic than others. Examine why this is so.

You can do this through the Wheel of Life, which is a simple yet powerful tool that provides the big picture of your life right now. You can easily see areas that are off-balance and quickly gain clarity and direction.

Here is where an NLP for self-management course is invaluable. You will learn amazing tools and techniques, which can be used resourcefully in different areas of your life.

2. Set Boundaries
There are many people in this world who find it hard to say NO. Think about it. How many times have you agreed to do something, that you didn’t have the time and energy for. You could have just said NO.

Setting healthy boundaries related to time is important for achieving work life balance, as taking on more than you can handle, not only stresses you but also throws you off kilter.

Setting boundaries is also related to values. For example, you can be subjected to major stress if you are asked to do something that compromises your integrity and you just can’t say NO.

3. It’s Okay to Seek Help
When you are swamped at the office or have too many commitments at home it’s perfectly ok to reach out for help. Seeking help is a sign of responsibility and maturity. Check out a stress management course to take charge and empower yourself.

Keep colleagues informed of changes or emergencies at home that require your attention and vice versa. Ask your children, spouse, siblings or close friends for support and return the favour when they need it.

4. It’s Not About Perfection
There’s no such thing as the perfect work-life balance. Achieving work-life balance is more likely if you are realistic rather than trying to keep to some rigid schedule. It does not mean dividing your time equally between work and personal life.

Your mental health at work depends on you finding and maintaining an equilibrium that suits your status, your needs and your wants. The question to be answered here is, are you satisfied with what you’re achieving at work and still have the time and energy to enjoy your personal life too.

It is counter-productive to stress about not keeping to a schedule when unexpected events happen at work or home. Achieving work-life balance is not a static goal. Treat it as a state of mind or work in progress.

There may be some periods of downtime at work when you can enjoy more personal time. And of course, there will be times when family has to put up with your absence or personal matters have to be placed on hold, to meet a tight deadline or emergency at work.

5. Self-care is Not Selfish
When you take care of your physical and psychological well-being it boosts your mental health at work and home as well. Contrary to the perception that taking time off for oneself is selfish, it is actually irresponsible not to do so. Think of the consequences of not taking care of yourself.

You suffer physical discomfort and mental anguish, if you fall ill as a result of burnout or chronic stress. Family and colleagues who depend on you would suffer too. It could even have a snowball effect on a whole chain of commitments and people you’re connected to.

Whether you work for an organisation, run your own business or are self-employed, achieving work-life balance should be at the top of your agenda. The cost of neglecting work-life balance is always higher than whatever time, energy or money you invest in maintaining it.

Take matters into your hands and pre-empt your good mental health at work by attending a stress management course or NLP for self-management. These are the types of resources that will accelerate your wellbeing and keep you ahead of the curve.

Sylvia Fernandes is the Founder & CEO of VIA Frontiers. She is a Master Trainer of NLP who is specialised in corporate applications. She started her business in Sydney in 2002 and has been operating in the Asia Pacific Region ever since. She is currently based in Singapore. She is also the author of Bye Bye Black Cat -- Turn Your Luck Around and Realise Opportunities. Visit VIA Frontiers for more information.

In addition to the terrifying experience, the person feels totally drained, once the panic attack wears off. If you suffer from recurrent episodes, your quality of life could be significantly reduced or may even be dysfunctional. 

The intense fear of having another panic attack could be instrumental in your decision to avoid certain places and situations. This is indeed not an “ideal” way to live. Instead, a more progressive way to venture out into the future with confidence, is to learn how to control panic attacks. 

​Stress management is a temporary measure but the more permanent solution is dealing with anxiety. This requires some inquiry into healing the underlying trauma so as to control panic attacks in future. 

The Difference Between Fear, Anxiety and Panic 

In order to learn how to control panic attacks it is useful to know the difference between fear, anxiety and panic. The physical symptoms of a panic attack are almost the same as an anxiety attack, so it’s important to know what you’re dealing with.

It is also helpful to be aware, that recurring anxiety and panic attacks may be triggered by prolonged stress and poor stress management. Fear relates to a definite threat that is clear and present in a situation.

Feelings of anxiety are a result of vague, unpleasant sensations that something bad is about to happen. Defined in an NLP for mental health course, anxiety is an associated fear reaction about something in the future that has not happened yet. 

Everyone feels some fear and anxiety at times, it is normal to do so, as long as it does not stop you from doing what your heart desires. If your behaviour is altered by this anxiety, then it is time, to take-action and eradicate it, as this poses a threat/ hindrance/ barrier to the way you operate.

Even more grave than this, not dealing with anxiety that is triggered by frequent stressful situations, may lead to more panic attacks. A panic attack occurs when a person feels intense fear accompanied by actual physical symptoms about some imagined threat. 

Fear: You’re withdrawing money from the ATM machine at night and a robber appears suddenly and threatens you to hand it over. That is a real and present danger. In addition to fearing for your safety and life, it triggers your flight or fight response.
​
Anxiety: You need cash urgently at night and have to go to the ATM machine. You feel uneasy and apprehensive. That is anxiety, caused by your thoughts, that something bad might happen. If you’re good at dealing with anxiety, you’ll manage to get it done quickly and leave. ​

Panic: You urgently need cash at night. You go to the ATM, then start feeling breathless, dizzy and your heart pounds very fast. You feel such intense fear something bad is going to happen that you just leave, get into your car and get into a panic. This is where applying NLP for mental health can turn your life around. 

The Recommendation
There are many stress management techniques and ways to control panic attacks but by far the quickest and easiest is applying NLP for mental health. 

One NLP for mental health application is the Time Line therapy method, a classic and elegant process that eliminates fear related to the past, permanently. Rather than just control panic attacks wouldn’t it be great to be completely free of them? 

Time Line Therapy

A Time Line session with an experienced NLP practitioner would get to the heart of the panic attacks to check for underlying trauma. Most of the time this trauma is installed between birth and 12 years old and the person is unconscious that it exists.

The Time Line therapy method eradicates fear and other negative emotions like anger, sadness and guilt that is related to the trauma. The best part about NLP for mental health is that all methods shared do not require the person to re-live the trauma.

This is a huge plus point, as many people who suffer from mental illness feel they have to face the event again and therefore the pain associated with it. This is a definite NO in NLP for mental health. 

Past clients have loved coaching sessions for this very reason. It makes healing an appealing proposition as stress management, that sits on the fringe of steps to control panic attacks, is a tool that is learnt during the session. This really speeds up the process and makes the session very efficient.

The beauty of this therapy is that results are permanent. Once a traumatic event is collapsed, the pattern has been interrupted and there will be no more anxiety or panic related to it. As a tool for the future, creating a calm state of mind to be used at any time in the future if ever they should need it, is the way to go.

In doing a Time Line Therapy intervention, clients not only eradicate negative emotions, they also remove beliefs that limit them such as;

• I’m always anxious
• I can’t handle stress/anxiety
• I always panic when I need to make a presentation
• I can never travel alone because I’ll panic

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​These limiting beliefs can be replaced with more helpful ones like;

• I am human and I have all the resources I need
• Anxiety in the past was an opportunity to learn. I am now healed and ready to live life to the fullest

You get the drift! 

Of course, it is also healthy to practice some stress management techniques in the event of stressful situations, which are aplenty today. From environmental issues to political instability, a person may feel affected. 

Like your car toolbox always available in case of a breakdown, the same metaphor applies. This is what we call living at “cause” where we take charge and actively reduce sources of stress in life. Pre-empting what may occur and establishing plans for it. 

This is how a high performer in work and life thinks and behaves. They are invincible as they have thought through future possibilities and are ready with their toolbox. Regardless of the situation, these people thrive! 

NLP for mental health teaches these tools. This is why the program is deemed powerful and profound. It has the bandwidth to stretch through life and is the best bang for your buck. Always current, the tools shared teach people how to be human and live life with purpose. 

In conclusion, dealing with anxiety is a mind-body-spirit healing combination. Incorporating regular exercise, meditation and eating a balanced diet helps sustain physical and mental well-being. Stress causes anxiety and its related physical symptoms. Prolonged or chronic stress leads to an overload of anxiety, which may lead to panic attacks if left untreated. 

Using NLP for mental health through the powerful process of Time Line Therapy liberates one from existing fears, anxieties and panic. Why struggle with anxiety and how to control panic attacks, when you know you can be rid of it for good? 

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Gone are the days when people were expected to ‘work hard’ and ‘put in the long hours’. We now live in a world that is fast paced and more efficient than ever, which prizes working smart.

There are countless ways to improve productivity at the workplace, even Apps to keep you focused and productive. So, there’s really no excuse for low productivity and if you want to really get ahead of the game, a good start would be to learn tools from an NLP for effectiveness course.

While most people frown upon stress, there is some goodness in it. Stress when used positively actually boosts productivity. We call this good stress.

Deadlines, targets and personal career goals have the ability to produce an adrenaline rush. This helps us complete tasks and achieve desired outcomes consistently and most of all, stay motivated at work.

When stress gets past manageable levels, we know it becomes counterproductive. Hence it is important to employ self-managements skills and observe levels of stress that you are able to manage, that keep you in the green zone.

One thing for sure, you wouldn’t want to be in a situation where too much stress impacts you to the point of causing low productivity. So, let’s look at how you could leverage ways to improve productivity and perform at an optimum level.

1. Use Technology, Don’t Abuse it
Technology itself is a good thing. It’s hard to imagine life without it, for it provides us with many ways to improve productivity. But technology can be a double-edged sword at the workplace, if abused.

It takes sheer willpower not to check your phone every five minutes or pick it up when there’s a notification. Turning “Notifications” off while you’re at a meeting or writing a proposal for instance, will keep you focused on the work at hand and help you achieve targets efficiently.

You probably already know that it’s absolutely unprofessional to be on social media during working hours, unless you are working in a field that requires its usage.

One of the best self-management skills to practise is being proactive rather than reactive. By having a regime of when to check messages, you avoid being a slave to your phone. People will call you if it’s really important.

Taking your mind outside the traditional box, an NLP for effectiveness course teaches technology of the mind, which when used well produces even more profound results.

2. Make Lists
Making lists of what you need to do saves memory cells. The objective is to save brain cells by not having to go through mental “to do lists”, a small tweak in self-management skills that saves precious time.

There is something to be said for writing things down. When I schedule an activity in my calendar, I do it. If I think about it in my mind, there’s a 50/50 chance that I will complete the task. Why?

Because I don’t forget when the activity is staring me in the face. While at it, I may also re-prioritise as the full to-do list gives me perspective.

Of course, accountability reigns supreme at the end of the day. What a great deal of satisfaction to cross out items as I complete them. I find this to be one of the more motivating ways to improve productivity.

3. Master Your Inbox
An Inbox with thousands of unread emails, with work and personal stuff is a nightmare. A tidy and streamlined Inbox on the other hand will help you stay motivated at work instead of feeling overwhelmed.

Using a separate email address for personal matters is highly recommended. Only subscribing to relevant newsletters or marketing promotions to keep my Inbox tightly managed, helps in the long run.

Further self-management skills like creating folders for different areas of work also help with being well organised and efficient, for the tasks ahead.

4. Utilise Time Efficiently
Productivity is directly linked to how you utilise time efficiently. It’s not only about time management but also about how you use the working hours available to you. You must master the fundamental self-management skills of accountability, initiative and time efficiency in order to be productive and successful.

Do you stay focused for the duration of a task and complete it? Are you allowing colleagues to distract you during working hours? Are you punctual in getting to the office or are you habitually late?

Do you try to do everything yourself or work as a team player? Do you take initiative or wait for instructions? These issues lead to lots of wasted time and are signs of poor self-management skills.

These problems are generally chronic in nature and hamper productivity. You could overhaul your mindset by learning NLP for effectiveness. It would help address these problems and discover more ways to improve productivity.

I have deliberately chosen these four ways as they don’t require any resources other than yourself. Having an innate desire to stay motivated at work will help apply these practices at work.

If you need a little boost to put them into practice, explore an NLP for effectiveness course that will accelerate the entire process internally for you.

For now just get the ball rolling and choose one of the tips I have recommended above. Practise it for a week and observe your progress. Once you have achieved mastery move to the next tip.

Before long you will be seeing results from implementing these simple tips to improve productivity!

Sylvia Fernandes is the Founder & CEO of VIA Frontiers. She is a Master Trainer of NLP who is specialised in corporate applications. She started her business in Sydney in 2002 and has been operating in the Asia Pacific Region ever since. She is currently based in Singapore. She is also the author of Bye Bye Black Cat -- Turn Your Luck Around and Realise Opportunities. Visit VIA Frontiers for more information.

I stumbled across my Life Path’s journey unknowingly. My heart raced as I heard my friend Geraldine’s voice filled with excitement and emotion. She was happy. I felt it. It would be good to have some of what she had too” I thought at the time. 

She had just completed a personal growth program. Needless to say I was roped in to experience this and others, some of which I loved. Others that did not resonate, I left behind. 

Beginning with the basics, I was a tough nut to crack. I had a strong mind, trained ferociously by my corporate experience as a banker. While it was a great foundation to operate from, it also didn’t allow for growth in the emotional and spiritual realms. There were expectations to be a certain way, operate from logic, casting aside my true self. 

The Rolls Royce of personal growth programs came last. I was introduced to Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) by my friend John who was a Practitioner from twenty years before. 

The biggest draw for me was that the entire NLP model comprised techniques for self-discovery with an extremely deep structure. I loved how it drew on process and context rather than content.

Exploring and understanding values, beliefs and behaviors I was able to disband with emotional blockages which surfaced in the form of beliefs I held from my upbringing. Little did I know that they were family beliefs that did not augur well for my current life. 

By clearing these and creating new, more effective beliefs, I supported my continuous growth. I could leave alone, the “content” of how these beliefs were installed. Private incidences could be left private. I did not need the who, where and when to make or facilitate change. 

Very accelerated in achieving results through increased emotional intelligence I found I understood and managed myself effectively. Empathy levels escalated and my ability to navigate complex social situations heightened. 

Being a person who loved change, I took to NLP like a duck to water. Working through certification as an NLP Trainer, I jumped to the other side and became a facilitator. Traveling across boundaries physical and emotional, to find clients who needed to make change. 

Today, I realise I found my Life Path through my personal growth journey. What do I have today that I did not have before? A life filled with Purpose and Passion. Did I think about personal growth in this way? A definite NO. 
In essence, my heart sang and pulled me towards my Life’s calling!
I urge you on this path too. If you feel there is something greater out there for you, scour the personal growth arena for anything that calls out to you. 
NLP skills provide a foundation for lifelong learning and personal evolution. Individuals are able to navigate the complexities of life with confidence, resilience, and a positive mindset. 
The adaptability and universality of NLP make it a valuable asset for long-term personal and professional success. 
If you would like to experience some of what I did, decide on a Path and begin the Journey. 

One of our clients recently said that he has observed greater engagement from his team as a result of taking concrete steps to be an effective mentor and coach. 
Indeed, studies show that coaching and mentoring can increase engagement, job satisfaction and morale, teamwork and even bench strength. 
Granted, some of the best mentoring and coaching experiences occur informally over coffee, in corridors, and chance interactions during the course of work. 

However, in order for these interactions to have the potential to be powerful, people in the organisation need to have a coaching and mentoring mindset. This could shift your organisational culture. Imagine people having candid coaching conversations across your organisation. 

To make this happen, ensure your people listen and communicate skilfully in order to be the best colleagues they can be. 
Comprehensive coaching and mentoring programmes can sensitise them to the following:

Identify opportunities for coaching
Learn how to recognise when a person is open to coaching. Here are some cues you can listen for: 

1. I need help with this.
   
2. Could I run some ideas by you?
   
3. I need help thinking things through. 

Help them master the basics of a good coaching conversation
Coaching isn’t about providing solutions. It’s about uncovering answers through inquiry, and exploration. Coaches know that the following are absolutely fundamental to a productive interaction.

1. Listen carefully
   
2. Respond thoughtfully by asking questions to draw out more insights, prompt reflection or to expand the person’s mental model
   
3. Resist imposing your own views and solutions

Ensure that mentoring programmes are structured 
Many organisations encourage mentorship without any structure. This results in interactions that often go nowhere. 

Start building a culture of mentorship by having structured programmes and providing guidance for fruitful mentoring relationships. Make it clear that mentoring topics could include discussions about purpose and skills, situational advice and giving and receiving constructive feedback. 

In the initial stages, you might have to hire experts to structure programmes and guides, but once a culture of mentoring takes hold, your people will need only minimal handholding. 

This post was co-written by Communications Strategist, Consultant and Coach, Bharati Jagdish.

Your corporate communications and human resources department might be regularly putting out announcements on DEI values and initiatives, but if employees don’t embody these values in their day-to-day interactions and business operations, your DEI efforts will most certainly fall flat. Most of all, your organisation will fail to leverage the power of DEI and lag behind competitors who’ve done so successfully.
 
If you’re still struggling, don’t worry. Just get up to speed. Many answers lie in behavioural change and communication to be equitable and inclusive in order to truly harness the power of diversity.
 
In our last post, we talked about the importance of actively calling out unconscious biases and using inclusive language. Here are more tips on truly making DEI work:
 
Walk the talk, engage intentionally to illustrate the value of inclusivity
Inclusive language must translate into concrete action. Dialogues that allow people from underrepresented groups to share their personal narratives shouldn’t end there. Be proactive in addressing the issues they raise and keep all employees informed of the steps you’ve taken to improve things.
Importantly, insights from dialogues should inform your business decisions.
For instance, what your introverted employees tell you about their preferences could determine product design for a particular customer base. Share how you’ve implemented these valuable insights. This shows people that their perspectives matter to the organisation and are positively contributing to the bottom line as well.
Speaking of introverts, ensure that you engage employees using communication techniques based on their preferred mode of communication. Not everyone is comfortable speaking up in a townhall. Some might prefer to send their questions electronically or merely fill out a survey. Your job is to make sure all channels are open and given equal attention.
 
Explain equity-centred policies, encourage empathy
To ensure a healthy workplace culture, everyone in the organisation must be on the same page when it comes to policies that support equity. Leadership must consistently communicate why certain policies are in place to help underrepresented groups level up. Crucially, communication needs to also convey how everyone benefits when DEI is effective. 
As part of this process, co-workers must be encouraged to participate in experiential exercises that allow them to empathise with underrepresented individuals.
Retention becomes easier with this egalitarian approach.
​
Be transparent and accountable
Successfully cultivating DEI requires leadership commitment. Leaders need to be transparent in terms of acknowledging systemic and unconscious biases, demonstrating empathy and committing to bridging the gaps between where the organisation is now and where it should be in the near future.
 
Being transparent on the DEI journey allows leaders to model a learning culture and also demonstrates a willingness to be held accountable.
 
Communicate consistently about how DEI is improving crucial aspects of the workplace - culture, mental health, talent attention and retention, business results. Go beyond numbers and tell true stories of employee experiences.
 
This post was co-written by Communications Strategist, Consultant and Coach, Bharati Jagdish.
 

​Looking back on my career as an employee I had the pleasure of working with many leaders. There were intermittent bad ones no doubt but in the main most were the reason I woke up in the morning to go to work.
 
When life as an employee ended, my entrepreneurial skills included sifting for good leaders. I knew good leadership from afar and knew that if they bought my services, they would be a pleasure to serve. 

​Looking back now as a Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) Trainer and business owner for 21 years, I know the traits that make a good leader. I attempt to explain these to you but they are by no means exhaustive. You could add to my discussion I am sure.
 
Self-Growth
 
A good leader has to believe in continuous learning for self, and others working in the team. This includes keeping current with the environment and what it calls out for. In today’s world, resilience and adaptive capabilities sound out as number one on the list.
 
Communication
 
Language verbal and non-verbal can make or break a leader. Learning language that is two-way and influencing far outweighs directive language, though in some instances the latter is called for and needed.
 
Spiritual Intelligence
 
Far greater than the power of academic excellence comes the ability to inspire, be passionate and purposeful. This requires guided expertise to tap into for a leader’s identity is dormant until activated.
 
Only once these are achieved is a leader truly able to develop people down the line effectively. The need to set up coaching infrastructures, giving managers the skills to coach and individuals the ability to self-manage.
 
A client situation comes to mind. Using NLP tools and techniques, everyone down the line were given coaching skills in tranches over a period of eight months or so.
 
It was striking to see how groups of people motivated themselves to achieve high performance. It was like lightning, how people awakened to their own sense of power.
 
The leader knew he had done his job, admitting to me that he could finally do his real work of taking the organization where it needed to go. He had stopped the flow of people into his office.
 
They were armed with applicable tools that heightened their performance and gave them edge over competitors. Wasn’t that what every leader should be doing?
 
Looking back as a consultant offering organisations’ services, I observed the following traits about leaders who hired me. They were;

• secure in themselves, willing to take the brunt of any fallout that eventuated
  
  
• keen on learning expertise from niche market providers who were operating in the external environment
  
  
• truly keen on developing their people, wanting their people to be happy

 
Unlike most organisations that hire trainers to fulfil a “tick the box” exercise, these clients culled all other training to make way for budgets and give their people life skills beyond work.
 
This to me was what leadership was about. Giving people skills to do the job then having them perform. I saw too many organisations do the exact opposite.
 
Once their Emotional & Spiritual Intelligences had sparked, they became unstoppable. My question is wouldn’t every organization want that?
 

• Coach, lead, relate, communicate
• Step into personal power driven by intuition

 
The action of leading a group of people or an organisation.” That's how the Oxford Dictionary defines leadership. In simple words, leadership is about taking risks and challenging the status quo. Leaders motivate others to achieve something new and better.

My journey to the field of NLP training took many years of learning from the school of hard knocks. I was a banker for 13 years, then migrated into the IT and HR industries.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, I was heading towards my passion and purpose. Many people who knew me from my past, felt I was a rolling stone. Well, if I had Mick Jagger by my side, I would have loved to have that title but I didn’t.

This path led me to understand how large corporates worked, from a people and strategy perspective. I was hired, lost my job (in the Global Financial Crisis) and realised with great pain, that life was full of challenges.

The only way up was to build resilience by facing challenges. So I unconsciously found an NLP course through my friend John, who mentioned it to me one night as we were walking across the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

I never looked back. Googling for NLP training I saw the path to becoming an NLP Practitioner then an NLP Trainer. So here are some points to look out for, when searching for the right NLP Trainer (for you):

1. Industry Experience
NLP as a body of knowledge on its own accounts for little. When applied to a specific context whether it be corporate, medical, media or engineering, it is then transformed into magic.

My expertise as a corporate NLP Trainer was fundamental to my success in securing corporate contracts, as I had credibility in the field. So pick an NLP Trainer who has expertise in a field that you revere.

2. Certification
Decide on what your end goal is. Would you like to train NLP someday, become an NLP Practitioner or do an NLP course for self-development? If it is the former then choose an internationally certified NLP Trainer. This way, your accreditation is recognised worldwide.

In my case, I decided to attend four major schools of NLP including with the two co-founders, Richard Bandler and John Grinder. I wanted to learn from the people who had created the field, plus others like Robert Dilts who carried the NLP flag with integrity.

3. Blended Learning
Ever since Covid, I see the world of NLP training differently. The resilient NLP Trainer has re-modelled their formats, to include blended learning. Some part of an NLP Practitioner must be online, have components of pre-study in audio and book formats plus face-to-face, to pull it all together.

There is value in different types of learning, as we process in a variety of ways through the five senses. Being NLP Trainers, we of all people need to utilise a myriad of styles to engage the learner as much as possible.

4. Like-ability
In everything I do, I want to have fun. If the personality of someone I am signing up with grates me, I would walk the other way. I would suggest you do the same.

Allow your intuition to decide for you. You must feel comfortable with the NLP Trainer – their style, their voice, their look, their stories. The NLP Practitioner is conducted over 10 days so it would be a good idea to feel comfortable with your NLP Trainer from the start.

5. Longevity
NLP is a science that assimilates within a person over time. It is not a theoretical body of knowledge. Learners often don’t feel the change they have been through until they realise they are responding differently to a situation.

So like a Doctor, your NLP Trainer will be part of your life in a significant way. The NLP course is only the beginning. I am still in touch with the NLP Practitioners I trained in 2002!

We have all become one big happy family, extending our reach to include people from around the world who share the same values.

6. Multi-cultural
With the globe becoming a melting pot of cultures, I feel it is important that the NLP Trainer you choose has a bird’s eye view to the world. Having lived in 3 countries in my lifetime and travelled the world extensively with work, I am able to traverse all boundaries and understand the mindset of learners.

My posture and attitude in life is to see everyone as a human being first. This common denominator allows me to leave judgement and labels behind. This is important for learners as it provides the freedom, safety and comfort to embrace a new technology with open arms.

So, get out there and make your choice. Remember, it’s a long-term relationship you are building so it’s important to buy right!

Sylvia Fernandes is the Founder & CEO of VIA Frontiers. She is a Master Trainer of NLP who is specialised in corporate applications. She started her business in Sydney in 2002 and has been operating in the Asia Pacific Region ever since. She is currently based in Singapore. She is also the author of Bye Bye Black Cat -- Turn Your Luck Around and Realise Opportunities. Visit VIA Frontiers for more information.

To feel angry or fearful is how human beings express themselves, no different to feeling happy or excited. Before I touch on how you clear yourself from negative emotions, I would like to set the stage. 

Why is this important? Why don’t we carry these negative emotions with us through our lives? It is important because the mind and body are connected. Every thought becomes a feeling.
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When this feeling is negative, it impacts the body in a negative way, like a stuck or clogged drain that eventually blocks drainage. Feelings of anger have been cited in Goleman's landmark book "emotional Intelligence" to cause heart attacks. 

So, why hang on to negative emotions when they affect your mental health so adversely? Goleman goes on to link negative emotions to specific diseases. This makes sense as the mind and body are integrated. What you think in your mind eventually manifests in your body.

​At an Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) course that I conduct, it is typical to run a segment on how to clear yourself from negative emotions. I feel it is the most fundamental thing to do. 

​Once the past is cleared, you’ve cleaned the slate and are set to think positive. It is important to do remedial work before generating the future. There is not much point in being creative to design a future that you want, when the past has not been attended to.

This is where negative emotions reside and are stuck like glue, which doesn’t allow the person to move forward. At an NLP course, I explain that the fundamental primary negative emotions are anger, sadness, fear and guilt. 

These reside in a person’s unconscious mind and only disappear when the emotional pattern is interrupted. Once you do this process of clearing yourself from negative emotions, you will feel better to make decisions and navigate challenges. 

A person who has strong mental health is one who is aware of their thoughts, feelings and behaviours. They think positive as this becomes their default position, contrary to when negativity controlled them.

When they are being creative, they are aware that they are bypassing conscious thought and accessing their unconscious mind where ideas and connections flow. 
​
It is only then that mental health stabilises and a person is able to operate into resilience and confidence. Over the 18 years that I have trained at an NLP course, there is a resounding demand from participants to access and build confidence.

​Everyone wants confidence but that comes only to those who have assessed their past and cleared themselves from negative emotions. One of the big changes that I noticed with participants at my NLP course is that many reported back that they were being creative. 

Their self-calibration of creativity was always on the lower end of the scale and yet now they were bursting with ideas. Enthralled by this new wave of things, they shone confidence that was obvious to their employers and before you know it, one thing led to another and they were going places.

​This is the leverage question that people need to contemplate. What is the one thing you could do that would have the greatest impact on your results? That one thing changes your posture and outlook to life which then results in unexpected wins. 

Mental health in the world has reached such a high negative level that people are lost. Their connection to self and others is out of whack and internally they are knotted up.

​To unwind this spring and have them live life to the fullest requires self-management tools. Seeing a therapist is short term. Learning tools to think positive and be creative, lends credence to their entire outlook and life! 

Isn’t that what life is meant to be? And all you need to do is clear yourself from negative emotions. All of this is taught at an NLP course. No need to share your personal stories but at the same time, the opportunity to learn tools that improve mental health. 

The journey to healing has so many advantages ahead. With more joy in your life and meaningful relationships, it is much easier to create your future now. Successful people are driven by purpose. This is something available to you.

Grab the opportunity to get on that ride in life for there are only wonderful things that await you. 

As a therapist, he's currently dealing with people who are exhausted to the point of fatigue. We talked a while longer about NLP and mental health before ending the call. That day I couldn't stop thinking about this new term I had learnt - the ‘Covid fatigue’ syndrome. 

I realised that this had been steadily building up after the first onslaught of the pandemic. The uncertainty, lockdowns, movement control and general restrictions in daily life had taken a toll on us. 

Unfortunately, in the process of safeguarding our physical health, mental health often takes a back seat. Now barely two months to the year end, with no clear solution in sight, people are feeling its effects in ways we’ve never imagined.

When we first learned about the pandemic there was a lot of fear, panic, and in a bizarre way, even excitement because it was something novel and totally alien to us. 

People were rushing to stock up on food. And lots of people were busy posting funny skits on Tik Tok, memes on Instagram and social media was abuzz with coronavirus jokes. But it’s gone quiet now.

In my earlier article, “How Is NLP Useful in Mental Health”, I talked about how we use NLP to improve mental health. Now, it’s time to start the conversation about how we prevent mental health issues from becoming worse and where possible prevent new ones.
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Before we go any further, if you have your basic needs such as food, water, shelter, clothes and money taken care of, consider yourself as privileged. 

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The Link Between NLP and Mental Health 

In NLP you don’t focus on ‘WHAT’ you think. ‘HOW’ you think is more useful. The focus is on context, not content. An NLP program helps shift mindsets to dealing with problems from the perspective of context.

For example, there’s an overwhelming load of news on mass media and the internet. You don’t need to feel agitated with every little detail. If you learn how to decide what’s relevant or true within the context, your mental health will thank you for it. 

A number of healthcare systems in the UK, Australia and the US have added NLP to their treatment list. We can now take advantage of NLP to improve mental health to sustain our quality of life, despite the restraints we’re facing. 

• NLP techniques directly impact an individuals’ mental performance.
• NLP works with knowledge of the nervous system and its responsibility for the body’s functioning.
• NLP works with language systems, which forms the basis for all interactions.
• NLP works with how we create different concepts, beliefs and patterns in our lives. 

An NLP program will provide you with a solid foundation on the above. When you know how the mind works, you have the trump card to manage yourself well, with knowledge to prevent mental health issues. Prevention is better than cure isn’t it? 

Now is the time to empower yourself with ways to gain more control over how you handle stress at work or home, in these fast changing times. Learning how NLP and mental health impact your wellbeing is fundamental to living a healthy, balanced life. 

Someone I met at an event long ago called the other day. She’s a great example of the NLP success belief that “everyone already has the resources they need within them”. She’s decided to learn NLP to improve mental health during the current work downtime that she is facing.

Next, let’s take a look at one of the worst impacts of the pandemic - the lack of interaction, the very thing our mental health depends on. 

We Need Interaction

We’re meant to live in family units, communities or groups. With daily restrictions imposed by the pandemic, people are finding it harder to maintain contact and interact with one another.

Ultimately, we’re all social beings with varying levels of need to interact with other people. For example, you may have a greater need to connect face to face, compared to your friend who’s fine with a phone call.

​I’m hearing from so many people that this prolonged situation is affecting people in negative ways. The elderly are finding themselves isolated. 

A former participant in my NLP program years ago, told me she is unable to visit her elderly brother who had a minor heart procedure in the restricted movement rules in her country. He and his wife, both in their early 70s, live alone.

Even people I know who mostly prefer to be alone are craving company. Just knowing there are restrictions on our movements affects us psychologically, even if we don’t really feel like going out.

Some of us need daily hugs and others prefer less physical contact. I spoke to a close friend and NLP practitioner recently. Her daughter had left for college abroad. 

She told me she was missing her daughter’s hugs terribly. They’ve not hugged in three months! Luckily she’s familiar with NLP and mental health, so they’re coping better than most others. 

Working and studying from home is impacting millions of people globally. My niece was telling me the other day how her eyesight has blurred with the online lectures she has to do. And that she feels isolated from her friends and deprived of the college life she had looked forward to.

​I’m sure you’ve heard many such stories. People are having to cope and adapt. Keeping in touch has taken different forms. Video and audio calls, text and voice messages are the norm. Though it’s not the same, making the effort and time sends the message to our loved ones that they matter to us, more than ever.

My advice, as you stay home and stay safe, is to be alert to any signs of the start of mental health issues. As we adapt to new ways of working and studying, let’s not lose sight of our mental health and well-being.

​Keep a look out for these signs in family members or friends when you connect with them: 

1. Feeling sad continuously
2. Loss of interest or pleasure in usually enjoyed activities
3. Changes in appetite-weight loss or gain, unrelated to dieting
4. Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much
5. Loss of energy or feeling fatigued
6. Difficulty thinking, concentrating or making decisions 

Being in the field, I know NLP and mental health are a powerful combination to pull a person out of the depths of fatigue and depression, to a more neutral space.

​Do something about your situation if any of these symptoms show up. Attending an NLP program is far more gracious and impactful than landing yourself in any one of the ailments described above. You will be the better for it! 

Many cerebral people I know focus on so-called “smart” people, those who are able to whip out statistics, shedding light on situations. Move the conversation beyond to relationships and they are lost.
 
Yet for the last twenty plus years of consulting and facilitating, I have found the most successful leaders have amazing communication skills, way beyond their IQ sense of logic, facts and figures.
 
It represents the focus that families have when bringing up their children. Those who stress an all-rounded life from young become the winners, for they populate young minds with all parts of the child’s neurology, allowing for access to creativity and lateral thinking.
 
I grew up in the latter-type family and I have my father to thank. While he was a strict disciplinarian (one look from him meant a lot), we also had fantastic holidays as soon as school closed.
 
There was fun and laughter, worthy conversations and an openness to relationships. I recall a discussion about divorce that a close friend was going through. My father said it could happen to anyone for who knows what circumstances are hurled at you. No judgment just compassion is what people needed.
 
These I know today are words of wisdom. Having empathy and building a connection with others, serves to build and maintain healthy relationships. This becomes the foundation for success in all areas of life.
 
As an NLP Trainer today, I assist individuals and organisations to harness their strength towards making better decisions. First step is to always learn how to build rapport then foster effective communication by resolving conflict and promoting mutual understanding.
 
These skills allow for collaboration within families, departments and pull together to reinforce successful outcomes. I see competitive mindsets that scream “Me, myself, I” in many instances. This does not augur well for results as a whole.
 
NLP helps individuals understand communication styles which begins the journey of understanding the psychology of how people tick. People who learn this have an upper hand in negotiating results that they want.
 
Wouldn’t it be useful if you had this?

If there is one thing I have observed over the two decades of working with people to improve their effectiveness at work, it is that every single one of them (however senior) aspired to build self-confidence at work.

Some have successfully found their desired job and are very proud of it, as that in itself is a major feat. But now comes the time to do the job and they are on the lookout for self-confidence tips.

The tummy rumbles and butterflies increase as they have to make a presentation to the team…….and this is where the trouble starts. Signing up for an NLP for self-confidence training (Neuro Linguistic Programming) is a recommended start. Why? Because NLP works with the unconscious mind and this is where fast and permanent change occurs. 

These are some takeaways that you will gain from doing an NLP training, that will help you build self-confidence at work:

Be sure of your content. Often people who are not prepared wonder why they are not able to build self-confidence at work. This is a major reason most of the time.

So what does this tell you? Spend time to master content at your level of authority. As you move through life and get promoted, you will build self-confidence at work naturally.

Or alternatively, an NLP for work training would teach you how to structure your presentations and learn the process that underlies every delivery, whether it is a mere conversation or a formal presentation to a large audience.

As your meeting is about to begin or your name is announced on stage, you start to feel that old familiar flutter. Your internal voice is probably saying a myriad of things;

• what should I say first
• what if I say something silly
• what if they laugh at me

Remember, the reason you have been nominated to speak is because you have the right credentials. So step into that space that could elicit thoughts like:

• I am the one who knows most about this subject that is why I am here to present
• If I don’t know how to answer a question I can always get back to the person later
• So what if I make a mistake? I can be humble, apologise and learn from it.

These are the kind of self-confidence tips you will learn at an NLP training. How to step into that state of confidence anytime you need it. This concept of state management sits at the core of NLP.

Imagine if you could teach your neurology how to access confidence and make it available in whatever context you are in. That would yield you far better results than what you are producing now.

So thinking about a time when you felt confident whether you were with family, friends or colleagues is of no consequence. It is still a state of confidence.

If it is a 5/10 intensity, amplify it to a 10/10. This will give you the blown-out feeling of confidence where you feel it strongly, in a specific part of your body.

Practice this repeatedly so you are doing an NLP training with your body! Tuning it to receiving signals for when you want to trigger self-confidence in you.

This is a big question. Are you in rapport with yourself? Or do you live in conflict? If you have many parts inside you that operate in different ways but want the best for you, how would that manifest? Presumably in highly erratic, inconsistent behaviours.

So let’s say I have these parts operating inside me, all of which are displaying different behaviours:

• a nervous part - feel jittery, find it hard for words to come out of your mouth
• a self-assured part - feel in control, know what to say as you are quite well versed with your subject
• a mischievous part - feel edgy, look for opportunities to distract people in your audience

These parts need to be integrated as one whole being before you build self-confidence at work. This is a skill that you will learn to do if you attended an NLP for self-confidence course. It is work through your unconscious mind rather than telling yourself (your conscious mind) what to do.

This is why many corporate people attend NLP for work courses and read books on the subject. There are direct work applications like leadership, coaching, communication, team work, presentation and more, that people do improve after attending an NLP training.

To summarize, applying NLP tools to build self-confidence at work will also impact your social life and beyond. Create your workplace and life the way you want it. It is after all…..all in your mind!

Sylvia Fernandes is the Founder & CEO of VIA Frontiers. She is a Master Trainer of NLP who is specialised in corporate applications. She started her business in Sydney in 2002 and has been operating in the Asia Pacific Region ever since. She is currently based in Singapore. She is also the author of Bye Bye Black Cat -- Turn Your Luck Around and Realise Opportunities. Visit VIA Frontiers for more information.

As Sandy moved along with her coaching business she realised the importance of collating data. From age, gender, marital status to career and many other dimensions that she felt would give her deeper insights into trends.

Specialising in helping people in relationships break through mental blocks, she began to notice valuable gender-related data that was beginning to show trends. She felt these patterns of behaviour would help her accelerate coaching results.

This was the birth of Rapid Success Coaching! Sandy began to garner her intuition and data mined trends. Men who signed up for coaching were few and far between. They usually turned up when their relationships were at the end of their tether. Much like her client Richard whose wife left and said she would never return unless he saw a coach.

On arrival to her practice that first day, Sandy observed his physiology which was hunched. He did not make much eye contact. She felt he was like fish out of water. This would not have been his preference if he had a choice.

The coaching room was set up deliberately to calm and relax clients. Soft hues of fabric draped the sofa and pastel-coloured cushions softened the space. It was indeed amazing to see Richard’s level of comfort escalate in a mere session.
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It wasn’t what he thought it would be. Sandy explained that she would not be giving him any advice, rather leave him to make his own choices once she had worked through processes with him.
She used language that he liked and resonated with. As an engineer his lack of communication was merely a resultant of low understanding in the field of how the mind worked. Most of his thoughts were based on therapy in the past that he had seen family and friends succumb to.

He did admit to Sandy in their first session that he was less expressive than his wife. She shared her feelings readily with him but even though he felt things, he found it hard to verbalise. He preferred to just think that the negative feelings would go away but they didn’t.

Sandy immediately set up their next session to clear the anger and rage that stemmed from Richard’s past. It had resided in him for long enough and was choking his ability to express. After all,  the mind and body were connected.

Every thought became a feeling that impacted the body in a negative way. Like a clogged drain, that eventually blocks a pipe. For now it was just his throat that was blocked but over time if this continued, it could be the very cause of a heart attack.

Richard listened with great intent. His annual health markers were starting to show up on the decline. Sandy was already hitting a nerve. As Sandy continued to calibrate all the issues Richard wanted to address during these sessions, she also noted that men had a strong ego that stemmed from competitiveness.

This merely occurred because men found it hard to empathise. She had a process for that too. Sandy made a note to do that in another session. This would give Richard the bandwidth of emotions every human being is entitled to.

Having a choice to operate from trust to control or empathy to authoritarianism, these were lovely options to have. In fact just thinking about it gave Richard a feeling of freedom as the band of emotions had widened. Sandy did explain that this would be a phenomenal result that many people in his circle of influence would notice and to be prepared for it.

What a change that would make? To be complimented rather than put down. He had a reputation for blowing his handle at small things at work and of course this spilled over in his relationship.

A big plus of Rapid Success Coaching is that Richard was being guided to his intuition, something that many men were trained not to do. The training he received as an engineer was to ensure that things had to make sense. Decisions from the head were king.

Sometimes though heart decisions while not linear were right. Attracting exponential results they were the best decisions. It was a matter of trusting self and learn how to do this artfully. A total departure from how he operated today.

He felt elated. He had found Sandy who was process-driven. She understood context and stayed out of his content, the privacy of his life. Needless to say Richard transformed himself in a matter of five coaching sessions.
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Having cleared his past he decided to sign up for an online Zoom course that focused on the future – Create Your Future Now. It was time to design a future that he loved and that included his spouse.

His relationship was skidding down a slippery slope but he caught it in the nick of time and was now skiing to success. O what a feeling!


Sylvia Fernandes is the Founder & CEO of VIA Frontiers. She is a Master Trainer of NLP who is specialised in corporate applications.
She started her business in Sydney in 2002 and has been operating in the Asia Pacific Region ever since. She is currently based in Singapore.
She is also the author of Bye Bye Black Cat -- Turn Your Luck Around and Realise Opportunities. Visit VIA Frontiers for more information.

The benefits of using NLP techniques are far reaching, bearing in mind there are more than a hundred processes that cater to a wide range of issues. In this article, I’d like to touch on how we are continuously changing maps in our minds and using language patterns that impact our performance. This, so you understand how we use NLP for better results. 

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Changing Maps

You may not realise but you’re already using NLP in daily life by changing maps unconsciously. Do you recall images of past exciting events in bright and vivid colours? Does the aroma of your favourite food smell pleasant and the food you dislike smell offensive? Do you feel heavy when you think of a sad experience? 

These descriptive words are how we describe maps in our minds that are made up of pictures, sounds, feelings, tastes and smells. So using NLP in daily life can be as simple as paying attention to how we represent and use our senses. 

What Are Maps?
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The sequence of points here detail how we create maps: 

• We have five basic senses: visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, olfactory and gustatory. Otherwise known as the senses of sight, sound, emotion, smell and taste 
• We process our inner and outer world through these senses. In NLP they’re referred to as modalities 
• Within each of these senses lay finer distinctions, known as sub- modalities or maps. What you hear can be loud or soft. What you see can be clear or blurry. What you taste can be delicious or awful 
• One of the main benefits of using NLP techniques is that we become more aware of our senses. The more alert we become, the clearer we understand our experience 
• NLP explains that we use sub-modalities to create meaning and to code our experience. For example, a perfume we like smells pleasant and a perfume we dislike smells offensive. 
  
  Here’s a table of Modalities and Sub-modalities as an example: ​​

Using NLP For Better Results 

1. Let’s say you don’t like eating vegetables because you had bad experiences during childhood. The picture in your mind is that vegetables are hard, bland and difficult to swallow. We can change this picture. 

Changing maps to crunchy, fresh and appetising, will expand boundaries in your mind, to give vegetables another chance. Wouldn’t this be great? Especially knowing that you’ll get healthier with this change in eating habits. 

2. The process of changing maps works well for creativity in art, problem solving, cooking, working, parenting, relationships or anything at all.

For example, if you’re stuck with a problem at work or home. When you think about it, your mind displays a picture that’s dim, blurry and small. Changing these sub-modalities to bright, sharp and big produces a different perspective and shifts your energy towards more options to resolve it.

These types of processes are shared in an NLP online course. 

What are Language Patterns?

One way we use NLP in daily life is with language. Our choice of words have a far greater impact on outcomes than we realise. Co-founders of NLP, Richard Bandler and John Grinder, modelled Milton Erickson, one of the greatest hypnotherapists of the 20th century.

Bandler and Grinder observed that Milton had great success with his clients when he used specific language patterns. They later formalised these language patterns into a code and structure in NLP, known as the Milton Model. This is how NLP for better results originated. 

One of the greatest benefits of using NLP techniques is demonstrated by the Milton Model. It allows the listeners’ unconscious mind to access their inner resources. When language used during therapy is purposely vague, the listener creates his or her own interpretation and meaning. 

The Benefits of Knowing Language Patterns

Knowing how to use Milton Model patterns enables you to become more effective at putting ideas across, and changing peoples' minds, in a way that respects their values. An NLP online course is one way of gaining this knowledge and skill. 

Sales people typically understand how to use NLP for better results by utilising some of these patterns, to close a deal for instance. A double bind pattern is one where you give two choices both of which bind you to a result. For example, you might want to sign this contract now or later. Either way you will sign the contract.

Leaders on the other hand use language patterns that are highly ambiguous. For example, we would all like peace on earth, doesn’t specify how we might find peace on earth. So what is the advantage of this? 

Leaving a message ambiguous gives the listener an opportunity to make their own meanings. This builds rapport with an audience, as everyone is entitled to their own interpretation of how they derive peace. So it is inclusive rather than exclusive. And the list goes on....

Knowing language patterns and using them to our advantage is how we use NLP in daily life. This results in a spike in outcomes whether you are a manager wanting to heighten motivation or a parent influencing your child to study. It is indeed the difference that makes the difference!

The best part is that language patterns are perfectly natural because we are already using them unconsciously. As the NLP success belief goes, “You cannot not communicate”. Everything you say or don’t say conveys messages to others around you. Whatever you do, verbal and non-verbal, amounts to communication.

Learning to use language patterns intentionally is about influencing others and communicating effectively, to open up choices and possibilities. It’s about achieving mutual outcomes for all parties involved. 

Summing up, you’ve seen how NLP in daily life works through changing maps and using language patterns. There is wide scope to benefit from using NLP techniques. We have only highlighted two of the fastest and most effective ones in the field.

Imagine how easily you could influence others if you knew exactly how to use appropriate language patterns? And how liberating it would be to understand your experience better by becoming more alert to your senses? 

NLP for better results is the way to go. Try it out to experience the amazing outcomes you can enjoy too. 
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