A large part of our work at VIA Frontiers is committed to education. We are passionate about helping individuals attain self-management tools, to improve efficiencies and ultimately lead a happy life. The blogs I have written below are testimony to this.
Every blog will add value to the reader and give insights for free. How does an individual shift their focus for a different posture in life that will bring them grace, satisfaction and a life they love. Happy reading! John set his sights on being the CEO of a multinational company (MNC) someday. By the end of his career, he had planned for a successful retirement, one that would have him sitting loftily on financial stability.
He was now in Senior Leadership, the Chief Operations Officer (COO) of an MNC, pretty close to his goals and pretty much on track. Like many others globally, he had not anticipated a pandemic and the chaos that came with it. His entire Operations team had to be re-hashed in so many ways. He could see some would have difficulty with the new style of working as their mindset and level of behavioural flexibility left much to be desired. He too knew that he would have to change in many ways especially as a leader. The mindset to cope with current and future issues. Most importantly, his leadership would have to withstand the future and be prepared for any eventuality. Thankful for the Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) courses he had done that set him apart from the rest! He had climbed the career ladder fast, learning self-management tools and operating from a high performer’s mindset. His ability to master NLP was a big factor in having him reach the success he had. His playground was the many companies he had worked for that gave him the opportunity to use influential language with his teams, to mostly understand other perspectives and resolve conflict. At the end of the day it was about not taking things personally and having the ability to negotiate between two parties to a desired outcome. John began to jot down things that were fundamentally crucial to creating a Leadership mindset for the future. What else would he need and what would he look for when recruiting a leader into his team? 1. Visionary While this term had been bandied about for decades, the true ability to see beyond and prepare for the worst was something that had not been fleshed out to the extent that was needed. A leader needed to be visionary and think critically, perhaps even imagine living in a simulated world of extremes, to be prepared for the worst case scenario. 2. Empathy The old days of authoritarianism were over and the ability to empathise by stepping into the other’s shoes, escalated in importance. Coaching for self-management was one such skill that many lacked. A leader needed to understand others’ perspectives in resolving situations and making decisions. 3. Flexibility The person with the greatest behavioural flexibility ended up being the winner. To up-skill and re-skill where needed, gave leadership the confidence to rotate and assign tasks as required. A leader needed to give employees job rotation roles as frequently as possible to acquaint themselves with working from different angles of the company. 4. Decision Making A good and fast decision maker arose from leaders who were connected to their intuition. They were focused and driven individuals with no internal conflict. A leader needed to have cleared out emotional and spiritual blockages to roam uncertainty with ease. John also realised that for all this to be steadfastly grounded in company culture, companies needed to be in businesses that were sustainable. The overall big picture of what Mother Earth needed would have to be the driving force. Inside of this if the needs of employees were taken into account and met, for instance the flexible leader who promoted employees as self-management advocates where work-life balance came naturally. John recalled a CEO he had worked for in his career changes. He was focused on making his people happy first. “When people are inherently happy” he said “they will also come to work happy and perform.” It was so many years ago that this insightful CEO had communicated his philosophy. He retained his people. They loved working at the company. They worked together as a team with transparency and a non-existent hierarchy. They played hard and worked hard! A big part was that they had installed a culture change using NLP tools as their main methodology. Employees became adept at self-management as many found it easy to master. NLP was after all a process-driven model which was highly applicable to Leadership and the workplace. Looking back on the last year and what he had been through, he was thankful for his mindset and desire to continuously learn. He was prepared for the future especially when it was his turn to be in that hot seat! Sara started to feel uplifted. It was coming to the end of a year when the world stopped for a pandemic. Living life in normalcy had been a luxury. Those who had life turned upside down were in strife at the new landscape they were facing. Many worked from home. Sara knew though that her winning mindset would have her do anything and everything to make things happen. She was an adventurer at heart who took on challenges in life as they appeared.
She had lost her job in the pandemic and had to find options to reinvent herself. She realised many aspects of her life needed to be refreshed. She charged on with acquiring self management skills. Zoom courses made it easy to upskill from home. These would augur well to heighten her behavioural flexibility and give her adaptive capabilities for whatever eventuated. It would also help her journey down a path to self-actualization. Coaching resonated with her. She could see the value of being coached. It would accelerate her journey to clarity. She also realised the fulfilment of being a coach. Living life helping others step into their personal power must be the most gratifying feeling, she thought to herself. So she hired an NLP coach and signed up for an online NLP course “Create Your Future Now” at the same time. She wanted someone who would teach her how to accelerate outcomes with a winning mindset and learn models fast through a course. While most people thought change was a long and arduous process, Sara’s NLP coach begged to differ. The best part about NLP coaching Sara thought, would be to work fast via her 5 senses. She was told these processes produced profound results. Now after a mere 4 weeks, she came out on the other side and saw the world through different lenses. Abundant options and possibilities were in front of her. She had learnt how to create from nothing. The mind map that she produced at the end of the course would be a metaphor is guardian to her journey. She would continue her NLP journey through to the Practitioner course to add to her repertoire of tools she had already acquired. Her relationships at home and work that had been under the spotlight, made a turnaround after she stepped into her NLP coaching mindset. Many aspects of her life were cleaned out so it was a short path to deciphering what she would focus on in 2022. She was establishing her business and would be ready to see coaching clients as soon as the year began. Her winning mindset got her here fast. She realised many of her friends would have the big question lurking in the forefront of their minds.What to change next year! She knew her friend Deborah was still in a quandary as many others in their cohort. They were still wondering what to do in 2022 having not done much in the pandemic. In a way Sara felt losing her job was a blessing in disguise as it forced her to look at the future with discernment and urgency. More than anything relationships had changed. Working from home and social distancing had pushed people apart. This was not a natural way to be. Human beings needed the connection. Many were struggling internally and didn’t know where to turn. Having now acquired coaching skills Sara felt on top of the world. She had self management tools and was confident too about wearing her new hat as a coach. An idea struck her! Perhaps she could help her friends gain clarity for 2022. She sent an email out about her offer to do some group coaching sessions. Would anyone be interested? A few hands went up. So she set on her way to take the group through steps that would clear the way for decisions. Zoom sessions from home made it so convenient for everyone to attend; THE SET UP Sara briefed the group in their first session. This phase would involve diagnosing where they were currently, in their life, individually. What did their life look like now? Sharing a few self management diagnostic tools she helped them identify gaps. She could see relationships were a big gap with most. CLEARING MIND COBWEBS Next Sara explained that unless past negativity was cleared, it would not augur well to focus on the future. This was a fundamental part in accessing a winning mindset. She helped the group identify their blockages. Whether it was negative self-beliefs like “I am not good enough” or fear and anxiety, they flushed it out. RE-DIRECTING THE UNCONSCIOUS MIND Most people were unfamiliar with their unconscious. Questions popped up. What was it? How did it work? Were there ways to maximise its use? Sara began by having everyone set goals. This was the way to re-focus the mind to what they really wanted. She then facilitated a process to install these goals in their unconscious mind. ACCELERATING RESULTS Now that they were ready to blitz their performance, Sara shared many self management processes they could use to signal their unconscious mind to success. Most important was for them to use their 5 senses and imagine that the outcomes had already manifested. It all seemed easy enough having these mental NLP models. In fact as weeks went by each of them were beginning to experience changes. They were clear as to what they would focus on and doubt fell on the wayside. They had stepped into a winning mindset. The few weeks of group NLP coaching had given them a forum to discuss their progress as they journeyed on different roads together. There was so much power in having buddies to challenge and be challenged. They had each other to fall back on. Sara had done them a good deed. They were living life now excited at the prospect of 2022 approaching. “Bring it on” was their posture, rather contrary to how they had begun. Working from home was a concept that was considered a no-no for many non-technology companies, until Covid-19 hit. The year 2020 was phenomenal in forcing a mindset change to many ways of operating, one of them being the whole idea of working from home...
Hearing first-hand from employees that their company revenue metrics surged despite the workforce working from home, the truth homed in. It was evident that with less travel time and expenses, employees had improved work productivity. Further to that, workers reported that they were well rested hence felt reduced stress and hopefully on the way to a healthy life. While many were resistant to a mindset change in the past, especially when organisations organised corporate trainings, the great re-set was proof that change happens fast when the need arises. So, being open to new ways of operating is all that is needed, to lead a directed life towards reduced stress and improved work productivity. If you are one who has the option to continue working from home, good for you. As a Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) Trainer, I say this with my hand on my heart. Understanding how to make profound change easily and fast is what I help people do. The only thing I look for is that the person is open to learning new things and come to the fore of their own accord, without any pressure from family or Colleagues. So what I share in this article is from an NLP perspective. In many ways these tips will help direct your mind to great results like reduced stress and improved work productivity. Healthy Work-life Balance Tips for Working From Home (WFH); 1. Keep the connection with others It is an important time to relate and communicate with colleagues so keep the corridor of conversation open. Human beings need the emotional connection to balance IQ, EQ and SQ. Don’t feel guilty to pick up the phone and have a chat to a colleague when you need a break. However you do need rules around how long you chat for. This refresher is important for reduced stress. 2. Set daily rules based on your Circadian rhythms If you are a morning person, schedule activities that require your greatest focus. Working with your natural energy patterns will yield improved work productivity. Observe your patterns and plan your week based on this. Do this so you create work-life balance which leads to a healthy life. You will see results within a few weeks. 3. Create time for yourself Working from home can get serious so it is fundamental that you build space in your schedule for some personal time. Whether to hang on the phone with a friend or listen to music, this is rejuvenates energy. When we are joyous we feel good. This cycle allows for energy to top up and give you a refreshed feeling. Laughter is the best medicine. An old adage that still holds true which leads to reduced stress. 4. Choose a practice you love To create work-life balance we must rejuvenate from the mind, body, spirit angles. A physical exercise regime to swim or jog at a certain time of day, augurs well for the unconscious mind to engage rigorously. From the spiritual dimension, whether prayer or meditation are your choices, that is up to you. These are important practices to have a sustainable and healthy life. 5. Anchor your workspace When working from home, this is probably the most important point to generate improved productivity. Your unconscious mind is an obedient mind. If you give her orders, she will know what you want. So, give her orders by working from the same place daily. Write proposals in one part of your home and take calls in another. Do the same activity in the same place every day. 6. Be outcome driven Set goals for yourself daily and weekly. Acknowledge small wins that encourage you to achieve even more. This is how you strive to achieve a mindset change. Directing your unconscious mind is gravely important. It forces you to focus and this is where resilience is built. When working from home this is a fundamental practice to set and achieve work-life balance. I hope you realise now that the unconscious mind is fundamentally where a mindset change occurs. Knowing how to work it to the fullest, yields reduced stress hence a healthy life in the long run. With mental health eroding globally, many people suffer from anxiety that is exacerbated further by working from home. A work-life balance is easily achieved if you implement some of the tips I have shared. Trevor had a big task ahead of him. The Board had approved his Human Resource proposal to implement a Culture Change project in the coming year. Even the mere thought of what it would entail gave Trevor the notion that it would be a full - on year. It was December and at year end he knew as HR Director of the company that his people had worked hard. He could not stress more the power of re-charging energy at year end. To throw caution to the wind and change gears in their life.
He wrote a memo out to all Heads of Department stressing the importance of taking a break at year end. Other parts of the human brain needed use. The over reliance on left brain activities would be yearning for some right brain activities. Get outdoors and play was the tone of his note. The company Christmas party organised would set the tone. It was time to dance, laugh, sing and play. The visual of a battery re-charging popped into Trevor’s head. The human mind was exactly like a battery. When the charge was strong, high performance was achieved. The capacity to re-charge self-confidence was innate and once done, would be available for use to the fullest. This state of mind in need of re-charging most often surfaced at year end and Trevor having run HR for more than 20 years was well aware of that. After 48 weeks of hard yakka, the remaining few were in need of a hunker down. Employees who did this produced consistency in performance. Trevor indicated some steps that came to mind. These could be easily implemented if people were interested; Get loads of sleep Counter to most thinking that sleep is a waste of time, this is one of the best healers. Sleep re-connects neurological pathways and repairs organs that have been working overtime. Sleep between 10pm to 2am is crucial as that is when the organ mechanic is hard at work. A good sleep regime is uninterrupted 7 to 8 hours daily. Learn how to meditate This is an opportune way to access downtime. Trevor was a Vipassana meditator. He attended a ten-day silent retreat that taught him the art of meditation. It was one of the best things he ever did. Meditation rejuvenated his energy levels and gave him peace of mind to sleep well and improve mental health. He started running when he had never been a runner. He didn’t suffer jet lag anymore despite the intense travel schedule he had. His productivity and self-confidence shot through the roof. Many such things emerged after he started practising meditation. He became a new person. Switch off internal dialogue Trevor found a big hurdle in his life in the past was his internal dialogue. His analytical mind that constantly talked to him. Stopping him from doing what his heart desired. He realised as long as he was having conversations with himself, he was not engaging with the outside world. Internal dialogue operated counter intuitive to improving productivity and tapping into self-confidence. Since becoming aware of this one component that blocked him from so many positive things he shared his experience with many who suffered negative self-image. Travel was a favourite of most. Leaving routine and familiarity behind to venture into new landscapes was a great way to use different parts of the brain. It was not for everyone though. Some preferred to go down to their favourite diner and meet friends. Whatever the case it was important to do what made the heart sing. If it got you excited that would augur well for a rest. He pondered over his life. Many things would change in the coming year. Once Neuro-Linguistic Programming was implemented company wide, this would create more managers as coaches. Companies like his that were intent on creating high performance teams were aware that NLP was an accelerated approach to achieving superior results. Trevor was expecting to see a fast turnaround in results once his people connected to the core of their being and tapped into their self-confidence. These were exciting times! Stop Waiting for a Manager to Manage You. Start Managing Yourself to Create A Future You Love!2/4/2024 Petra walked down the street and came to a crossroad. She had to choose – left or right? She had already been through hell in her life. The wrong road would only make her suffer more. Her heart said right and her thinking mind said left. She decided to go right. After all she had been training her soul intelligence to find its way towards self management and she was beginning to see some success through the otherwise closed blinds of her life.
Reminiscing to only a few months before when she craved an answer that would yield rapid results. She saw an ad on Facebook that called out to her. The language called out to her. It said Practitioner, a word that had been playing on her mind. Petra felt a draw to coaching. Her heart was opening to the pain around her. She knew more people would need help to cross the bridge from certainty to an ever-changing landscape ahead of them. The words Rapid Success Coaching screamed out at her. This is what she would love to learn. Technology like this would help turnaround masses fast. Most individuals and organisations yearned for change in a short timeframe. When once she was a mere corporate lady doing her day-in day-out routines, she was now propelled towards a compelling future. At least she could see light at the end of the tunnel and that gave her vigour. To be guided by some purpose and have meaning in life! Wow what an opposing take on life from where she was before. She couldn’t wait. She had signed up for “Series A and B - Create Your Future Now” and was going all the way to be a Practitioner of NLP which was the foundation methodology of Rapid Success Coaching. This felt right. The course synopsis said she would eradicate blockages from her past that were very often stuck in the unconscious, unbeknownst to the individual. She pulled herself out of her daydream and thought it was only a few days before the course would start. She wanted to master NLP so she would be adept at meshing processes within the NLP toolbox to create more impactful results. Only then would she be ready to learn the Rapid Success Coaching technology that created rapid success. What Petra loved most was that individuals would learn self management tools that would help them live with self-confidence. Having spoken to a few past participants, who were animated and eloquent in explaining the internal unblocking they had experienced, she was convinced. The alarm went off. It was 8am on Saturday and she had two hours before Series A started. Excitedly she went through her morning rituals and set up her quiet space in the study so she could totally immerse herself for the next two hours. As expected she met course mates online, many of whom were on the same path searching for self management tools. Some were like her, interested in going all the way to master NLP and be certified as a practitioner. Many people in her generation were driven by purpose as they felt a need to change focus in the world. Capitalism at the expense of the poor had to be reversed stamping out greed, replaced by collaboration towards closing the wealth gap. Petra went through Series A and B, playing at 100%. She gained clarity which helped her call on friends to practice her coaching skills as the 7-day Practitioner course would follow in a few months. She experienced in herself and her clients, the rapid results and success that she had signed up for. She was on the path to installing purpose and meaning in her life. She couldn’t believe that just a few months ago she was stagnating in her job with no direction. She saw high performers in the company. They seemed to know the way. She wanted so badly to be like them and be purpose-driven. They loved their jobs and she longed to find her calling too. But how? It was with a huge breath of relief that she thanked the Divine for bringing that Facebook post to her attention. It seemed like when she searched she would find. She was on her way to creating a future she loved. Feeling lucky that it was even available online with minimal effort and disruption to her, she smiled to herself. Rapid Success Coaching here I come! Annabelle’s story was classic. She was in bad relationships all her life. From parental to siblings and extended family. Then, she didn’t notice the pattern. Her finger always pointed outwards to others. They were to blame. Being locked at home with her partner during the Pandemic, her relationship was under the microscope. Issues highlighted were ones that had been staring her in the face for a long time. She was going crazy not knowing how to get her life sorted.
Having seen a Facebook post from a coach she responded. Sandy turned out to be a saving grace. She was trained in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) a model created by two geniuses who coded and structured how change occurred rapidly via the unconscious mind. Hailed as a magical intervention that worked well with the inner-self to attain better outcomes in life, the NLP toolbox contained more than 100 processes. Sandy singled out 5 of the most important NLP techniques that she felt helped her make a quick turnaround. She also felt others would benefit in the following ways, exactly the way she did. NLP techniques focused on deleting unhelpful programs, installing more generative ones in replacement. Three NLP Techniques That Transformed Annabelle’s Life: 1. Eliminate Unwanted Habits The Swish pattern was so useful for Annabelle as it helped her swish out unwanted habits and redirect her focus to healthier ones. All she had to do was push away pictures that she had formed for the former while bringing in the latter picture. Her coach Sandy had used this technique as Annabelle displayed compulsive / obsessive behaviours such as, nail biting, smoking, addiction to foods like sugary snacks. All of these had an impact on her self-esteem and as a result overflowed into her relationship. Annabelle felt a huge amount of stress release from doing this one technique. She was beginning to see the value of doing NLP coaching. 2. Elicit Values for Motivation Annabelle suffered greatly from a lack of motivation. She had no purpose to be alive hence she unconsciously sabotaged her relationships. Dragging her feet in life was not the way to live. She had reached her threshold. This was a sign to Sandy as an NLP coach that Annabelle needed to migrate to a new level of values. She elicited Annabelle’s values for life by asking “what’s important to you about life?” It was fundamental that Annabelle see the list that emerged. She learnt that because values were our deepest unconscious filter, it was important to understand and acknowledge the values that were driving her. This would then help her align her values internally and make decisions that propelled her to these. No wonder she was unhappy at work. She was in the wrong job. It was crystal clear to her, without any prodding from Sandy. She knew she had to make way to eventually leave. When values were aligned to work or personal life, people were comfortable, happy and in a natural state. It’s no secret that employees whose values were most aligned to the organisation became high performers. They were able tosee their role clearly and know how they contributed to the organisation’s overall results. 3. Identify Gaps in Strategies Annabelle had a horrible buying strategy that got her into trouble throughout her life. This was also linked to her compulsive behaviour. It was the bane of Annabelle’s life. It grated her spouse too, as credit card bills were often blown out of proportion when they could ill afford it. Sandy proceeded to elicit Annabelle’s buying strategy. She explained that strategies were a train of thoughts a person went through to make a decision or achieve a goal. These strategies were described using the five senses i.e. what you see, hear, smell, taste and feel. In other words, what they were after was a set of internal procedures that produce a specific outcome. So every time Annabelle was faced with a buying situation an NLP strategy elicitation could help her take a closer look at the chain of events leading to this decision. It would reveal a step that needed to be changed or removed to successfully walk away. Annabelle was thankful for the diagnosis as to what step of her strategy got her into trouble each time. She almost wanted to go out and try her new strategy. It was exciting to say the least. Sandy chose these techniques as they had a close relationship to the goals that Annabelle had worked through in her first session. The objective was to break the unconscious links between how Annabelle’s brain associated to her behaviours. In a matter of three sessions she was already feeling 80% better. She was not done yet but she was adamant that NLP could transform lives if only people cared to give it a chance. She did not have to divulge any private events to Sandy. That was the best part. All she did was tell Sandy what she wanted to eradicate and they worked on that. The NLP toolbox revealed coaching in a systematic and structured way. It was far from traditional. In fact the interaction with Sandy debunked all her myths about what sessions would be like. She loved every minute of them. It was rapid transformation at a totally different level! 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. 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. 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! 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:
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? Spending time on an activity you enjoy has the potential to reduce anxiety and improve mental health overall. Research shows that people with hobbies are less likely to suffer from stress, low mood, and depression. Think about it. When you are having a good time, engaged in activities that you enjoy, you feel happier and more relaxed.
There is little or no need for stress management as endorphins are produced in your body which promote positive feelings. A hobby which is usually something you choose to do outside of your daily “have to” routine is a great way to spend your spare time. Finding a hobby could do any one of the following as it did in this sequence for me; Find new friends in an environment outside your normal context In my mind it is highly recommended to engage in a hobby that helps me meet new people. When I migrated to Sydney I set out to create as many hobbies as possible. The idea was to meet people from different walks of life. Some were enjoyable and others weren’t but what it certainly did for me was help me meet people who lived in different parts of Sydney and who worked at many different jobs. I learnt so much from these people and joined activities which made me refocus my mind out of the stress of having just moved countries, to enjoying my new life. This re-direction of focus is what helps your brain engage in enjoyment and reduce stress with hobbies. Unwind from a daily routine I was a banker when I migrated to Sydney. Days were stressful and intense. I had a new job in a new organisation in a new country. From learning how things were done to establishing new relationships. I found a new friend at the bank who was also single. She lived in Manly which is a beach suburb. As in new friendships the excitement of spending time together was definitely an activity I looked forward to. A quick drive to her place, dinner and a three hour walk by the beach would change my state of mind, leaving me totally relaxed at the end of the night. From smelling the salty air to feeling the cold water at my feet. Learn a new skill As months went by and I delved in more hobbies, I gravitated more to things I had never done before. I especially felt a deep need to get out of my left brain (intellectual side) to my right brain (artistic side). As luck had it, one of my girlfriends was a good dancer. I loved music and this got me interested in learning a new style of dancing called Ceroc. I found myself a dance partner. We went dancing every Tuesday and Thursday from 7pm for 3 hours. I still recall how stressed I used to feel when I first arrived at the dance hall and how relaxed I felt as I left at the end of the night. My ability to reduce anxiety was certainly fundamental to heighten productivity at work. Challenge you to deepen a current practice an interesting aspect of my life beyond banking was that I felt a calling to meditation. This I found out unexpectedly as I one day stumbled across a sign that read “free meditation” This journey began with art meditation and opening channels of intuition. After many years of going deeper with a variety of different aspects of meditation, I ventured into the ten day silent retreat-style meditation. I met some of my best friends there and learnt how to bypass jet lag, reduce anxiety and improve mental health. A wonderful, very pronounced side effect that everyone at work noticed was that my performance at work improved. While I did not target explicitly to reduce stress with hobbies, that was what exactly happened. Most organisations view stress management from a serious angle yet the opposite posture needs to be taken. Teams that are happy experience motivation to perform. Their focus is not on how to reduce anxiety or improve mental health, but more to enjoy what they are doing. In fact if you interview an entrepreneur or business owner, you will find that their heightened resilience and “never say die” attitude is cast in stone. They are focused singly on winning not on failing. They also value a balance in life so having fun and playing are just as important as work. More than anything, entrepreneurs have made work out of their hobby. I often hear them say “I am being paid for my hobby” which is a cool concept as their level of enjoyment is immense and they definitely know how to reduce anxiety with hobbies. This is what employees need to understand if they would like to heighten productivity. Having a hobby eradicates the need for stress management and reduces anxiety, not the other way around. 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! Richard’s spousal relationship made a significant turnaround fast. He was shocked at the rapid changes both he and his wife experienced. Overnight they were both on a different level. It was a miracle!
But then again was it? In the back of his mind his NLP coach Sandy’s voice rang loud and clear. She had said that as he hit session 3 or so, he would begin to see phenomenal changes. His internal radar was re-orientating. He didn’t quite understand what that meant specifically as he had never experienced immediate change before. As he learnt more about NLP he was beginning to gain some semblance of deeper understanding as to how the unconscious mind worked. NLP worked completely with the unconscious mind, by-passing conscious filters which is how change happened fast. In layman’s terms when Richard cleared anger that he had harboured for years, he changed some pictures, sounds and feelings of the event that had caused him to be angry. He did not have to discuss why he felt that way or intervene with conscious thought. It was such an easy, meditative process called Timeline Intervention. Contrary to what he had heard in the past this did not require a diagnosis or judgment of any sort. He merely knew he had anger – not why, how, when, where? Then cleared it through Sandy’s expertise in facilitating the NLP process. It made sense to do it this way. For years he had steered away from “therapy” never wanting to talk about his anger. If only he knew that NLP did not require him to do so. No wonder Sandy called it Rapid Success Coaching! It was starting to make so much sense now. There were processes for every type of life situation – conflict resolution, rapport building and more. He thought this would prove beneficial to his team as well. His relationships there could improve significantly too. In fact he would bring Sandy in to do some ground work with the team while he did some of her online classes and upskilled himself. She had designed these courses specifically for people to live from Purpose and taught these very processes that he experienced as a client. “Create Your Future Now” was about eradicating past negativity and designing a purposeful future. He knew that working with “context, process and structure” was an art, he wanted to learn. “Content” of life was slow and noisy. Stepping out of it with artful questioning and influential language was the way to go. Plus if he could help his team change the 5 senses in experiences that were the blockage, their perspectives would improve for the better. It was like doing a software update for your computer. NLP was becoming more commonplace in corporates, where tools were applied to leadership, coaching and culture alignment. Leaders were more open to engaging coaches and trainers as a means to improve career growth and manage themselves efficiently. It’s funny how this was more evident now than ever for Richard. He had taken the blinkers off and realised that many colleagues had hired coaches. Anything to make things happen and achieve the goals they set for themselves. There was one philosophy in particular overarching NLP technology that stuck in his mind. It read “if I can change my mind, I can change my performance. So when I change my performance, I change my results.” The tools to change his mind were in the NLP toolbox and if he had his way he would have liked to add the word “FAST”. He had re-programmed his thought patterns, the habits he had formed from young. These emotional thought patterns had affected his mental health all through his adult life. Now that he was free he could imagine what his team and company would be like if everyone was on the same level playing field. Speaking the same language, they would be producing superior results without trying. NLP being an accelerated learning model fit perfectly into the mindset of a high performer or a progressive employee, anyone who wanted to spike their career path fast. It was like unknotting a rope within. Exactly what Richard had experienced once he unknotted himself. He saw different perspectives and felt totally refreshed! A new way of operating was available. He just had to choose it. Many described NLP as magic. He now knew why! When clients approach us for presentation and public speaking skills training, they understandably seem excited about getting into the technical components of being a great public speaker — vocal exercises for a more authoritative voice, phonetics lessons for better pronunciation etc.
These certainly should be among the features of a quality public speaking programme. However, if you think that the keys to achieving these outcomes are exercises such as intense vocal training and phonetics drills, think again. Jumping to these components before addressing more fundamental issues will make the road to becoming a great public speaker longer and possibly more arduous. I take the approach of working intensely, yet rapidly, on ‘self’ issues before plunging into technical training. By addressing these issues first, you’ll put yourself on the fast-track to becoming a confident, credible, authentic and memorable speaker. Reframe Your Jitters as Excitement One of the biggest problems people face is jitters. Some have such intense worries about stage fright that they begin having nightmares months before they’re due to address an audience. A certain amount of nervousness can be good. It ensures that you put effort into preparing what you’re going to say and that you stay ‘on’ throughout your time in front of an audience. However, to keep nerves from becoming destructive, instead of asking people to calm down which can be incredibly challenging, we take people through a reframing exercise that enables them to transform jitters into excitement. Remind yourself why you care about this speaking opportunity. Why is this audience important to you? By telling yourself out loud how excited you are about this speaking opportunity and the impact it will have on your audience, you’ll begin the process of reframing it as an exciting event rather than a formidable task. Another technique that’s proven to be effective is to visualise the entire event from start to finish and imagine it going really well. Imagine what your audience looks like throughout your delivery and imagine them feeling satisfied and walking away with something valuable at the end of your speech. Learn How to Manage Your State We also take our learners through powerful state management techniques to enable them to stay ‘in the zone’ throughout their speech. These usually involve recalling a past event where they felt positive emotions (e.g. confidence). Remembering what that looked like, sounded like and felt like is the first step to being able to use it as an anchor that you can call upon whenever you want to recreate the same magic for any speaking engagement. Pause and Breathe Many people take breathing for granted until they’re made to realise that they’re not doing it right. Many of us breathe while heaving our chest up and down. However, you’re not breathing right unless you’re breathing into your stomach. In other words, as you breathe, your abdominal area should expand. This breath when exhaled gradually will support your words as you speak. Breath support ensures your voice sounds richer and more resonant. It also prevents your voice from trailing off at the ends of sentences and eliminates vocal fry (a low and scratchy voice, especially at the ends of sentences). Pausing and breathing every now and then while speaking will also help regulate the pace of your speech while reducing stress and anxiety. The best performers would tell you that committing to breathing exercises on a daily basis will strengthen your lungs and vocal muscles in the long run. As a result, delivering your message authoritatively in your best voice will become effortless. In short, to accelerate your journey to becoming an amazing public speaker, slow down, take a step back, commit to the fundamentals and most of all, breathe! This post was contributed by Communications Strategist, Consultant and Coach, Bharati Jagdish Bad bosses, the biggest reason why employees leave their jobs. A gaping hole in parental – children relationships. These are some situations that arise from a lack of Emotional Quotient (EQ).
And what about Spiritual Quotient (SQ)? Do you see some people around you filled with it? They are on a Mission, driven by a deep Purpose. Others are listless, doing the same thing over and over again with no difference in results. Many say that you either have it or you don’t. MYTH! Every human being has it. The question is; “Have you tapped into your EQ and SQ?” Some access these skills from young, encouraged by parents who live with heightened self-awareness. Others have to search for ways to access their EQ and SQ domains. Often these come with painful occurrences where learnings are developed and a deeper awareness drops internal filters. Those who have been through this sort of experience may behave and operate differently to before, understanding a dimension they never saw before. Today, Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) makes this task easy. Working with the unconscious mind that communicate through the five senses, anyone can do this. Simple processes taught at the Licensed NLP Practitioner which is an international certification, gives people tools to access their deepest side. Imagine if you were bad at parenting or a leader lacking the ability to communicate with your stakeholders. Understanding the tenets of emotional intelligence would lead to astounding results. People begin to warm up to you and are willing to go the extra mile to make things happen. If you are someone who lacks EQ and SQ skills your first port of call is to attend an NLP Program. It is the fastest way to acquiring models that will lead you to exponential results. Change one thing about the way you operate and experience the profound results it brings! Diagnosis, the starting point of everything. When done well, we are able to chart steps forward. As an NLP Coach and Trainer, I find this the most important step in helping my clients.
This is where experience comes in. Akin to a doctor who diagnoses and prescribes medication, I understand a client’s mind and know exactly what they need. To have them settle in with comfort to the interaction, I get them to take a stab at their Wheel of Life. What are segments in their life that are important to them and if they were to dissect the Wheel, what percentage would they allocate to each segment? Are they in front of me because they have to make more progress in their career or relationships? How is it one segment has more success than another? These are simple yet profound questions that have clients dig deep for answers. It is also important to know where they are in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. If they want to self-actualize at the highest level, how are they going to get there? What resources are needed and do they already know where the gaps are? Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) has many diagnostic tools that then progress a client to the next step of making the actual change. One of my clients was adamant that she could not be a success in life. Her teacher had alluded to that when she was 10 years old. At the time her results reflected it and she was totally convinced. It took a few sessions and webinars to have her realize that she had programed her mind to believe that. Removing her beliefs that limited her, she saw the future with new eyes for the first time in her life. The rest was history! As NLP works beyond conscious thinking, results are accelerated and clients access their inner selves for the first time. It is likened to an activation of sorts. Would you like to be activated? This is the start to create a life that you love…. One of the greatest life skills I learnt from my father was to choose my response especially in volatile situations. The old way was to keep silent and let things boil over.
Today, having done NLP programs and subsequently become an NLP Trainer, I realise so much of what I had to control in the past could have been done in a more efficient way. At the core of NLP sits one of the most powerful tools - how to be adept at managing your emotional state. Whatever the other person is spewing, you remain calm and confident. For example, when faced with an angry spouse and you fly off the handle, the situation doesn’t augur well for either party. The alternative is to fire off an anchor of calm so you are able to access empathy and rationale at the same time. Creating anchors are easy to do. Learning through “remembering a time when” you were calm, your neurology is able to access the feeling. Capturing that feeling is fundamental to the process of replication for use in the future. Many people are not aware of these feelings as they go through the day. As human beings we access hundreds of emotional states daily. Imagine if you could anchor fundamental states to be used again in the future when situations arise! You become the Master of that interaction as you dictate the communication. Awareness of states is everything! It is the basis of success! 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? “He is too stingy,” I heard Susan utter to her friend John, about their colleague Alan that afternoon. They were at work overhearing a conversation which was a rather common pushback from Alan. “I can’t afford it. I won’t be attending the event.” was Alan’s typical retort to invitations.
Susan was accustomed to hearing this. Her judgment based on what she knew of Alan had John immediately raise his eyebrows. “Are you kidding? Do you know his circumstances?” asked John. Susan realised she didn’t. Alan was an introvert. He kept things to himself. John was one of the few colleagues he confided in. Alan had been extremely careful about spending on any ancillary expenses as his main focus was to see his three children through university. This type of situation often happens in daily life. We judge rather than reframe — an efficient technique in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) especially when a problem seems hopeless. The ability to change the meaning of any negative experience into something useful. It’s natural to panic or be fearful when you’re faced with big problems. But this just magnifies the problem in your head. It’s more efficient to solve problems with NLP by shifting your focus. It helps to clear your head and enable sensible decisions. In another daily application, let’s say you break up with your partner. You feel like it’s the end of the world. Let’s reframe it by looking at it from a different angle. What are the possible benefits of being single?
NLP training teaches you how to see a different meaning to a problem, one you probably never saw before. This ultimately leads to a more positive experience of the situation. Learning the art of reframing is taught at the NLP Practitioner program. For me it is an invaluable tool to have, especially when a reframe leads to a lighter meaning such as humour. Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) 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, NLP was discovered through observing high performers in the field of psychotherapy.
Consisting of more than a hundred processes, each geared towards a specific type of problem, NLP began to gain traction from people in other industries. Today it is used in corporates to resolve conflict, deepen rapport, manage states of mind and more. At an organisation level, NLP is used to align cultures, heighten motivation and build high performing teams. As the CEO of an organisation, wouldn’t you like to spike the performance of your teams? This could only happen if you understood behaviour. As Aubrey Daniels (the man who coined the term Performance Management) so rightly said, “Business is behaviour and behaviour is business.” In order to get the most out of your people, you need to know what makes them tick. The gold nugget in all this is that you don’t need to become a psychotherapist to do this. NLP provides a series of models that are based on how human beings use the five senses to experience life. Designed with process in mind, engineers, IT programmers and other process-oriented industries would take to this like a duck to water. As Grinder & Bandler observed how three psychotherapists were ahead of their counterparts, they coded and structured their findings in a simple-to-use model called NLP. Today, learning NLP is merely signing up for a course to attain these processes. Conducted in a fun but intense seven days, these international certification courses can be found globally. In following blogs I will detail some applications that are most useful to individuals and organisations. If you have lived with bad decision making all your life and would like a turnaround to create better outcomes, your fastest route to success is to learn Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques.
The crux is to figure out the root cause. Is your decision making hurried and coming from impatience? Or does it stem from internal conflict where many parts within you want different things? Types of Decision Making 1. Impatience A person who makes decisions impatiently, has some level of urgency in them. This is learnt behaviour.
2. Internal Conflict A person who suffers this has many parts that pull them in different directions. Created from stressful situations where the person unconsciously needs different parts to look after various aspects of their life.
These are some examples of how high performance in organisations is unleashed. When parts are integrated for instance, the employee begins to feel whole again. They have focus to move in one direction that brings them results. Typically because NLP processes create impactful accelerated results, they require only a few sessions and the person is able to self-manage beyond that. This is how NLP works with the unconscious mind to help people stop making bad decisions. The unique part about working through NLP processes, is that once the old pattern is interrupted, it can’t work again. When I was younger my mother always called me an impulsive buyer. I would see a dress and buy it hastily without looking at dresses in other shops. Today I know it was my intuition that drove me. I was a very defined personality from young hence I knew what I wanted very quickly. And my decisions were good. I was happy with the result. This is how employees in companies produce high performance. Can you imagine the time and money saved if you were a good decision-maker? Influential people achieve outcomes more easily than others. One aspect of their success is the language they weave deliberately through the minds of their audience.
It is an easy-to-learn part of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and you will be surprised to know that our daily language comprises many influential language patterns that breed success when used in a specific way. The Source of Influential Language Patterns Our choice of words have a far greater impact on outcomes than we realise. Co-founders of NLP, Dr. Richard Bandler and Dr. John Grinder, modelled Dr. Milton Erickson, one of the world’s greatest hypnotherapists of the 20th century. Bandler and Grinder observed that Milton had great success with his clients in his coaching practice, when he used specific language patterns with them. This style of language allowed listeners’ unconscious minds to access their deep, inner resources. When language used during therapy is purposely vague, the listener created his or her own interpretation and meaning. The Benefits of Knowing Language Patterns Knowing these patterns enables you to become more effective at putting ideas across and changing people’s minds, in a way that respects their values. A parent having difficulty influencing a child to sleep would use a double-bind pattern where the child is given two choices you might want to go to bed at 7 or 8. Either way they will go to bed. Leaders on the other hand use language patterns that are highly ambiguous for example, we will all enjoy the transformation that is ahead of us. Leaving a message ambiguous gives the listener an opportunity to derive their own meanings. This builds rapport with an audience, as everyone is entitled to their own interpretation of how they will enjoy the transformation. This is inclusive rather than exclusive language. Knowing these language patterns and using them to our advantage in daily life is mesmerising. Results spike from heightened motivation and deeper rapport. It is indeed the difference that makes the difference! 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. 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? I am sure you see it by now. There is wide scope to benefit from using NLP techniques. The benefits of using Neuro Linguistic Programming (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 post, I’d like to touch on how we are continuously changing maps in our minds unknowingly that impact our performance. Imagine if you were to know the maps that you had in your memory and how to use them deliberately for better results. Wouldn’t that be awesome? Another tool under your belt! What Are Maps? If you follow the sequence of points here you will stand a better chance of understanding how we create maps:
One of the main benefits in understanding our maps is that we become more aware of our senses. Changing Maps Having now become aware of how you store your experience via the senses, the next step is to decide what you would like to change. A simple example - let’s say you don’t like vegetables and you know they are good for you. Changing the way you have stored vegetables could be a simple process of replacing a black & white picture to colour. If this is one of your drivers for change, it will instantly make vegetables appealing. Imagine if you could expand your boundaries to give vegetables another chance. Wouldn’t this be great for your health? Or extend it beyond to changing maps about specific types of work you loathe but have to do? Wouldn’t this augur well for your results at work? This is how high performers are created! There is wide scope to benefit from using NLP techniques. We have only highlighted one of the fastest, most effective techniques in the field. Try it out to experience the amazing outcomes you can enjoy too. Today’s generations are experiencing higher levels of stress than ever seen before. Precipitated by information on the internet, Wars and a Pandemic, it has forced unprecedented changes in the way we think and work.
Add to that the stresses of a daily corporate job and family committments. It goes without saying that employees need to be equipped with specific tools to cope with these pressures. When understood, stress has an upside. It has the ability to motivate us to act, for example, in a fight or flight situation. Do I stay and push back on my boss or do I walk away? Having Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) tools will help you identify the root cause of this stress and how to use it positively as a marker that something is amiss. For instance, an incidence of physical symptoms like headaches, fatigue and insomnia are warning signs that deeper health issues are on the horizon. Start by using NLP tools to reduce stress with these three simple yet effective techniques. Reframing Changing the way you view stress is important. If seen as an indicator then it becomes useful. This is known as reframing in NLP. Learn to take a step back and examine the real cause;
By doing this, your heightened awareness will give you a more calibrated response to the situation, contrary to a blind reaction which is most often seen. Anchoring The primary function of our unconscious mind is to keep us safe. Many negative associations are created at a young age. For example, linking a person, object or situation to pain, triggers stress. A parent you didn’t get along with or the thought of school which you never did well at. These are often transposed to work. Learning how to break this link to pain is the first step that leads to a tremendous reduction in stress. It isn’t automatic anymore. In fact again, it is calibrated. An NLP technique called anchoring would form links of satisfaction, joy or gratitude to different aspects of work. Beliefs Most people are driven by beliefs that they are unaware of. Beliefs that again, are formed when young. Negative beliefs that limit a person’s capabilities and cause stress could sound like this:
You may be labouring with such beliefs that hamper your performance and affect your well being. It isn’t enough to reflect on beliefs you hold about your job. Learning how to delete unhelpful beliefs to install positive, effective ones instead is another technique that employees need to learn to reduce stress. Doing so is making a choice of never having to struggle against limiting beliefs, ever again. In conclusion, stress is impossible to eliminate altogether. We need good stress in our lives to keep us on our toes. Equipping yourself with a useful mindset to deal with stress is a more empowering way and one that would keep you in good health too. You do not need to have a special gift or talent to learn NLP tools. It is a learned skill just like many other work skills already in your toolbox. With all hands on deck an organisation could within six to eighteen months quite easily set up an agile workforce. Easy is not a word that comes up for most, I know but from an expertise point of view which is where I am sitting, this is what I do for organisations.
Extremely important is the decision that this Program supersedes all other initiatives which have to recede into the background, at least for the first six months. As people down the line, in a top-down approach begin to receive tools that make them effective, success becomes a drug. We are bound to find employees in the mix who resist change and don’t want a part of it. Well, I have found that most often, it is because they fear being given advice. In my experience, the most resistant people turnaround as NLP tools share structure and context not content. Application of tools learnt are contextualised by employees who work in the department. Rich discussions ensue and the NLP Master Trainer becomes but a mere facilitator. The objective to leave coaches behind as the workforce gains success momentum is achieved within a mere few months. This is how coaching infrastructures are established at each level of the organisation. As the hierarchy gathers strength in speaking a common language, employees begin to take things less personally, applying the same tool for resolving conflict as the one needed to write a conducive client proposal. Unless experienced, this is way beyond a decision maker’s imagination. It is too good to be true. In reality, it happens often to those who see through NLP-linked resources whether it be the tools or highly-resourceful trainer. Give it a go if you have not experienced this. Pick up a book, do some research or speak to us to understand the depth and breadth of what is possible. The infinite possibilities are worth aspiring towards. It takes a different mind to walk a different direction to the masses. All through my career in corporate, not once was I shown the way to change patterns of behaviour. The standard way was to receive feedback ceremoniously or otherwise and make it happen.
I saw and experienced myself, leaders who were controlling rather than trusting. At the time, I merely avoided them or worked within boundaries I was given. When I left corporate after 18 years to become an entrepreneur, my fascination with understanding human behaviour was at its peak. Was it a calling? A path I was meant to walk? My fate? Regardless, I took steps to upskill myself and today 21 years later, I speak from experience. Having worked with all types of clients who wanted behaviour changes, I have a system that produces high performers. Our ways of being have been installed from the past. Growing up in a controlling family would only give rise to a child who operates from control. Clearing negative patterns of behaviour like these give rise to individuals feeling free to then create their future. Anger and fear are stimulants to the adrenal system. Eradicating these allows the individual to release the “battery bunny” inside them to a level of normal energy. Sadness and guilt on the other hand suppress the adrenals hence energy levels are low and do ascend once these are removed. While most people feel these interventions need to be long, this is merely a myth. Clearing a negative emotion from the past timeline can take as much as four sessions. Imagine if a whole workforce could release their past negativity, belief systems included? Propensity for the organisation’s performance to spike would be tremendous. Isn’t that something that all organisations seek? If I were senior leadership, this is what I would spend my budget on. The clients who have done so and continue to do are reaping the benefits. |
SYLVIA FERNANDES
Sylvia is a qualified Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) Master Trainer. She started her business in Sydney and is now based in Singapore. Archives
December 2024
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