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.

He /she has to be an advocate for change, someone who is a natural communicator standing for messages to be sent down the line as frequently as possible. Engaging the workforce regularly through different channels while keeping in mind the makeup of his/her workforce.
 
When I conduct my training using NLP Communication Tools to create powerful cultures, I often ask my students what their culture looks like. Many reply control, authority and a focus on results.
 
Where is the fun, care, learning and purposeful focus? Has leadership not realised they could achieve a lot more if they created an ambience for their employees to relax and feel comfortable?
 
After all, when we are in our element, this is where intuition surfaces. Ideas come to us in our most relaxed moments. Aren’t we setting up cultures counter intuitive to what is needed for employees to do well and retain their mental health?
 
Breaking down hierarchical boundaries for open & transparent communication that is problem-solving and solution-oriented in nature yields a positive culture. At the end of the day, everyone works for the same organisation so why not roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty altogether.
 
With younger generations demanding flatter structures in organisations, the uncommunicative older style leader has to be weeded out of the system.
 
Communication strategies which set the tone and direction for successful change has to be linked to organizational goals. When aligned it enhances organizational performance and influences energy levels, keeping everyone focused on goals and priorities while providing feedback on progress.
 
This creates a powerful organisational culture!
 
When these building blocks are in place, the rest flows. Employees feel they have a purpose. They have a sense of belonging and strive to high performance.         

Trevor was the Head of Human Resources in the organisation that John worked for. They were good friends. Both were members of the Senior Leadership Team, John being Chief Operations Officer. He was always on the lookout for great talent. He needed people who had great relationship skills and were easy to work with.

Trevor helped him recruit. He hired people with potential who could be coached and mentored into more senior positions. So when John returned from the NLP Practitioner Program, the two colleagues decided to catch up for a drink. Friday night was a good bet. They usually went on through the wee hours of the morning. 

As John related his NLP experience to Trevor, both knew they were on to something that would really propel their careers. Sylvia was the NLP Master Trainer who John trained with. He chose her because of her deep corporate experience in Banking and Professional Services.  

Sylvia had also created Rapid Success Coaching which caught John’s attention. This model as Sylvia shared at the NLP Program, emerged as a by-product of more than 30 years-experience in aligning organisational cultures. As she worked with corporates, she observed that every single one of them yearned for change in a short timeframe. 

John took notes as she related her experience of how she applied NLP to the corporate context. He would hire her for some big chunks of initial work with the leadership team and perhaps have some of their internal people trained too. Then progress the initiative down the line. 
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Trevor was buying in to this idea. John needed that. He was after all the one with the purse strings and authority to push this forward in the organisation. He asked “tell me more about the Rapid Success Coaching model” as John explained how Sylvia meshed NLP processes within the toolbox, to create more impactful results. 

Organisations needed more effective managers and authentic leaders. A complete dearth at the moment was communication. He could only imagine what would happen if the organisation heightened communication throughout. It was like oiling the machinery for smooth operations. 

Sylvia’s focus was to have employees self-manage so leaders could focus on what they were really meant to be doing. She 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?” Trevor asked. John spoke to some participants at the NLP Program who had experienced this. They had met with rapid success. They were animated and eloquent in explaining the internal emotional unblocking they had experienced and were quick to add that NLP processes were at the source of this change. 

The distinct difference was that NLP worked with the unconscious mind, the five senses. Sylvia then further explained that Rapid Success Coaching combined NLP with other modalities that she was qualified in too. All up, she was essentially targeting self-management as her main objective. 

People were too reliant on managers and leaders to make decisions for them. The onus of decision making had to fall in their hands so a deeper culture of accountability would form. This is how Sylvia applied her corporate experience in business units that she worked in. 

​The person with the greatest behavioral flexibility will often take control. One of a myriad of success beliefs that Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) Practitioners live their lives by. 

Problems occur when people uphold a mindset of rigidity. My way or the highway does not augur well for resolutions or negotiations to a strong positive outcome. 

So I guess the question is what keeps people rigid? Is it the authoritarian in them or the fear to traverse new boundaries? Either way it reflects on the person. 

Employees in organisations who make great progress up the career ladder are flexible in their approach. That is why they are earmarked beyond their colleagues. What are some points that might reveal these types of people?

• A willingness to learn 
• Positive approach to being coached 
• Volunteer to do new projects
• Open communication style

Why are these the tenets to success? Because as employees climb the career ladder they become responsible for teams. There is a need to understand makeup of the workforce and diversity that peoples’ behaviors bring. 

At this point behaviour becomes business. Leaders who understand behaviour,  know how to coach them to success. They become the winners. Employees emerge self-driven and motivated. No need for a manager to “manage”!

Flexible leaders attract people to them. Employees want to work with such leaders. It works both ways. A relationship made in heaven, one that could make all the difference. 

Those who continue in rigidity fall away beneath the radar. They live a monotonous life in an automatic way of being. Unnecessary and sad as there is no shortage of courses and books, seminars on and offline to open one’s mind. 
For me, a turning point in my life was mastering NLP techniques. Working with the unconscious mind I learnt how to build rapport and engage people to success. 

Like bees to honey I enroll people in my life who join me on my Purposeful journey.