​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!

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. 

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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! 
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Covid-19 struck the world and crippled it in a matter of months. Overnight, we are now expected to operate in different ways of living and working. The crux is HOW ARE YOU COPING as a leader? 
What changes have you made to allow for this new normal that has hit? Are you worried about how you are going to increase employee engagement to increase productivity in the workplace?

It is not an easy time to be steering the ship. With tough decisions ahead to retrench, re-skill and strategise for choppy and uncertain waters ahead, the list has to be reinvented.

For a leader to do a 360 turnaround, attend to communication problems and improve teamwork at the same time, there has to be a high level of behavioural flexibility. Learning tools from an NLP for work course for instance could be a good place to start.

Managing teams to increase productivity in the workplace has become a different ballgame because the workplace has shifted and displaced itself to a different landscape. 

So, what has escalated in importance, booting out old priorities? One resounding voice is EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE. Your ability to relate, communicate and emote has become of paramount importance.

​Employees working from home and at the workplace need to learn a new way of pulling resources together and keep the connection within teams, to improve teamwork. 

Here are some tips to increase employee engagement in virtual meetings; 
•  With the workplace displaced, there is a high chance that communication is not as seamless as it used to be. Operating from a place of honesty and humility is a good place to start. 
•  Have empathy rather than judgment when things go wrong. Allow for employees to be struggling with the current situation too. Everyone takes a different amount of time to come to grips with what has happened. 
•  Be open to ask for ideas as everyone is exposed to different facets of work and may have suggestions and insights into how to do things more efficiently. This also leads to an increase in employee engagement as everyone is given a chance to contribute.
•  Amp up your trust factor and allow for freedom of expression. Assume that everyone has the highest positive intention and is working efficiently to increase productivity in the workplace. 
•  Communicate with updates as soon as the meeting begins. This will give all team members an opportunity to feel like communication is open and transparent. 
•  Engage team members to contribute in the meeting so they feel connected to the objectives of the team and communication problems decline.

These points cited don’t only apply to virtual meetings. They are holy grail for leading in post-Covid times. Calibrating progress more often not only gives the employee a sense that you are there on the project with them, it also keeps them on track.

​This certainly increases employee engagement as the sense of belonging is heightened and an employee will give their all, to improve teamwork. Connection with team mates is fundamental to success today. 

Tools shared at an NLP for work course address precisely this. It teaches leaders and employees how to improve teamwork by deepening their relationship with self.

While it is important to be driven by outcomes, amping up observation skills to know when an employee is struggling also helps in ironing out communication problems in the workplace.

A simple question “how are you?” gives a leader great mileage and opens the door to understanding issues the employee is contending with at the time. Taking a step further, a leader would do well to find out their team members’ reinforcers.

Ask yourself “what is a reward that this employee loves?” Some reinforcers could be: 

• Offering them coaching or mentoring
• Giving them a higher-level piece of work as training for the next level
• Making them a project lead 


This is definitely a surefire way to Increase productivity in the workplace. Employees feel rewarded and that is the first premise of performance management – to reward behaviour that you want.
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There is no doubt that this is one of the toughest times to be a leader and manager. Having experienced that situations can change overnight, the most important skill to have is the need to be flexible and resilient.


Heightening skills as a coach at an NLP for work course, would give tremendous benefit to increase employee engagement. The deeper you go into the mindset of your employees, the more you understand what makes them tick. 


This is the gold nugget that will Increase productivity in the workplace, reduce communication problems and improve teamwork. Leaders need to install strategies for their people to heighten their compassion score and deepen engagement with each other.


Most often, it is about self-change that removes blockages and negative beliefs that start the conversation. These types of courses like NLP for work could Increase productivity in the workplace easily especially when done in the organization, as everyone is on board having learnt the same tools. ​

It might seem counter productive to be talking about how to improve career growth in the current environment. People may have lost their jobs, had to change jobs or are just hanging on to the jobs they have.
The bad news can become overwhelming if we do not consciously choose to stop giving it too much attention. Rather than dwelling on what you cannot control, why not use this time to actively look at how you can better yourself at work or perhaps even secure more fulfilling work.

In fact this is the perfect time to focus on learning new skills, re-evaluate your career development or even go all the way to change careers. Sometimes a crisis is the very catalyst that gives us a much-needed boost to lead us to a brand new career.

If you are lucky enough to be in the right job and you are happy where you are, it is the perfect time to upgrade yourself in preparation for further career development.

So what is career growth? It may appear that the terms career growth and career development are used interchangeably, but they are really two different processes. It is useful to know the difference and it certainly pays to address them equally, to get the best possible outcome i.e. the most successful version of you.

Career growth is all about moving up the corporate ladder, focusing on set goals and being strategic while you are at it. Career development involves honing your skills and talent, making qualitative changes that are transformative, and becoming an expert in your field. The focus is on the “how” of achieving such development.

NLP for career development and career growth offers a great perspective on areas that might be lacking. It highlights gaps which then assist in setting career goals for you to work towards. These are four areas I have chosen to give you the best leverage.

​1. Evaluate Your State
I cannot emphasise enough, the value of exploring and acknowledging where you stand right now in terms of your career development. Becoming aware of your internal emotional condition, or what is known as state in NLP, allows you to be results-focused and achieve what you set out to.

It is the norm for a significant percentage of employees to be on auto pilot. From day-to-day getting on with the task at hand, without much reflection. With rarely an insight on what it all means, it is living direction-less with no purpose in sight.

An NLP coach could help gain crucial insights on states of mind in relation to your career. Do you feel heavy when you think about going to work? Is there an overwhelming pressure that pounds in your head? Do you feel that your office life is colourless? Is your internal dialogue saying that what you do is meaningless?

Becoming aware of your state is already half the battle won. You cannot fix something if you do not know it needs fixing. So hiring an NLP coach to accurately diagnose what is going on with your state is well worth the time and effort. It saves you stress and time. It allows you to start from a definite point. Once you gain this insight, the rest is just a matter of using the right tools to switch to more helpful states of mind.

2. Examine your core values
​If you are someone with a clear understanding of your core values, give yourself a pat on the back. Sadly, a large percentage of people go through their entire life, not giving their values a second thought. This is detrimental because known or unknown, our core values drive our behaviour.

Often, conflicts within your career could be due to a misalignment of core values. I recall a friend who had the belief that banks were only out to get people’s money. Despite achieving a high position within the industry she was very unhappy.

Examining her values, she found that her core value of freedom was in conflict with rigid terms of contracts that did not give people choices. Reflect upon your core values and check if they are aligned with your career.

There is a long list and here are some common ones - reliability, loyalty, authenticity, commitment, open-mindedness, fairness, consistency and honesty.

If you do not know how to go about it, attend an NLP course. You will have the experience of eliciting your core values, to understand them in greater depth. Not only will it greatly improve career growth, it will also be invaluable in your personal life.

​3. Build your flexibility muscle
​The most successful people are the ones with the greatest behavioural flexibility. This is a brilliant NLP success belief. If world leaders could practise this, there would be fewer conflicts. Just imagine what it could do for you, in your career.

Being flexible is not about compromising your values or just going along with the crowd. It is about looking at a situation and determining behaviours that will serve you well. It is about changing your behaviour to adapt to the situation at hand.

Done with the right intent, it highlights more choices on how to respond and helps create better rapport at the work place. So for example, if you are at a cross roads in your career path, be open to other paths. If you have taken action towards a goal which failed, find another way of getting there.

Behavioural flexibility is inter-related to states and core values. You may have come across a bossy manager, manipulative supervisor or timid colleague. These are all labels earned, from set ways of thinking and core values that drive their behaviour.

If you are open to exploring an NLP course to learn more about how you can improve career growth, that is behavioural flexibility in operation.
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4. Take charge
Do you take responsibility for your career growth and career development or have you left it to your organisation? Do you blame your boss or colleagues for everything that goes wrong? Or do you accept the part that you played in the situation? In other words, are you actively managing your career growth or leaving it to the forces at play?

When you are taking charge of your career, you accept responsibility for whatever happens and cause results. When you are at effect, you do not initiate anything and have the tendency to blame others. If you want to feel empowered at work (or life in general for that matter), be at the cause of your career development and growth. Do not be at the mercy of others, for you will be disappointed.

One of my NLP practitioners not only found ways to get a raise, she also knew how to come to an arrangement with her boss for flexible hours and change terms of her contract. All with this one success belief! A huge win don't you think? 

So when you walk into your office next, ponder over this. Do you want to be in charge of your internal state, live by your core values and have more choices for you to improve career growth? Or would you rather leave it to chance?

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.

If there is one trait that most people are after, it is confidence. What goes with confidence is competence which many fail to recognise. Coming from a space of being a subject matter expert in changing mindsets, I can say for sure that it is much easier to access confidence than most people think.
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So, if you are in the wrong job you are obviously going to lack competence in it. This is a big sign to speak to HR or your boss. Ask for a job move into something that makes your heart sing. Something that comes naturally to you. There is nothing worse than dragging your feet in to work daily and detesting every minute of it. 

It could also be that you once had confidence and it has waned due to a bad boss who has put you down continually. Being human, there is a high tendency to believe the boss and allow self-confidence to seep out of you. 

If you resonate with this, fear not. In this article I will highlight some thoughts from a Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) perspective, of how to be confident at work.

These are self-management tools that I teach at an NLP for work course. As NLP is used for creating a future, a big part of tools shared, centre around managing states of mind for different contexts. Why you may wonder? 

Well, if you are able to change your state, you then change behaviour. Most organisations focus on markers to improve productivity as that obviously comes from heightened motivation and increases revenue. When employees know how to be confident at work, they automatically improve productivity and feel good about creating a future that they want. 

Here are some tips to be confident at work; 

1. Create a confident state for use at will, anytime you need it. This is easy enough to do and very valuable to have in your back pocket, for situations when they arise. This could make you feel like an Incredible Hulk at the time when you access this state. 
2. Find your voice by perhaps singing in the bathroom when in a shower. Many people have thoughts but do not speak up. This opening of your voice channel will have you speak more easily. Singing classes would help here too. 
3. Offer to take on projects if you feel that your lack of confidence stems from not knowing your job well enough. Step into the other person’s shoes and also from an observer perspective, to enrich your point of view. This helps create a more wholistic view. 
4. Identify any beliefs that hinder you from being that confident person. Attend an NLP for work course that will help you eradicate these and replace them with more empowering beliefs. This will help boost confidence levels too. ​

Confidence is a fundamental trait that impacts every aspect of life. From something immediate like securing a job to a more long term goal like creating a future that you want.

With such tremendous impact, it is fundamental to learn skills of how to be confident at work. These skills are central to; 
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• getting on the radar for a promotion
• being singled out for a leadership role
• having healthy relationships with peers
• feeling motivated and improving productivity 

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To accelerate your search for these skills, an NLP for work online course would provide the nuts and bolts of how to be confident at work. While many feel that it is a long hard road, it really isn’t.

Working with the whole person helps clear emotional blockages that are the hindrance to be confident at work. One links to the other hence the individual is able to improve productivity, creating a future that they want. 

Like a domino effect, everything sits at the source, and once dismantled, has the effect of unfolding building blocks to re-organise and shape for better results. As an individual gains confidence, they also begin to deepen their sense of self and therefore their identity. This is crucial to creating a future that is successful.

High achievers know where they are going and use critical skills to make things happen. In my work with organisations, I have taught NLP for work skills to high achieving teams. To see their success catapult is the greatest sense of fulfilment anyone could have. 

What did it take? Just learning some tools on how to manage their daily states of mind, setting goals on their future timelines and eradicating negative emotions from the past.

Easily done in a classroom setting or online. Why wouldn’t you do it if the rewards are high and you could learn how to mobilise the whole domino effect -  how to be confident at work to improve productivity and then have access to creating a future you want?

Sounds like a good deal to me! ​

Engaging a business coach has become a norm over the last decade. The coaching industry has evolved into much more than just hiring someone to solve problems. Business coaches are hired for a range of purposes, from helping clients step outside their comfort zones, to holding them accountable when they’re not performing.
Apart from being valued for customised one-on-one mentoring and counseling, a business coach is also expected to provide unbiased perspectives on the client’s business.

A business coach who has been an entrepreneur in the past or still runs a viable business, would of course have more credibility with clients. It is a natural progression for successful business owners to want to share their expertise.

If you’re considering becoming a professional business coach, avail yourself to attend a coach training not only to learn coaching tools but also to meet other coaches in the industry.

Let’s look at the three following most important requirements that need to be fulfilled as well.
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Do you have what it takes?

​If you are an individual who is passionate about empowering others to seek solutions for their business dilemmas, you are on the right track. A willingness to share your expertise generously is a must.

Your success as a coach depends on your client’s achievement of success. This is why attending a coach course is invaluable, to learn formal tools that are transferrable across to clients.

Having business experience does lend credibility. But qualities such as being an empathetic listener, having emotional intelligence or possessing strong intuition gives you the edge.

In order to become a successful business coach, you would need to put your ego aside and play an advisory role to help clients explore what's best for their business.

Another crucial area is your networking skills which are fundamental to success. Sharing with other coaches at a coach course for instance, could give you insights and knowledge to populate and expand your mind.

The exchange of stories and ideas is important for your role to operate as a business coach who comes across experienced. Consistent networking also brings you clients. I found my first client this way and realised then, the importance and power of personal branding.

Being a business coach after all, is a personal business. If you are able to make meaningful connections as a result of attending networking events, that’s your sales done for the day.

One way to enhance these qualities is to attend an NLP coaching course or a coach course run by an entrepreneur, who has credibility in the business world and runs-on-the-board to prove their worth.

Invest in Credentials
​In addition to business expertise, it is highly recommended that you invest in a coach course, to acquire credentials and learn the art and structure of effective coaching.

Coach training will certainly put you on the fast track in this profession. Most clients would prefer to work with a business coach who is certified by a recognised body.

Certification would indicate that you have undergone rigorous training plus the required hours of coach experience, set by the certifying organisation. It would also indicate that you have demonstrated the required level of skills in applying the core competencies of coaching.

Find Your Niche
A business coach who specialises in a specific area of running a business, such as sales & marketing, organisational behaviour or performance management, is seen as more of an asset, compared to a general business coach.

​Being a generalist in the beginning of your coaching career is acceptable, but over time it is recommended that you find a niche based on your strengths. For example, if your strength lies in identifying weak links in the sales process and resolving them, market your niche accordingly.

This is where attending an NLP coaching course will help you identify your strengths and teach you how to match it with a lucrative niche.

Summing up, it's a natural progression to share your expertise to help others achieve business success. It is even more rewarding to share your expertise in a structured and efficient manner. This will not only help others achieve the outcomes they desire but also grow your career as a business coach.

And if you're already in the line, why not enhance your skills and give yourself a leading edge by learning the art of professional coaching through a coach course. Taking your business coaching skills further with an NLP coaching course, you could blitz it way ahead of your competitors, to help your clients prepare their mindset for business ahead.

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.

​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.