NLP is all about training mind skills to aid the corporate cause, says Val Leveson
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Businesses are always looking at ways to motivate and inspire staff - one of the methods being used by some coaches and executives is NLP.
Founder of Training for Change, Nick Read, says: "NLP stands for Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Neuro - the brain/thinking; Linguistics - language; Programming
- patterns. So in other words, how patterns of thinking are revealed in language.
"Because all three elements are inter-related, it also suggests that language patterns can influence thinking."
He says that for business, NLP is the art and science of influence.
"The strategies of influence are a science - behaviour is predictable and repeatable. The art of influence revolves around which strategy will be more effective in a particular situation."
Read says that the most important thing in a business is human dynamics - how people communicate with each other and work together and how they deal with customers/clients.
He runs courses for companies and at the University of Auckland Business School, predominantly for managers and leaders, although anyone can attend.
He says: "Many professional negotiators are trained in using NLP to help influence the negotiation process. Managers and leaders need to be aware of how they are being influenced by negotiators.
"In the same breath, managers and leaders themselves are often negotiating - with colleagues, suppliers, other managers, etc. So they may as well use appropriate strategies to achieve their outcomes." Read says an example of NLP techniques would be watching and imitating a person's body language as part of communication and listening carefully to the types of words a person uses.
"For example, if someone says: 'This is the way I see this and I envisage that', the person is telling the manager that they're a visual person. To respond by saying, 'Well my gut feeling is' or, 'It sounds like that' is talking in another language.
"It's the same with other aspects of communications - language patterns, tonality, body language, thinking strategies and so on. If we can learn to speak the same language, we enhance the communication process."
NLP is not therapy - and Read says he's careful not to cross that line. "It's about improving communication. It makes conversations more purposeful, helps people to manage difficult conversations more easily, and gives managers strategies in dealing with people with different world views to themselves."
Asked whether there was a bit of mind control in NLP, Read said: "Absolutely. NLP teaches us to be aware of our own thinking, and how to use thinking strategies to communicate more effectively."
However, the only person we can control in an interpersonal situation is ourselves and people usually can tell when they are being manipulated.
"NLP alerts us to the influence that we are having on the situation. How are our language and behaviour affecting the situation? And what can we do about that?
"It also focuses our attention on the other person. How are they thinking? What do they need next to move on, make a decision, or whatever?"
Asked whether NLP is manipulative, Read said: "What's the difference between manipulation and influence? Intent. Is fire good or bad? It depends how it's used.
"Same with NLP ... Yes, these techniques can be misused to try to manipulate people. But fortunately, most people have well-developed 'crap detectors' and can spot these attempts."
Organisational development specialist and managing director of Scale Free Networks Limited, Robyn Barnes, says: "I use NLP constantly. A lot of work I do is with people in consulting, coaching, mentoring or supervising conversations and this is where advanced communication skills come to the fore: building rapport, asking powerful questions, active listening and then reflecting back the response to check understanding are all fundamental communication skills which are part of the NLP methodology.
"I also use NLP skills when I facilitate learning sessions for groups and teams and when I coach teams towards establishing a common purpose and the performance goals that need to be put in place to achieve this purpose."
Barnes' professional background includes more than 20 years' experience working in roles in the legal, organisational development and consulting industries.
She says that one of the presuppositions of NLP is that "people have all of the resources necessary to make any desired change".
"I find that people are generally amazed at how they are far more resourceful than they think they are; especially when they have made a choice that then leads to a desired change."
She says NLP has a profound impact on creating better working relations through:
Feeling like you have something in common with others.
Having meaningful conversations rather than just talking to each other.
Having a greater understanding of your own "map of the world".
Understanding someone else's "map of the world" and the impact of that.
She agreed that some people see NLP as a form of mind control. "I have to admit that I thought the same when I first came across NLP and then I realised that it comes down to the intention behind the use of NLP skills."
Barnes says she thinks it would be useful for managers to know NLP because it would help them understand themselves and their employees better and that would lead to a high-performing team working towards the same desired outcome.
Read agrees: "As managers and leaders, we are tasked with influencing and motivating our teams to effectively achieve outcomes. So we need to understand how to influence and motivate.
"We expect professionals to be good at their specialist trades. It's no different for us as leaders and managers - we need to be good at what we do."
Nick Read's next NLP course at the University of Auckland Business School is on October 20 and 21. His website can be found at www.training4change.co.nz.
Robyn Barnes' website, www.scalefreenetworks.com, will be online in a couple of weeks.
