Using NLP at Work

In today’s economic climate; can you afford not to gain the competitive edge available to you through NLP?

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Using NLP at Work

“What really matters is identifying the skills that will see an organisation through change and then building these competencies. Training and retaining talented staff must become an urgent priority if we are to ensure a competitive future.“

Ruth Spellman, OBE, former Chief Executive of the Chartered Management Institute July 2009

In Beaverbrooks, winner of Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For 2009 (and in the top 3 positions for the last four years), a great deal of emphasis is placed on managers to develop and work through their team members and is one of the key measurements for performance. To aid them in this, all managers trained in NLP.

Indeed, of the top 20 businesses in the Sunday Times list for 2013, 12 have had some degree of NLP training, which could be coincidental or could be indicative of the ‘difference that makes a difference’.

In recent years, NLP has become increasingly popular for business and large organisations. For example, NLP trainees have come from businesses ranging from Prudential, L’Oréal, Disney, Coca‐Cola, KPMG, Channel 4, Astra Zeneca, BT, Bannatynes Health & Fitness to name just a few.

The AstraZeneca training team have learned and used NLP techniques to increase their self-awareness in communicating with internal customers. The business has been going through a series of re‐organisations and major change, which has meant that developing a stronger partnership with customers is essential for navigating such changes.

BT has also undergone significant changes in search of best practice, which involves major adjustment and re‐definition of many off its staff roles. Its forward thinking approach to staff development, including training in NLP, has been key to overcoming some of these problems and actually leveraging them for significant progress in corporate culture and results.

NLP in Business

The business benefits of NLP training are there to reap: happier, better performing teams, increased staff retention, fewer misunderstandings and improved customer satisfaction. In today’s economic climate; can you afford not to gain the competitive edge available to you through NLP?

Negotiating ‐ Ask better questions to determine criteria and values and use perceptual positions to understand all parties’ attitude and relationship with you.

Understanding and delighting customers ‐ Develop compelling solutions for your customer’s needs and understand your customer’s relationship with you. Use thinking styles and metaprogrammes to understand what your customers’ needs are.

Understanding and working with internal customers, clients and suppliers ‐ Improve rapport skills to achieve a relationship of trust and ask better questions to enable your suppliers develop propositions that meet your requirements.

Setting Direction ‐ Use questions effectively to determine how best to achieve your outcomes and ensure realistic implementation plans for success.

Releasing potential ‐ Use your colleagues’ thinking styles and preferred meta‐programmes to communicate more effectively and to value different strengths and capabilities in others. Use NLP attitudes and techniques to coach more effectively and to develop modelling skills.

Achieving results and motivation ‐ Get customers, colleagues and suppliers to want to work with you because you understand their values.

Presenting and communicating skills ‐ Develop your skills so that you can build rapport easily with a wide range of people and develop new methods of getting feedback.

NLP Competency Framework

After attending the NLP Practitioner course and implementing the course material, participants would have enhanced their competency in the following areas:

Self-Management

  • Showing organisational skills, taking action rather than procrastinating
  • Demonstrating a positive attitude and self-motivation
  • Expressing confidence and a feeling of being in control of self and feelings
  • Managing stress levels, being lighter and having fun

Effective Communication Skills

  • Understanding others and communicating in their terms
  • Demonstrating assertive behaviour, knowing boundaries, being firm but fair
  • Communicating clearly and effectively

Interpersonal Skills

  • Showing confidence and effectiveness in negotiations, sales and influencing
  • Working well with others
  • Handling differences and working through conflict

Emotional intelligence

  • Putting themselves in other people’s positions, seeing things from other perspectives
  • Managing emotional states in self and others
  • Expressing feelings appropriately

Management Skills

  • Coaching in an appropriate manner: from ‘tell and teach’ to ‘question and support’
  • Delegating clearly and in a manner that reduces risk
  • Handling and organising change effectively
  • Solving problems by digging down efficiently to the specific nature of an issue
  • Establishing well-formed outcomes and goals

‘Meta’ Skills

  • Improving performance continuously through modelling best practice
  • Demonstrating flexibility of thinking, from detail to bigger picture
  • Considering consequences of actions and decisions
Reb Veale
Reb Veale (member article)

Inspirational and challenging NLP Master Trainer and mBIT Trainer of Trainers and Master Coaches, working in UK and internationally