Neuro-linguistic programming, or NLP, was developed in the 1970s by two Americans – a mathematician called Richard Bandler, and a linguist called John Grinder.
The two men shared an interest in psychotherapy and jointly developed a model based on the idea that linguistic patterns held the key to transformational psychotherapy. In other words, if you could understand and model the effects of language, you could then adjust those models to create new behaviours. The two men referred to this idea of creating strategies as ‘programming’.
Today NLP is an enormously popular and influential set of tools and techniques designed to improve communication, and to help people understand how and why we behave the way we do.
In business, NLP is often used to help employees build rapport with colleagues, clients and potential customers. It can also be used as a self-development tool, boosting positive thinking and confidence.
Unsurprisingly, NLP is particularly popular in professions where personal relationships are important, such as sales, marketing and human resources. However, it is increasingly being adopted outside traditional NLP circles, with many police forces and education authorities training staff in NLP techniques.
In business, NLP can be used in a number of different ways, including:
– To improve communication and management skills
– To develop a better rapport with clients
– To improve presentation skills
– To improve sales, negotiation and resolution skills
– For personal development
Where does NLP come from?
NLP has its roots in modern psychology, and is based on the idea that as individuals, we view the world according to our own ‘subjective reality’.
According to NLP theories, this view is influenced by three key factors – the mind (neurology), communication (linguistics), and the outcome of the interaction of those two factors (programming).
By better understanding all three elements of our reality, we are better able to control and manage our own behaviour, and empathise with others, to achieve better outcomes.
This is realised through a series of linguistic and behavioural techniques and exercises that are designed to help people to ‘anchor’ their communication and thinking in a more positive manner, to achieve a specific goal or outcome.
NLP for Business Mastery
Neuro-linguistic programming is massively popular among sales and marketing professionals, but for many professionals it is still something of a mystery.
However, once you get past the confusing terminology about ‘anchoring’ and ‘filters’ NLP offers a powerful set of techniques to help employees focus their attention and respond more effectively to colleagues, clients and customers.
In essence, NLP in business encourages people to ‘code’ (understand) successful behaviours and reproduce them in their own interactions, to achieve specific goals and outcomes.
Traditionally, NLP has been used in sales and marketing roles but increasingly training is focusing on using NLP for personal development. NLP is about understanding what makes people do what they do (or perhaps not do what they’re capable of).
In some ways NLP is simply about effective communication techniques – understanding how someone responds to information and presenting it in a way that will be most effective. For example, if someone responds to information using very visual language, then an NLP coach would look to present information in this way, rather than in an audio manner.
NLP can also be used to help with conflict resolution so employees are encouraged to consider looking at the situation from different points of view, and to imagine how someone else is feeling, rather than expressing their own feeling or opinion. These techniques can be combined with conventional coaching and mediation techniques to great effect.
