I knew someone who did a course on NLP and she loved it, she did as well hypnotherapy. I wasn’t quite sure what it was but I had a positive impression because of my friend. This year I attended one of those seminars aimed to the professional world, the seminar run for a day and my boss thought it would be interesting for me as it was aimed to people who had recently started working as supervisors. Before the seminar I thought the course would be more aimed to improve our skills, prepare us to cope with situations likely to come up in our new roles, give us an insight in general practice, etc. I guess I expected something more traditional with role plays, problem solving, brain storming, etc. To my surprise the course was only based on NLP, nobody in the audience participated, it was like being back in school 30 years ago when you listened and shut up. The guy gave us a lecture, he based the lot on NLP, but we, the audience, didn’t participate only sat back and listened.. I have to admit it wasn’t boring, I came out knowing that if I go to work with a smile on my face and feeling positive people are likely to respond better than if I turn up looking sour faced. I enjoyed sitting there more than being sitting at my desk at work, but that could be the feeling of skiving… The main point of all this is that I will not go back to one of the courses organised by this company. Personally, I did not learn anything that will help me with my job. I needed help in practical skills and ideas of how to cope with situations as a supervisor. On the other hand other colleagues attended the same course and they thoroughly enjoyed it. I feel that NLP is relevant as a complement to your main skills, but I still feel that if you lack supervising or work skills coming to work with a positive attitude is not going to help you much. What are your thoughts? Is there any other fields where NLP is more relevant? Did you have the same experience?
RE: NLP in real life
Hi Tortu,
Whilst I don't know what the content of your course was, NLP - Neuro Linguistic Programming, is about how the words we use influence our behaviour(neurologigal programming). It is about how we gain rapport with people, and how we can relate to their model of the world, and about how we take in information and filter it into our reality, and how we access that information.
An understanding of NLP in the work environment, re supervisory skills, therefore should provide you with a heightened intuition when interacting with people, an understanding of what are their key words and ways of taking in information that you are trying to get accross, enabling you tobe more effective in your communication. This may be especially useful in both management and sales, and many NLP practitioners focus solely within this remit.
Additionally, NLP is also a type of CBT, cognitive behavioural therapy, and may be used for therapy, with things such as smoking cessation, phobias, weight control, anxiety, etc.
Should you choose to go further with it, you should look for a trainer who can demonstrate what they are teaching - primarily rapport. Find out how they are using NLP in practice, if they are just training NLP and not using it, go elsewhere.
RE: NLP in real life
I think there are too many people that attend NLP courses and set themselves up as an expert. Some firms only hear the word "NLP" and are impressed. They shouldn't be. Like Mace says, there's good ones and others. Just NLP training does not make a good NLPer.
RE: NLP in real life
Tortu, MaceUK and New Age:
New Age London speakes verytrue! Even the association someone is certified by doesn't necessarily guarantee quality. It's a good idea to google the heck out of any person or firm you are thinking of plodding out hard-earned dosh to train with. Also, referrals from other professionals you trust are a great idea, but the world of NLP training is truly "caveat emptor."
Blessings,
Alfred
RE: NLP in real life
So, what type of thing I would need to check for when looking for a good NLP trainer and/or course?
RE: NLP in real life
Hi tortu,
Interesting thread here. As a Certified Trainer of NLP myself (who runs Pracs andMaster Pracs)and as someone who has attended many NLP trainings over the years, all i can do is repeat the great advice already given.
1) Select a number of schools / trainers you like the sound of, get a good feeling about, like the look of :), and contact them, and ask all the questions you have.......consider how they respond to you - do you get a good congruent, positive feeling when speaking to them. Will the trainer take the time to speak to you? If so, what was your initial impression - go with it. If not, ask yourself, does that cloud your impression?
It is likely that you will be investing a lot of time, energy and money in a certification course, so it is important that you take the time to consider what you want, and then the course that best fits your requirements.
2) Decide what YOU really want out of an NLP training. Is it mainly for you personally, for your career or job, for a future career change, for use with family.....or a mix of all of these. What is your outcome for the training? What do you expect to learn / discover?
3) What things really excite you - are you interested in the Spiritual / Esoteric slant from NLP, or the health and wellbeing side, or the business side, or sales, or family......or.... You will find that although all NLP schools will be required to teach the syllabus of their accrediting body, a lot of schools will also put their own individual slant or unuqueness to it. Find one that matches your preferred style.
4) How do you want to learn, do you want to learn in 7 day intensives, or on a 20 day course split over 5 or 10 long weekends or long weekends.
5) Do you prefer the "intimacy" of smaller groups where you will get individual attention from the trainer, or do you prefer the high energy of learning in very large groups, where you will be coached by assistants.
6) Location. Are you willing to travel. If so, it widens your choice, if not, what are the schools that are close to where you live.
7) Do talk to other people and ask for their experiences, and at the same time remember that we are all individuals, and what the course that was just perfect for your best friend may not be the one thats perfect for you.
I did a mixture of all of these things when deciding which schools to do my training with, and I am very happy with the choices I made.
I hope this helps and you do persevere - it is well worth it.
Many years ago, i attended some NLP training as part of another course i was doing, and it was a true case of a little knowledge and learning was a bad thing. This training taught me the "techniques" of NLP, without the spirit or essence of NLP - and i found it cold and pretty ineffective. I am very grateful that a friend was so passionate about NLP that i was convinced I must have missed something and decided to redo my Prac training and was so thrilled that I did. In my later training, I discovered the true essence of NLP, the frames to put around the outside, the presuppositions, the importance of the unconscious mind, clean language, conversational change.......and then i learned the true magic of NLP.
Allison
RE: NLP in real life
Hi Tortu,
I'm amazed that someone could hold a seminar purporting to be based on NLP and then simply lecture you on it! NLP allows you to model excellence from any field and especially the field of communication. Any NLP trainer worth their salt would know that effective training would require active participation from the audience.
All of the numerous NLP trainings I've attended (including one day business seminars) have had lots of exercises in pairs or larger group sizes. I believe it is essential that you experience a learning for yourself to truly understand and appreciate it.
Much of what you'll learn in an NLP based training are extremely practical techniques that you can use to get repeatable results. These can include techniques for problem solving, getting to the root of a problem, understanding and motivating staff, creative thinking, goal setting and conflict management (to name but a few). On certification trainings you can also learn the basis of NLP and how to think differently and potentially model any interesting things for yourself. Of course there is usually a lot of scope for personal development too...
Allison has given some good advice on deciding what kind of things to consider.
It is also true that some organisations put a greater emphasis on learning unconciously via trance/hypnotic language than others. However even these organisations have a significant emphasis on audience exercises. I would be really interested to know the name of the company that you went to if you want to PM me.
I hope you manage to have a better experience with NLP. Used well, it is like many other things very useful