An Introduction to Training in NLP

Linda Ferguson, Ph.D.NLP Canada Training Inc.

Practical Thinking for Change that Works

• What are you in training for?

• What is neurolinguistic programming?

• What makes training effective?

• How do you know it works?

• Training with NLP Canada Training

training |ˈtrāniNG|nounthe action of teaching a person or animal a particular skill or type of behavior: in-service training for staff.• the action of undertaking a course of exercise and diet in preparation for a sporting event: you'll have to go into strict traininghttp://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/training

What are you training for?

• I want to lead change in others.

• I want to make better choices about how people and situations influence me.

• I want to gain a credential as an expert.

• I want more satisfaction.

I want to lead change in others

• “As you’ll see in the findings of a first-of-its-kind analysis of people’s activities at work, we’re devoting upward of 40 percent of our time on the job to moving others. And we consider it critical to our professional success.” Daniel Pink, To Sell is Human, 2013.

• You want to have continuing, positive relationships with the people you influence.

• You want the changes you make to stick. It’s not enough to get applause.

• You want to lead people, not to control them.

Better choices about how you are influenced

• You have been scammed, dominated or bullied and you’ve had enough.

• You are tired of blaming other people for your situation or results.

• Something in your past is blocking the way to the future you want.

I want to be an NLP expert

• NLP is a tool, not an end in itself. Would you want to be an expert in hammers or frying pans?

• What would a credential do for you?

• Do you want to pass tests on terminology or change the way you get results?

I want more satisfaction

• You know what you want but not what to do to get it.

• You know that what you have or do is not as good as what you could have or could do.

• You have been successful in one part of your life at the expense of another part.

• You are restless for a change or goal you have yet to define.

Defined as the study of the structure of subjective experience, NLP studies the patterns or “programming” created by the interaction between the brain (“neuro”), language (“linguistic”) and the body.

http://nlpuniversitypress.com/html2/N15.html

What is NLP?

• A way to have more influence more often over more people.

• A type of therapy related to cognitive behavioural therapy, solution focus therapy, sports psychology and other models of positive psychology.

• A way to control yourself and other people so that you get what you want.

• A field that teaches people how to observe and replicate models of excellence.

NLP teaches persuasion and influence

• NLP is a model that teaches people to influence the thoughts and behaviours of other people.

• Many of the practices of NLP teach people to work through both conscious and unconscious processes to have more effective influence.

• Good NLP courses emphasize the need for ecology and permission so that influence occurs within an ethical framework.

NLP is a kind of therapy

• NLP contains practices that may resolve trauma, alleviate anxiety or heal phobias.

• NLP starts from the presuppositions that people do the best they can with the resources available to them and that everyone has within them what they need to live a more satisfying life.

• Within the model of NLP, suffering is a result of the perceptions and meanings attached to something. Changing perception or meaning will often change the pain associated with the problem or memory.

• NLP belongs to the wellness practices that normal people use to maintain physical, mental and emotional well-being.

NLP will let you control yourself and others

• Control is a misleading term. While the conscious mind does exert some short-term “control” over the whole self, everyone is subject to a mix of conscious and unconscious processes that limit the extent of conscious control.

• NLP that promises control violates many of the basic presuppositions of NLP about the best relationship between conscious and unconscious processes and the best integration of an individual into an environment (ecosystem)

• Control, like NLP, is a means to an end. It is not an end in itself. NLP can be effective in helping people reach the benefits and goals they believe depend on having more control.

NLP is a uniquely effective way to learn

• NLP began as a way to systematically and precisely observe a behaviour so that behaviour could be replicated.

• The unique contribution of NLP has been the understanding that conscious thinking, unconscious processes, the body and circumstances all contribute to how behaviours are generated and how they get results.

• Using NLP to teach or learn engages multiple intelligences within an individual so that more of the brain is active. This results in more new connections within the brain and more resilient learning.

learning |ˈlərniNG|nounthe acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, practice, or study, or by being taught: these children experienced difficulties in learning | [ as modifier ] : an important learning process.• knowledge acquired in this way: I liked to parade my learning in front of my sisters.

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/learning?q=learning

What makes training effective?

• Learning happens through connecting new information to what you already know or by making new connections between things you already know. This happens when you put things together in new ways.

• Learning happens through conditioning: you do things until you can do them correctly without thinking about them. And then you practice even more to make the learning resilient.

• Learning happens through being taught: someone else gives you new information to connect with what you already know.

• Learning happens through mindful practice: attention to difference makes a difference

Making new connections in training

• NLP practices allow you to revisit learned responses and connect them to new strengths.

• NLP practices build on what you already know when you are functioning as your best self.

• Practices in NLP are closely related to techniques in many other models of psychology, behavioural economics, sports psychology and the arts.

• NLP practices are designed to facilitate a more integrated processing of your conscious thought and the unconscious processes that support your behaviours and choices.

Conditioning for automatic responses

• Automatic responses occur when your brain selects a pattern that fits a situation and activates a response without you making a conscious choice. This is how reflexes and habits work. It’s also how you choose most of your words.

• Automatic responses are faster and more consistent than conscious choices. The same pattern runs in the same way every time it is activated. This is why athletes train to condition their minds and bodies so that they automatically respond appropriately during competition.

• Conditioning for the skills of change and influence requires over-learning (practice after mastery) so that responses become automatic

Teaching new information

• New information is the weakest learning pattern. While many people associate learning with a teacher’s knowledge, new information must be provided in the right form to make a difference.

• The effects of new information depend more on the strength of the connection to what you already know or feel and less on the quality of the information.

• Information that connects using terminology or concepts that are already familiar is easier to integrate and to retain. New vocabulary makes it harder to retain new concepts.

• The best new information should be based on the best current thinking.

Mindful Practice of Skills

• Mindful practice of skills means paying attention to how you are doing what you are doing to get the results you are getting.

• Mindful practice results in many incremental gains that are easily integrated and build resilient change.

• Attention must be paid to what is going on inside of you and outside of you as you practice a skill so that the skills learned can be activated by elements in your environment or context.

• The opportunity to revisit and revise learning results in stronger learning than an outpouring of new information.

evaluation |iˌvalyo( oˈāSHən|nounthe making of a judgment about the amount, number, or value of something; assessment: the evaluation of each method | an initial evaluation of the program.

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/evaluation?q=evaluation

How do you know it works?

• Are the people who have taken the training more responsive to the cues around them, both in other people and in the environment?

• Do people who have taken the training demonstrate integrity? NLP trains people to make stronger internal connections so that they often seem more together than other people.

• Can the people who have taken the training identify the patterns of NLP when they are presented in new ways, using new words, or in new fields?

• Are the people who have taken this training engaged, energized and effective?

More responsive to threats & opportunities

• The first goal of any learning must be to make the learner more aware of internal and external information.

• Clarity about what you value and what you want translates to clarity about what is a threat and what is an opportunity.

• Plans do not respond to change: people do. When NLP training is effective, people build stronger automatic behaviours and stronger flexibility in adapting to changes in the context.

Conditioning your automatic responses

• The most important pattern in NLP is the one that causes you to ask yourself what you want over and over again in response to new information

• When your automatic response is to reorient to your goal, you notice less conflict and fewer obstacles. You work with less frustration and more energy.

• When your automatic responses are flexible enough to deal with more situations, your conscious process is free for focus and learning where you really need it.

• When responses are automatic, people have more will power available to pursue longer term goals and values.

Teaching new information

• After training, people should be able either to do something that they have never done before or to do something they have done before better or more quickly.

• New information should connect to the best thinking in fields that study performance and decision making.

• You know you know new information when you are able to recognize it when it is described in different words in different fields.

Engaged, energized and effective

• Whatever your reason for taking training in NLP, there was something you wanted to change so that you were more satisfied with who you are and what you do.

• People who are able to do something new or to do something better often feel that they have received a gift: like someone who has received a lovely surprise, they are enthusiastic, grateful and fully engaged with their new gift.

• People are energized by knowing what they want and knowing that they have the resources to get it They work without unnecessary friction and have the will power they need to do what they need to do.

• People who have the skills, information and resources to get what they want are effective: they produce tangible results.

NLP Canada Training continues the work of one of the oldest NLP training companies in Canada. Our training space is located in downtown Toronto in one of the beautiful old buildings on the University of Toronto campus. We are led by Linda Ferguson with the support of an Advisory Board that includes experts from fields from IT to marketing to organizational development to therapy. This team is the heart of the community of practice hosted by NLP Canada Training. We meet regularly to share stories, develop new approaches and applications, and support each other’s continuing development.

What makes NLP Canada Training different?

• We are a team of leaders, committed to making a difference and developing techniques and applications in a variety of fields. We are not imitating an absent leader: we are the leaders.

• Our most recent success is always the stepping stone to new development. We believe a company that teaches change has to be willing to change its own beliefs and behaviours.

• Our clients are under pressure to become more productive so we are under pressure to deliver better, more flexible, more efficient training. We use the best in current thinking to accelerate learning.

• We are a community of practice with many opportunities for refreshing your skills, building your network, and continuing your development.

A team of leaders

• We are willing to learn from the leaders of many different camps, but we are not followers. Our training combines the best in NLP, supports it with research and practices from related fields, and adds our own perspective.

• We never recycle materials developed by other trainers. We offer thoughtful interpretations of best practices in NLP and proprietary approaches to metaphor, storytelling and the language of agreement.

• We develop and test trainings with a team who are leaders in their own fields and experts in NLP.

• Linda Ferguson, Senior Partner at NLP Canada Training, is a creative and critical thinker with almost 30 years experience training adults to think more clearly and communicate more effectively.

Evolving better approaches to choice and change

• We do not preach change while teaching the same old materials in the same old way. We continually develop new techniques, new programs, and new thinking.

• We are continuously reading and attending courses in related methods and fields so that we can present current best thinking and practices.

• Our practitioner training is reviewed and revised and the materials rewritten every five years. Our master practitioner training is reviewed and revised every two years.

• We are the only Canadian institute with a well-developed training program to encourage new trainers to offer fresh perspectives.

Flexible programs for accelerated learning

• We serve clients who are under pressure to get more results in fewer hours with less resources. We work hard to create efficiencies in learning so that our clients can learn more in fewer hours.

• We offer more frequent trainings than other companies so that our clients can repeat or make up any days that they miss because their lives are demanding.

• Our written materials are excellent and they are supplemented by a rich store of online resources to allow clients to review and extend their training.

A community of practice

• Excellence loves company. NLP Canada Training is host to an active community of practice that encourages interaction between people who are committed to creating more satisfaction through NLP and related models.

• Our NLP Practitioner training includes the opportunity to attend as many training days as desired for a full two years after the first day of training.

• We offer discounted fees for Master Practitioner training to support our practitioners in developing their skills, understanding and flexibility. We also offer our practitioners discounts for other courses and coaching.

• We celebrate our community with an annual practitioner retreat and a conference created so practitioners could share their accomplishments.

for more information, visit www.nlpcanada.com