The Origins of Neuro-Linguistic

Programming

By Terrence McClendon MA

in Australia

NLP Magazine Issue 14

NLP Magazine Issue 14

Serendipitously, this was the time and place where Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) began.

I had moved there to study for my Masters of Counseling Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.  D

uring the 1970's, I was living in Santa Cruz, California.  

In 1971/72, Richard Bandler and John Grinder, noting the successes of the innovative techniques being developed by well-known practitioners and counselors such as Fritz Perls, Virginia Satir and Milton Erickson, began to observe patterns of successful behaviors, particularly in relation to the skills some people demonstrated in information gathering and behavior change techniques. 

Richard and John, with a core of Santa Cruz based students including me, tested and refined these techniques over the next few years.

So, NLP developed out of a curiosity of why and how some individuals were so successful at using powerful communication techniques.

Richard, a computer scientist and John, a linguist, had complementary skills that were used to model successful behaviors, and they then began to teach the skills and techniques to others. My training in NLP and hypnosis began at this time and by the mid 1970's I was, in collaboration with other trainers, travelling around the US teaching introductory NLP workshops and presenting at business conferences.

NLP Magazine Issue 14

In 1978, Barry Stevens gave my name and telephone number to Diana Chapman from Sydney, as a person to contact about NLP. Barry had introduced Diana Chapman to Gestalt Therapy while she, Barry, was in Australia conducting Gestalt Therapy training.  Barry was associated with the Gestalt therapist Fritz Perls and she was the author of 'Don’t Push The River', a book on Gestalt Therapy. Barry already had had occasion to observe my work as a counselor and NLP trainer at the time Diana asked for a contact.  

Barry was the mother of Steve Stevens, later Steve Andreas, who was the editor of several of Richard Bandler and John Grinder's early books on NLP including 'Reframing', 'Frogs into Princesses' and 'Transformations'.  

 So, in late 1978, I received a telephone call from Diana Chapman who, at the time, lived in the Northern Suburbs of Sydney.  Diana asked whether I would like to come to Australia and conduct an NLP training course. I agreed.

I thought then, there would be kangaroos hopping down Pitt Street in Sydney and that Sydney was on the west coast, not the East. Such was my knowledge of Australia and, I suspect, many other Americans at this time. This first visit started 3 years of travelling back and forth between the USA and Australia to conduct training seminars in Australia - in Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns and Adelaide. After 3 years, I decided to call Australia home and applied to immigrate.

NLP Magazine Issue 14

I owe the success of my immigration application to Australia to Ian and Gerlinde Spenser who sponsored my immigration through 'The Family Life Movement of Australia'. In the early 1980’s, I had an ongoing working relationship with 'The Family Life Movement of Australia' as their director of training and the organization sponsored many of my early training programs throughout the regional centers of New South Wales. 

At the time I began teaching NLP in Australia, a few people had heard about it through reading, however no-one really understood it comprehensively, nor could anyone teach it. My early training was primarily orientated towards personal development; additionally I did some work for government departments, training their staff in interpersonal communications and presentation skills. My training courses were very well received. I think that was partly due to the novelty of me being an American. Back then my training manual was 12 pages long. Today it is 120 pages.

The Americans are an experiential learning culture. My experience is that they prefer form over content. Australians are the opposite.

I had an incremental learning curve, over several years, to adapt my presentation and content to fit the Australian learning style.

Terry McClendon is the only resident NLP Trainer on the Australian continent to have trained with Dr. Richard Bandler and John Grinder for over a decade, and to have also gained training directly with Dr. Milton H. Erickson and Virginia Satir

NLP Magazine Issue 14

Demand for the courses grew and I conducted courses in most major cities and a number of regional centres across Australia.

NLP grew slowly in the 1980‘s, but as NLP gained more recognition in Australia, this prompted me to conduct the first 18 day NLP practitioner training at Mt Buller in Victoria in the summer of 1982. 

In those early days, promotional activities was predominately flyers in the mail box and magazine advertising. So different from today's internet-based activities.

TomReynolds

NLP was first taught in Australia at the Victorian skiing village of

Mt. Buller.

NLP Magazine Issue 14

In 1987, I established the first non-profit NLP membership organization called the Australian Institute of NLP (AILNP), incorporated in Queensland.

The AINLP was a non- aligned organization supporting Practitioners and Training Providers who meet the codes of ethics recognized by the institute.  

Services to members included:

• 30 % discounts on NLP Books.

• Subscription for 3 times per year to NLP Word, an International NLP Magazine.

• Subscription to the local Newsletter, 'Notations'

• Free access to the AINLP Membership Library consisting of NLP books and Videos.

• Regular meetings for members to discuss and practice NLP

• Networking with other members. 

NLP Magazine Issue 14

In the late 1980's, I invited Richard Bandler (one of the 3 founders of NLP) to Australia to conduct a series of 2-day 'Magic in Action' training programs in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

I have always had fun hanging out with Richard and he was enthusiastic about coming. Brisbane just opened up the World Expo at South Bank. My partner and I just had our first child. Everything was very positive and energizing. You can’t hang around Richard and not get excited. Sometimes I think you need sunglasses just to talk to him because his aura is so bright.

Richard brought in the latest NLP technologies including Time Line Techniques, the use of Sub-modalities in Belief Change, Learning and Motivation. His seminars were very well received and we got a lot positive feedback. 

Dr. Richard Bandler greets participants at his first Australian NLP seminar in 1988. For Terry McClendon, bringing Richard Bandler to Australia for the first time was a logical ‘next step’ in expanding NLP ‘down under’.

NLP Magazine Issue 14

Before the 1990’s there were very few NLP training companies in Australia.  A few more trainers were imported, primarily from the US, who taught short training programs that were promoted mostly by individuals who themselves were interested in learning more about NLP. With few exceptions, the Australian-based NLP trainers, teaching here in the 1980’s and early 1990’s, had been trained by me.  

My NLP training at that time provided an opportunity for me to visit many Australian cities and towns including Hobart, Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Wollongong, Brisbane, Armidale, Lismore, Byron Bay, Perth, Gosford, New Castle, Orange, Cairns and Townsville.

NLP Magazine Issue 14

The essence of NLP has not changed over time even though it seems different today.

The NLP model that I brought to Australia in the late 1970's is essentially the NLP model we have in 2014. The nuts and bolts are the same. Information gathering is still 90% of the basis of behavioral change.  What has changed is how NLP is taught and described.

Unfortunately, much of today's NLP training is superficial and focused on the techniques and not on the sound foundations of the model.  It lacks the 'first principle' grounding needed for solid understanding.

Today, many NLP techniques have been rebranded by using names such as New Code, Design Human Engineering, Neuro-Hypnotic Re-patterning NLP for Coaches and Fast Track NLP.  

Information gathering is still 90%

of the basis of

behavioral change.  

NLP Magazine Issue 14

////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// //////////////////////////////////

////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// //////////////////////////////////

////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////// //////////////////////////////////

Skilled NLP practitioners need rigorous training with competency testing and quality standards; levels that are difficult to reach with short courses.  

The more NLP is diluted from its roots as a communication model, the less effective the tool becomes. 

Some of my most rewarding corporate work has been to model the behavior of successful employees (eg salespeople) and then use that model to train their colleagues to become more effective operators.  

The same principles can apply in the counseling and education fields, among others, but the starting point is always the NLP model, not one of the techniques.

NLP Magazine Issue 14

Terry McClendon briefly outlines his professional background and experience at his Vienna NLP Training in 2010. Video by Stefan Wernig

'What really is NLP?  Is it merely a set of techniques that you can learn by rote in a few days? Or does NLP still offer a subtle, skills based, and fundamental opportunity to further expand and deepen our knowledge ..... of human communication?'

- Judith Lowe, MD, Master Trainer of NLP Training Institute/PPD Learning Ltd.

 

'If you focus at a deeper level you will find something very rich which is often missing in modern NLP – the fearlessness, the radicalism, the desire to experiment, the commitment to the model, and the willingness to undertake thousands of hours of practice. Without these elements we would not have NLP today.' - Michael Carroll, founder of the NLP Academy and co- founder of the International Trainers Academy of NLP.

 '[In this book] we are reminded that the Meta Model is the genuine heart of NLP and that it can only be mastered through ongoing practice”

- Wyatt L. Woodsmall, PhD, NLP Master Trainer and Master Modeler 

A few quotes from the recent book 'The Origins of Neuro Linguistic Programming' (eds Grinder J and Pucelik F, 2013) illustrate the heart of NLP.  

The editors invited a number of early NLP professional practitioners, including me, to each write a chapter on our views, recollections and experiences of NLP.  This small selection sums up the essence of NLP.

NLP Magazine Issue 14

Terry McClendon is one of the pioneers of NLP and introduced NLP to Australia in 1979. He is mentioned in the book “NLP Volume 1″ as a recognised contributor in some of the clinical exercises and techniques in the book.

He is author of the first history of NLP,  “The Wild Days: NLP from 1972 to 1981″ and “Happy Parents, Happy Kids”, and is a contributor to the recent book “The origins of NLP”.

Terry has trained thousands of individuals throughout the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia and the UK and is a designer of advanced NLP software.

He has a masters degree in psychology, is a member of the Australian Psychological Society, fellow with the International Association of NLP (IANLP), and a master trainer and founder of the Australian Institute of NLP.

NLP Magazine Issue 14

Mobile: 0404-806-657

May the Meta Model continue to form the basis of sound NLP training! Yours sincerely, Terrence McClendon MA.

CEO nlpaustraliaFounder NLP In Australia

Terry McClendon is one of the pioneers of NLP and introduced NLP to Australia in 1979. He is mentioned in the book “NLP Volume 1″ as a recognised contributor in some of the clinical exercises and techniques in the book.

He is author of the first history of NLP,  “The Wild Days: NLP from 1972 to 1981″ and “Happy Parents, Happy Kids”, and is a contributor to the recent book “The origins of NLP”.

Terry has trained thousands of individuals throughout the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia and the UK and is a designer of advanced NLP software.

He has a masters degree in psychology, is a member of the Australian Psychological Society, fellow with the International Association of NLP (IANLP), and a master trainer and founder of the Australian Institute of NLP.