| Business professionals face challenging people and | | | | review an example: A manager I worked with said to |
| events everyday. They may ask how they can | | | | his subordinates, "I want you to jump on it." His |
| better relate to their client(s), give a more dynamic | | | | employee responded "I will take a look at it as soon |
| presentation or simply, get better results. The | | | | as possible." My client felt that his employee did not |
| answer is clear: Neurolinguistic Programming. Here's | | | | understand the criticalness of the situation. If the |
| how it works:Neuro refers to the brain and neural | | | | subordinate had replied, "I'm going to stomp the fire |
| network that feeds into the brain. Neurons or nerve | | | | out," this manager would have felt that his message |
| cells are the working units used by the nervous | | | | had gotten across.Another example shows a |
| system to send, receive, and store signals that add | | | | manager and director who were not working well |
| up to information.Linguistic refers to the content, | | | | together. After learning about predicates the director |
| both verbal and non-verbal, that moves across and | | | | realized that she is visual and the manager is auditory. |
| through these pathways.Programming is the way the | | | | The director wanted to see everything in charts and |
| content or signal is manipulated to convert it into | | | | graphs and the manager was always telling her the |
| useful information. The brain may direct the signal, | | | | information. After this recognition the manager was |
| sequence it, change it based on our prior experience, | | | | sure to paint pictures for the director as he spoke. |
| or connect it to some other experience we have | | | | The director also attempted to comment about the |
| stored in our brain to convert it into thinking patterns | | | | information, in order to satisfy the manager's |
| and behaviors that are the essence of our | | | | needs.Do you have a boss? How does your boss |
| experience of life.Our experiences and feelings affect | | | | "talk" about sales or business results? In pictures? In |
| the way we react to external stimuli. Let me | | | | words? Likes sports analogies?How do you give your |
| illustrate. I am afraid of snakes. The impulse I get if I | | | | boss info about sales or business results? How can |
| see a snake or even hear a sound close to | | | | you gain her/his attention? Be seen as valuable? Use |
| resembling that of a snake is a feeling of total fright. | | | | the boss' style!Beware of categorizing or labeling |
| This is because I was a city girl and no one in our | | | | someone visual, auditory, kinesthetic etc. No one is |
| family was fond of snakes. One day in Arkansas, a | | | | purely one style. Often it is contextual. For example, |
| man in my office brought in his pet snake. He wanted | | | | when describing a communication snafu one client of |
| to show it off. He was holding it like we hold a | | | | mine primarily used kinesthetic predicates. Words like, |
| puppy. For him it was a pet and gave him lot of joy | | | | "felt", "confused", "grasp", "handle", "connection". |
| to hold. To me, it gave an anxiety attack!My | | | | When she spoke of her vacation she used all visual |
| colleagues and I saw the same thing. The same signal | | | | wordsi.e., "vistas", "colors", "bright", "light", "see", |
| was passed to our brains. It was the picture of a | | | | "vantage point". And when she described a successful |
| snake. However, our brains interpreted the | | | | event in her life she primarily used auditory words,i.e. |
| implications of the snake entirely differently. In | | | | "heard", "clicked", "snap", "tell", "spoke", "listened", |
| processing the information, our brains used our | | | | "harmonize". Rather than pinning her down as a |
| experiences (good and bad), our biases, our opinions, | | | | kinesthetic from the first interview it was important |
| our value systems, etc. to convert it into useful | | | | to pay attention to her words and be flexible in each |
| information that we can use.Neurolinguistic | | | | of the other scenarios.When you meet someone for |
| programming (NLP for short) was developed in the | | | | the first time, listen for the predicates and match the |
| early 1970s by an information scientist and a linguist | | | | system. If you meet them a second time, beware of |
| at the University of California at Santa Cruz. They | | | | the labeling tendency. Make sure you give them an |
| had observed that people with similar education, | | | | opportunity to speak - then, respond to them at the |
| training, background, and years of experience were | | | | moment using the appropriate sensory |
| achieving widely varying results ranging from | | | | mode.Sometimes people do not use predicates in |
| wonderful to mediocre. They wanted to know the | | | | their language. Now can we label them "difficult |
| secrets of effective people. What makes them | | | | people?" No, of course not. These people are using |
| perform and accomplish so much. They were | | | | unspecified words.For example, "awareness", |
| especially interested in the possibility of being able to | | | | "understand", "experience", "comprehend", |
| duplicate the behavior, and therefore the | | | | "appreciate", "think". When you are in conversation |
| competence, of these highly effective individuals. It | | | | with an unspecified speaker simply ask a clarifying |
| was the golden era of modeling and simulation. They | | | | question.For example, "Well what do you appreciate |
| decided to model human excellence. They looked at | | | | about your employees?" The response should be |
| factors such as education, business and therapy. | | | | more specific with sensory information; "I am so |
| They then zeroed in on the communication aspect. | | | | grateful that they see the big picture" (visual).In |
| They started studying how successful people | | | | business, people generally use three senses in making |
| communicated (verbal language, body language, eye | | | | decisions about buying a product or service; visual |
| movements, and others). By modeling their behavior, | | | | (sight), auditory (hearing), and kinesthetic (touch and |
| John Grinder and Richard Bandler were able to make | | | | emotion). And more often than not, they rely on one |
| out patterns of thinking that assisted in the subject's | | | | sense more than the other two. In building rapport |
| success. The two theorized that the brain can learn | | | | and bonding with your prospect or client, your job is |
| the healthy patterns and behaviors and that this | | | | to figure out which one is more dominant.It's your |
| would bring about positive physical and emotional | | | | lucky day! We can help you "get a read" on your |
| effects. What emerged from their work came to be | | | | prospects and clients. In addition to having a clue as |
| known as Neurolinguistic Programming.One of the | | | | to how this person perceives the world, your ability |
| basic tenets of neurolinguistic programming is the | | | | to match the style of your prospect or client is a |
| impact of the senses during communication (for both | | | | great technique for establishing rapport. When you |
| the speaker and the listener). As each person | | | | enter the other person's model of the world they |
| develops, their five senses (visual, auditory, touch | | | | feel understood. You've gained their attention and |
| emotion, taste, and smell) are shaped by both | | | | their trust. You have a greater opportunity to |
| environment and genetics. As we go through life | | | | influence their actions and make the sale!For more |
| experiences, we store newly learned (and | | | | information or to schedule a voice assessment with |
| reconfirmed) information through our senses. In other | | | | Ellen Dunnigan, call (317) 843-2983 or visit On Business |
| words, our reality is stored information which | | | | founder and CEO Ellen Dunnigan is a |
| becomes memorable through the senses. We either | | | | nationally-recognized and proven coach with |
| see pictures or symbolic images, hear voices or | | | | specialized training in voice, speech, and English |
| sounds, or feel sensations, energy, and emotion. We | | | | improvement. She holds a master's degree in |
| recall this information literally in the words we use. | | | | Speech-Language Pathology and has been certified as |
| These words are called predicates and are nouns, | | | | clinically competent by the American |
| verbs and adverbs. Each statement represents what | | | | Speech-Language Hearing Association.In addition, she |
| a person is subjectively experiencing.Consider these | | | | has spent several years in corporate settings as an |
| three different ways of giving the same message: | | | | operations leader and strategist. Ms. Dunnigan has |
| "I am out of step with my boss." (Kinesthetic) | | | | devoted 17 years to helping people improve their |
| "We are not seeing eye to eye." (Visual) | | | | personal and professional voice and speaking skills. |
| "We are singing different tunes."(Auditory) Let's | | | | |