The first time I was asked to speak at the NLP Conference was in 2004.  I arrived on Saturday morning, delivered my session and went home again. That set the pattern for many subsequent years, in fact every year except 2014, when I was ill and couldn’t deliver my session and 2017, when I decided to take a year out and didn’t submit a proposal.

In 2018 I decided to go for the whole event. A full day Masterclass on the Friday, followed by four sessions per day on Saturday and Sunday, with a choice of 6 sessions in every time slot. I was exhausted by Sunday evening! I was also impressed by the improved quality of the event and decided to improve the quality of my participation accordingly.

As a result, last weekend four of us from Brilliant Minds attended the International NLP Conference and the NLP Awards Dinner on Saturday evening. We had a stand in the exhibition area and I presented a session on Saturday morning.

Here are some of my highlights…

1. There were delegates at the conference from more than 20 countries including USA, France, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, India, UAE, Malaysia, South Korea, Turkey, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Brazil, Nigeria, South Africa, Spain and Portugal. It was lovely to meet so many people from around the world and to know that we are part of a truly global network.
2. Experiencing Judith Lowe and Judith de Lozier presenting one day of their ‘Passion in Action’ programme. I had not seen either of them work before – even though they are ‘NLP Royalty’ and have been working in the field for decades.  The content of the workshop was as thought-provoking and stimulating  as their double-act was warm and encouraging.
3. Having dinner on Friday evening with my team plus the wonderful Shelle Rose Charvet.
4. Joining the session presented by Ian MacDermott on Saturday morning. Back in 1992 I did my NLP Practitioner training with Ian and it’s still a great pleasure to learn from him.
5. Presenting my session, ‘The Presuppositions of a Brilliant Coach’. The room was full, in fact we had to get extra handouts photocopied! Despite very fierce air-conditioning in the room, I received a warm welcome and great response to the session.
6. Seeing Robert Dilts – ably supported by Robbie Steinhouse – talking about his Neuro-logical Levels model. I’ve used that model for years but never heard Robert explain its origins before.
7. Getting dolled up for the Awards Dinner and spending a lovely evening with Peter, Denise and Maria, my team of associates.
8. The performance by the London Show Choir as we had our pre-dinner champagne.
9. Seeing Judith de Lozier receive the Lifetime Achievement Award.
10. Arriving home, tired and contented, having spent a great three days with lovely people, working with the toolkit we all share and making a difference in many different ways.

Next year’s International NLP conference is on 15-17 May 2020 and the Friday Masterclass will be presented by Connirae Andreas (did I mention NLP Royalty?) Tickets go on sale on 31^st May 2019. Will I see you there?

What is the relationship between NLP and Coaching?

They’re definitely quite different from each other.  And an NLP Practitioner is not necessarily a good coach.  Neither does a good coach have to know NLP.

But the combination of a good coach who also knows NLP can be very powerful.

NLP has its roots in psychotherapy.  There is a long tradition of NLP Practitioners working one-to-one with clients to resolve the full range of mental health issues, personal problems and mindset blocks.  Some schools of NLP even teach their Practitioner programme in the frame that everyone will set up a practice and start working as a therapist/life coach.

Personally, I think that more than NLP Practitioner training is needed to become a good coach.  One of the questions I hear frequently from NLP Practitioners is about which techniques to use and when.

One client put it this way:

“I have all these wonderful NLP tools that I know how to use.  Then someone tells me about a problem they have and I don’t know what to do.  I know that I must know something that can help, but I don’t know how to get started.”

Does that sound familiar?

The missing piece is a skill that is essential to a coach.  It’s about understanding the structure of the client’s map of the world, including the perceived problem, and creating a process that will move the client from where they are now to where they want to be instead.

Richard Bandler once said, “A good NLP intervention is 99% working out which intervention to do and 1% actually doing it.”

A Practitioner of NLP will have a lot of knowledge of the interventions, but may not know which one to use with a specific client.

A coach may be able to diagnose the problem, but might not be able to offer a process to solve it quickly and effectively.

But a coach who knows NLP can do both!

Of course, it’s also fair to say that there are lots of very effective coaches who use different kinds of interventions – not NLP – and achieve great results.

So the relationship between NLP and coaching is this:  NLP is one of a range of methodologies that may be used by a coach to get results with a client.

And coaching is just one application of NLP.

There is another way that a coach can benefit from knowing NLP.  It’s not just about what you do with the clients.  It’s also about how you manage yourself.  A coach who knows NLP will be able to manage their own responses, deal with distressing situations and replicate successes more readily than a coach who doesn’t know NLP.

So, to summarise…

A Practitioner of NLP is someone who practices NLP in their daily life.

A Coach is someone who helps others access the resources they need to succeed.

Both require mastery of a set of skills – but those skills are different!

 

Click here for info on our ‘How to be a Brilliant Coach’ programme