Author: Mr. Swadesh Chakrabarty is an NLP, Motivational & Spiritual Trainer, Founder of Life Energy Learning Systems and Author

Member: L&D Global, Delhi-NCR Chapter

Any business organization thrives on the attitude, behavior and perceptions of people running the show. How we can influence people in the organization making them functional to the goals of the organization has always been a subject of priority for the business owners and managers.

Today, NLP is a widely popular technique everyone is looking at to change people in their personal as well as organizational lives.

What is NLP

It stands for Neuro Linguistic Programming. The three terms included in this separately means as follows:

Neuro: It relates to our brain and nervous system, where neurons are the unit cells that transmit messages to manage our body systems.

Linguistic: The language by which we perceive and communicate within and with the external world.

Programming: The process that enables us to make choices regarding the way we think, speak and feel.

The Subconscious

The human beings have their own perceptions and beliefs within them. This is developed within them over a period of time they grow in their life. These perceptions and beliefs are deeply embedded or imprinted in the subconscious mind.  The subconscious mind is stronger than the conscious mind. Therefore, even though we may want something consciously, the subconscious mind may already have a deeply buried belief developed and communicated within which shall not allow the desire of the conscious mind to happen.

The way out is to communicate with the subconscious mind in its own language (understandable to it) to change the perception or belief with a new positive perception. This will trigger the process of new happenings in the life of a man. Towards this end, NLP tells us as to how to communicate with our internal self to manifest changes in our life.

Things that happen or felt inside ourselves is subjected to our own interpretation of feelings in our conscious mind from an event and subsequent communication to the subconscious mind. If feelings are not interpreted properly, it results in miscommunication.

It also tells us about how to communicate effectively with the external world so as to create effective interpersonal relationship in the personal as well as business life.

The communication takes place with the outside world as well as with the internal self on the basis of multitudes of assumptions accumulated within our mind mostly on the basis of our life experiences. In NLP terminology we may call it as presuppositions. The pre suppositions are good, essential and at the same time may not always be correct. The reason is that these are based on the individuals own perception. Even the meanings that we derive from a single word may differ widely from man to man.

As a core philosophy of NLP (Neuro Linguistic programming), it has some underlying presuppositions, which are relevant for the use of NLP in different situations. Some of the important presuppositions that are relevant for a business environment are as follows:

  1. A map is not the territory it depicts; Words are not the things they describe; Symbols are not the things they represent. (Coined by Alfred Korzybski, a polish mathematician)

People only know about selected subject(s) of the whole thing around them. Different people may have different views or perceptions of the same subject, simply because they may have different selective perception of the same object. Both of them may be right but still disagree. Hold, we must look from the other’s perspective also, before jumping into any conflict or disagreement.

  1. Underlying every behavior there is a positive intention

Everyone has a reason to believe that whatever he is doing is right. They have their own justification. A business manager may need to find out that justification concealed in the mind of other persons as perception.  Accepting that point of view may at times result in a discovery. At the same time it is also not necessary that every justification, idea or behavior may always be right.

  1. People always make the best choice(s) available to them.

People would always make the best choice from their own point of view which may not seem to be ideal externally. They do not always make mistaken choices deliberately; rather it is their bounded rationality. Empathizing with such people may help to understand their point of view.

  1. If what you are doing is not working, do something else.

Failure does not always mean that you could not do something properly. Do not always try to redo the things correctly which you could not do. It is quite possible that what you were doing is not right rather than how you were doing. Discover new choices and continue to work differently until you reach the goal.

  1. If you go on doing what you are doing now, you are very likely to go on getting the same results as you are getting now.

If we continue to make a choice of responding the same way to the happenings or events around us, we shall always get the same result. We need to change ourselves for getting changed results and that is what is within our control.

  1. Change make change

The common notion is that when we want some change we must change ourselves. It is true but not the end of it. If you can change yourself then there is always a possibility that because you are changed, you will simultaneously affect others in your company to get changed.  You may change to change yourself but that changes others also because they adapt to you. It is how NLP interprets.

  1. The meaning of your communication is the response you get

We need to be aware of other people’s responses in response to what we are communicating, to ensure that they are getting the same meaning of our communication as we intended to. We need to use communication as a tool to get responses that describes the other person being totally aware of the responses that they are giving to us.

  1. You can’t not communicate

You are always communicating around you by what you are doing and even by what you are not doing. Even if you do not utter a word, you are communicating something. Even if you are not saying anything by words, you are communicating through non deliberate non verbal signals unconsciously. So be careful and understand what you are communicating in totality.

  1. Proper understanding only comes with experience

Merely talking, reading or listening to something does not always create the real understanding. To get the real understanding of anything, you need to do it yourself and experience it.

  1. People already have resources they need

Everyone has all the resources they need to accomplish a thing and they need not depend upon others. But the condition is that one must be aware of it, stimulate it and know how to use it to get results. We need to create environment and conditions to make people aware of their inner potentials.

  1. Every behavior is appropriate in some context

One particular behavior that was successful in one event does not necessarily mean that it will be appropriate in other situations too. It is better to change behavior to what is more appropriate to the given situation. So change behavior to new, when required.

  1. The mind and body are parts of the same system

Our physical body is always affected by our mental body and we cannot separate it. Mind affects brain activity and that in turn affects physical body. So, what you think are as important or even more than what you do. Think twice before thinking. It is going to affect your physicality.

  1. If one person can do something, anyone can learn to do it

It underlines one of the most important activities of NLP and that is “Modeling”. One person can follow and imbibe and develop the qualities of other successful people to become excellent, provided other things are similar and taken care of to learn.

  1. People are not broken and do not need to be fixed

We cannot fix people who are mentally broken, as we can do when they are physically broken. Rather than fixing the broken mind, try to fix the process. So we should not always target a human being when things go wrong. Have a look on the process also.

  1. There is no such thing as failure, only feedback

Facing failure is a learning process. It should be taken positively as learning, rather than reacting to it negatively. Many scientists and successful people failed many times before getting the desired results only because they learnt from the feedback of failure and corrected their path. Therefore, receiving feedback and giving feedback is always a wise step for development.

The above presuppositions are the basis of NLP which should always be kept in mind while practicing NLP. These are the realities in a business environment as well as in personal life of a human being. Our experience is that the managers in business organizations forget to understand or practice these simple realities creating more complexities in their environment. As a result many a times they end in cursing their own capabilities, the capabilities of their colleagues and subordinates or the organization itself. There is a need for changing this mindset and to look into the small realities of human mind.

Author: Mr. Swadesh Chakrabarty is an NLP, Motivational & Spiritual Trainer, Founder of Life Energy Learning Systems and Author

Member: L&D Global, Delhi-NCR Chapter

https://www.linkedin.com/in/swadesh-chakrabarty-91799319/