The following work talks about neurolinguistic programming, in which its origin and fields of application are described, as well as the importance of its use in personal life and in organizations.
DEFINITIONS
Neurolinguistic programming (NLP) is a communication, personal development and psychotherapy strategy, created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in California (United States) in the 1970s. Its creators argue that there is a connection between neurological processes («neuro »), Language (« linguistics »), and patterns of behavior learned through experience (« programming »), stating that these can be changed to achieve specific goals in life.
Below is an explanation of the Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) process
- Neuro: Each individual has established their own mental filtering system to process the millions of data that are absorbed through the senses. That is, through the senses we form an idea of the world around us. In this way, our first mental map of the world is made up of internal images, sounds, tactile sensations, internal sensitization, the tastes and smells that are formed as a result of this neurological filtering process. Linguistics:The person then assigns an individual meaning to the information he receives from the outside world. We form our second mind map by assigning words to internal images, sounds and sensations, tastes and smells, thus forming everyday consciousness. This explains that the same ice cream flavor may seem delicious to one person and horrible to another. This second mind map is called the linguistic map (sometimes known as a linguistic representation.
- Programming: These are the behavioral responses that occur as a result of the two previous maps. That is, if a person finds strawberry ice cream delicious, they will end up eating it, but if this flavor is not to their liking, they may avoid it. (NLP, 2015)
HISTORY OF NLP
Neurolinguistic programming, or NLP for short, began in the early 1970s, when a professor at the University of California, John Grinder, teamed up with a student named Richard Bandler.
These men had a fascination for human excellence, wondering what made one person brilliant at an activity while others were not. Their concern led them to develop a method to model the behavior patterns of some geniuses of their time.
In 1975, Grinder and Bandler presented the first two models of NLP in their books "Structure of Magic I and II." These publications caused neurolinguistic programming to spread rapidly around the world. In related fields such as communication, behavior and psychotherapy.
They developed this model as a result of the investigation of the operating patterns of great therapists of that time: Virginia Satir, recognized as the best family therapist of our time, Fritz Perls, creator of Gestalt therapy that enables the total development of the human being, and the Dr. Milton H. Erickson, maximum exponent of contemporary hypnosis.
Grinder and Bandler managed to standardize these patterns in common and offered them as their own learning model, in their first work, they focus on identifying the particular verbal and behavioral patterns of therapists:
Fritz Perls, Creator of Gestalt therapy, founder of the Lake Cowichan Gestalt Institute.
The German word Gestalt does not have a unique meaning in Spanish since its meaning can refer to: totality, configuration, shape, figure, need, pattern, structure, etc., Gestalt Psychotherapy belongs to the humanist current advocated and deals with closing or resolve pending issues.
Virginia Satir, world renowned Family Therapist, pioneer in the field of Family Systemic Theory.
The different perceptual positions are equally important, the question is knowing how to move between them freely, a person stranded in the first will be a selfish monster, a person who is regularly in the second will be easily influenced by others, and a person who is habitually in the third, will be a distant observer of life.
Gregory Bateson, Social Sciences and Anthropology, co-authored with psychiatrist Jurgen Ruesch of the work Communication: The Social Matrix of Psichiatry.
Gregory said that what we do in life is determined by the way we communicate with ourselves, especially with what we communicate to our unconscious mind.
Milton Erickson, founder of the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis and one of the most widely recognized psychiatrists of our time.
Trance healing is one of the oldest arts of medicine. Even primitive man practiced it. He firmly believed that trance and miraculous cures were of divine origin.
Grinder and Bandler volunteered to give training courses to apply their models. These courses demonstrated that the NLP models were transferable to other people, which meant that students could replicate them successfully in their own work.
Modeling is a central activity in NLP, and it is the process of determining and reproducing the way an individual thinks and acts who is excellent at an activity. In simple words, if a person is successful in a certain activity, to achieve similar results you only need to copy their way of thinking and acting.
Today, NLP offers more than 1,000 books on a variety of topics ranging from psychology, sales, negotiation, management, parenting, accelerated learning, and many more. (DILTS, 2016)
OBJECTIVES OF NLP:
There are various objectives that NLP pursues, among which are the following:
- Create positive changes and new choices in individuals Be more effective with others Free ourselves from outdated habits or self-destructive behaviors Reflect more clearly about what we want and the means to obtain it Helps to overcome blockages that prevent the realization of Goals Improve relationships with yourself and with others Develop creativity and expression to the maximum Eliminate phobias and traumas Control circumstances such as stage fright and some habits, Learn to react to criticism Dismiss unwanted behaviors, Significantly improve your skills and skills, Manage internal conflicts and conflicts between people
NLP RESOURCES
In order to meet its objectives, PNl tries to first get to know individuals in order to apply the correct techniques, this leads to an analysis to know the way in which people learn.
- Visuals: they speak faster than normal, their tone of voice is high, posture rigid, breathing shallow and fast. These types of people like activities that are pleasing to the eye: cinema, theater, the arts, landscapes.
- The auditory: they are characterized by a relaxed posture, telephone listening position, fairly wide breathing, well-timbred voice, medium pace, auditory words (hey, listen). Auditory people like activities related to listening such as: music, telling stories, interacting with other people.
- Kinesthetics: perceive the world through the senses of touch, taste and smell. They are characterized by their very relaxed posture, movements that pamper the words, deep and wide breathing, deep voice, slow rhythm with many pauses. They like physical activities, as well as contact with other people.
NLP FUNDAMENTALS
The authors of this technique explain that not all people respond the same to reality, therefore it is difficult to standardize mental models, however they propose two foundations to achieve learning.
- Map is not equal to territory. As human beings, we can never learn reality. We are only capable of knowing our perceptions of our own reality. Thus, we experience and react to the world around us, mainly through our sensory representation systems. In fact, it is not reality, but our maps (interpretations) of reality that determine behavior and that give meaning to behavior. Therefore, it is not reality itself that limits or empowers us, but rather our map of reality. Mind and life are systemic processes. All processes that occur within a human being and between human beings and their environment are systemic in nature. Our bodies, our societies, as well as our views of the world and of reality make up an ecology of complex systems and subsystems that are in continuous interaction and that influence each other. It is never possible to totally isolate a part of the whole. Such systems respond to certain principles of 'self-organization' and naturally tend towards optimal states of equilibrium or homeostasis.
All models and techniques of NLP are based on the combination of these two principles. Through the NLP conviction acquisition system, it is not intended that the human being objectively knows reality. Wisdom, ethics and mental ecology do not derive from obtaining a 'correct' map of reality, since the human being is not capable of it. Instead, the goal is to create the richest map possible while respecting your systemic nature, ecology, and environment.
The people who are most capable of achieving this are those with a world map that allows them to perceive the greatest number of options and perspectives.
(WALTER, 2013)
LIMITING
As explained, although this technique is based on two pillars, there are limitations in individuals.
Neurological limitations.
The function of the nervous system, brain, and sense organs is believed to be primarily eliminative and non-productive. Each person is capable of remembering at all times everything that has happened and perceiving everything that is happening in every part of the universe. The function of the brain and nervous system is to protect us from being overwhelmed and confused by this mass of knowledge, largely useless and unimportant.
Social limitations.
Sociogenetic factors are all categories or filters to which we are subject as members of a social system. The acceptable ways of perceiving a reality in a given culture. Perhaps the most commonly recognized sociogenetic filter is the system of our language. Within any part of the richness of our experience it is related to the number of distinctions we make in a certain area of our sensation.
Individual limitations.
Like fingerprints, each individual has a series of experiences that make up their personal history and that are unique and unrepeatable, individual limitations are at the root of the deep differences between human beings and the way we create our models of the world. These differences in our models may adulterate our social patterns, enriching our experience, showing us more alternatives, or impoverishing our experience in such a way as to diminish our ability to act effectively.
NLP APPLICATION AREAS
Many people study NLP to achieve their personal goals or to be more effective in their professional field. These techniques can be used in fields as diverse as education, teamwork, sales, marketing, personal development, and leadership. Wherever there is human interaction and growth potential, neurolinguistic programming can be used to develop and improve a person or group.
NLP IN THE DECISION MAKING OF ORGANIZATIONS
Sometimes the lack of communication and the management of interpersonal relationships, leads the collaborators of the organizations to make decisions with haste and sometimes wrong ones. NLP improves the management of these areas.
Metaprograms are filters of experience and there are more than 20, these "They serve to identify a person and communicate in their own codes."
NLP works with metaprograms into which the discipline is subdivided. One of the most important is that of sensory representation systems, which assumes that each person has a predominant way of perceiving reality, which can be visual, auditory or kinesthetic (sensations).
As detailed in the section “nlp resources”, each individual has their characteristics when learning.
What NLP tries to do is to enhance the communication channels that are less developed, so that you can tune into them. So, it provides tools and skills so that people can get to know themselves and others, in order to better develop communication and have a reprogramming of attitudes, it is also applicable in business and even more when making decisions in the companies.
NLP offers simple tools and techniques to work on interpersonal relationships with clients and colleagues, both in the horizontal and vertical part of the organization. In addition, it allows efficient negotiations with clients and suppliers, generating a climate of trust.
Thanks to this communication and interpersonal skills, many problems can be solved and at the same time make the company more competitive.
Another point that is improved is the emotional situation of the workers, since a better empathy with those around the person is achieved, communication improves in the supervision and evaluation of personnel, or when recruiting or selecting personnel in human resources.
You can also improve, for example, marketing strategies. The ability to empathize with the target group or address itself in their terms is enhanced, using the entire spectrum of sensory representation systems and reaching both hemispheres of the brain through logical language and the use of analogies and power associations. (OSORIO, 2011)
If you want to get the most out of your employees, you must first understand their work strategies.
TYPES OF WORK STRATEGIES
- Freelance Work Strategy: Some people are not happy unless they are independent. They have great difficulty collaborating closely with other people and cannot work well under surveillance. They have to follow their own rules. Cooperative work strategy: Some people work best as part of a group. We call this a cooperative work strategy. These people want to share responsibility for all tasks. They prefer to support rather than feel the full weight of responsibility on them. Cooperation work strategy:people who have this style of proximity work are somewhere in the middle of the first two. They prefer to work with other people as long as they are solely responsible for a task. They are in charge but they do not work alone. (ROA, 2014)
APPLICATION
Once the way a person works is known, different behavior changes can be made.
For example, if a person has a freelance work strategy, they may turn out to be excellent at their work, but they often have conflicts with their colleagues, since they always have to do things their way. If your talents are not maximized and you are given as much autonomy as possible, it is very likely that you will end up leaving.
The sad reality is that most employers are often insensitive to their employees' work strategies. There are people who work best in a cooperative environment. They grow when there is a great deal of information and human interaction.
Do you think that this type of person would like to work in a position where they have no contact with people and have total independence? Many employers think that would be a reward, but that would only apply if the person has a freelance work strategy.
Similarly, many people with proximity work strategies want to be part of a team, but want to do their own work without being watched.
In any organization there are jobs that nurture all three strategies. The key is to have the acuity to know how a person works best and then find a task that maximizes their talents.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Although there are specific courses to improve areas of opportunity, the following tips can be followed to enhance decision-making and maximize the quality of the work performed by employees.
- Anchors (conditioning):
In this part, a positive feeling is generated in the person by making them remember or imagine something positive, when it reaches the climax of the sensation, a unique stimulus is created in the person (eg, touching the elbow). This is done repetitively so that eventually conditioning is created . Later and having reinforced the conditioning, you can get something from that person if you touch him in the same way.
- Language patterns:
Illusion of alternative: to convince someone of something, the person is given "options" but in reality it is about not winning at all. Example: "So… Are we going to have dinner or lunch?" Instead of "do you want to eat or not?"
- Covert orders:
Questions usually end with an upward musical intonation. Orders usually go down. The trick is that when a question is asked it is intoned like a command.
- Ocular access keys:
When people remember or imagine something, they turn their eyes somewhere. The technique is to pay attention to eye movements to look for a pattern. If the person turns her eyes to the left several times to imagine or remember something positive, that is where one must place oneself to be associated with positive things.
- Visual / auditory / kinesthetic:
People have preferred channels for decision making . For example, a designer or a filmmaker is going to be more visual. The idea is to use those channels with that person so that they feel more comfortable. Example. "Look, I want you to see the plan I have" instead of "I want to tell you the plan I have."
- Empathy:
You should find out what you have in common with the person and mention it so that you feel more like him or her. The same can be done by mirroring your physical position very discreetly .
- Modal operators:
People use words that express need (modal operators) like I need, have, want, desire, must to express themselves. The technique is to pay attention to which ones they use at the moment to answer them with the same operator.
- Internal or external reference:
There are people who work better when someone else tells them something and others when they say it themselves. You have to pay attention to this in order to use the one that best suits the person. If the reference is internal, the person must be made to believe that the idea came from him or her. (DEBAYLE, 2015)
NLP GENERAL EXERCISES
There are different courses and exercises that are part of NLP, some are shown below.
Exercises to eliminate uncomfortable memories or situations
White Background Exercise - Whiten Your Mind
Exercise: Go, I don't want to see you anymore! - Send those problems flying
Exercise: I don't want to listen to you anymore! - Eliminate those annoying internal voices
Motivational exercises
Click Pattern - Leave laziness or lack of motivation behind NLP Motivation - Stop Procrastinating Your Activities!
Personal
NLP for Phobias - Leave your fears behind
Eliminate Obsessive Thoughts with NLP
Business exercises
Improve your sales
Winning mindset
(MENDEZ, 2011)
EXAMPLE OF A SESSION
Practitioner: I know that there is a part that causes a behavior in you that you want to change.
Client: Yes, I want to stop getting angry when someone doesn't do their job well.
Practitioner: Now close your eyes, look deep within yourself and find the part of your unconscious that controls this behavior. Have you found it?
(The customer nods his head)
Now I want that part of you to identify the positive intentions behind that behavior. When you've figured it out, either unconsciously or consciously, signal me - depending on the client and past experiences, this could be a wink or a finger signal.
Okay, now I want that part of you to think of three new ways to achieve the same result with different behavior, and when you have them.
Okay, now I want that part of your mind to think about those times when this behavior will occur in the future.
And I want you to make a change so that the next time this behavior occurs, you use one of the three new behaviors. Can you do that now?
Now I want you to decide if you are happy with this new behavior, and if so, make further changes to allow for the use of this new behavior in the future when appropriate. And if the behavior is not what you want, then I want you to try one of the other behaviors until you find a new one that is more helpful to you. (PNL ID, 2012)
CONCLUSION
Neuro-linguistic programming is a very useful tool but unfortunately little used in organizations, however, it should be a key piece if you want to improve communication, the work environment, decision-making, coexistence, change of mentality, resilience, openness to change and other aspects that have to do with the emotions, behaviors and way of reacting and learning of individuals.
It is necessary not only to remove the negative behavior patterns from the mind, but to immerse oneself in a continuous improvement of all the mental models of the collaborators, through neurolinguistic programming these challenges can be achieved.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- DEBAYLE, M. (2015). MD DEBAYLE. Obtained from http://www.marthadebayle.com/sitio/md/radio/tecnicas-de-programacionneurolinguistica-que-tienes-que-aplicar-a-tu-pareja/DILTS, R. (03 of 2016). NLP PROGRAMMING. Obtained from http://www.pnl.org.mx/historia-dela-pnl.htmlMENDEZ, S. (2011). VANGUARD. Obtained from http://crecimiento-personal.innatia.com/cejercicios-de-pnl-para/a-ejercicios-principiantes.htmlOSORIO, M. (02 of 2011). AMERICA ECONOMY. Obtained from http://mba.americaeconomia.com/articulos/reportajes/la-programacionneurolingueistica-en-la-empresaPNL. (2015). neurolinguistic programming today. Obtained from http://programacionneurolinguisticahoy.com/PNL, ID (2012). INNOV-ART. Retrieved from http://www.innov-arte.com/pnl/sesion-pnl.htmlROA. (2014). CLUB PLANETA. Obtained from http://www.trabajo.com.mx/estrategias_que_utiliza_la_pnl.htm WALTER, M. (2013).LEARN PNL. Obtained from
