Neuro-Linguistic Programming

Achieving Excellence in Communication


© iStockphoto/Kemter

Do you want to improve your relationships and engage with others more elegantly; or be better able to use language to influence, motivate and generate creative ideas?

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) can help you to achieve this – and more. This article gives you a flavor of what NLP is about, and a few different examples of how you can use it.

What is Neuro-Linguistic Programming?

NLP is a set of advanced communication skills. These have been identified through the study of top performers – those who are excellent at what they do. By understanding and replicating (modeling) their thinking and behavior patterns, this approach argues that you can achieve the same positive results.

The tools, techniques and strategies derived from these studies help you to understand yourself and others; how you act and react in the world; how you and others communicate; and how you can easily gain rapport with others to realize positive outcomes.

To better understand NLP, remember the last time your boss called you into his office after you finished a difficult project. Or, recall how you felt when you stepped on a stage or delivered a presentation. Or think about how a child reacts to a parent's angry or frustrated tone of voice.

In such situations, reactions are often automatic and can occur without conscious thought. These instinctive reactions may be positive and useful, but they can also be negative and unhelpful. Through NLP, you become more aware of your reactions, and learn to change them – including what you say – in a positive and useful way.

Note:
John Grinder and Richard Bandler, the fathers of NLP, called their model 'neuro' because the patterns they discovered were at the level of our neurological processes, 'linguistic' to represent the ways our language reflects our neurology, and 'programming,' reflecting our ability to break free from our programmed behavior and choose to organize our ideas and actions in the way that we want.

Using NLP

You use NLP to enhance your ability to...

... for the complete article:

Mind Tools members, click here.

Join the Mind Tools Club to finish this article AND get 1,000 more resources

Join now for just $1, first month

"When I started using Mind Tools, I was not in a supervisory position. Now I am. Along with that came a 12% increase in salary."
– Pat Degan, Houston, USA


Join the Mind Tools Club

Get training, help and ideas to boost your career: the Mind Tools Club gives you much, much more than you get here on the basic Mind Tools site.

And if you join before midnight on May 9th, we'll also give you a FREE copy of our Future-Proof Your Career workbook.

Find out what you get


Where to go from here:

Next article

Free newsletter

Join Mind Tools

Follow Mind_Tools on Twitter
Facebook

1 Day to Go!
Get Our Future-Proof Your Career Workbook FREE


Join the Mind Tools Club before midnight, May 9th, and get our Future-Proof Your Career workbook (worth US$19.99) for FREE.

Join for just US$1

Get the Free
Mind Tools App


Mind Tools Apps

Learn on the move with the free Mind Tools iPhone, iPad and Android Apps. Short bursts of business training ideal for busy people.

Get the Mind Tools App

Related Resources


What Bugs You?


  • Let us know about anything wrong, or anything you don't like about this site, and you could win a US$50 Amazon voucher!

Click here

Sponsored Links