Is it worth spending time learning NLP or is it nonsense?

NLP - what is it?

Neurolinguistic programming is a tool for effective communication that has a scientific approach, but not a science, which is based on copying and imitation of the behavioral characteristics of people who have achieved success in any field of activity.

NLP practitioners, while observing a selected person, analyze his behavioral characteristics, speech patterns and identify characteristic beliefs, since they believe that any behavior is not random, and its structure can be decomposed into its component parts, and, therefore, the reasons can be identified. Neurolinguistic programming is based on the ideas of positive thinking: “The Universe has enough resources to satisfy the needs of all people on the planet, these resources are inexhaustible.” An example of the transmission of positive thinking ideas in the film industry is the pseudoscientific film “The Secret,” filmed in 2006.

There are neurolinguistic therapy, aimed at getting rid of psychological trauma, depression and other destructive processes, and neurolinguistic programming, aimed at maintaining confident communication with the interlocutor, regardless of context.

There is still a lot of controversy around NLP both in terms of scientific validity and in questions of ethical use.

What it is?

NLP (Neurolinguistic programming) is a field of practical psychology that develops applied techniques that model the techniques and practices of famous psychotherapists and communication masters.

In other words, NLP studies the positive experience of specialists in the field of psychotherapy, Gestalt psychology, psychoanalysis, linguistics, hypnosis, with the goal of using this experience in the future. Essentially, NLP is about modeling the techniques of successful people in order to make these techniques available to the public.

It is worth noting that NLP is not a science, and knowledge, due to the nature of its acquisition, cannot be fully scientifically verified. Moreover, the scientific community is skeptical about this area, and it is rare to find NLP courses in universities. But it is important to understand that the creators of NLP did not have the goal of making a full-fledged scientific theory. It was important for them to find publicly available techniques, revealing the complex techniques of famous psychology practitioners.

Why do you need NLP?

There are a huge number of courses and trainings teaching NLP. What does knowledge of neurolinguistic programming give a person? NLP is, first of all, a communication tool that allows you to better understand your interlocutor and convey information to him in an accessible form.

NLP helps you learn effective words, structures and patterns, and helps you understand how the brain works. With the help of neurolinguistic programming, a person understands how best to present information about himself; in a business environment, the skill of self-presentation is one of the key ones. A person learns to broadcast his emotions without direct words – “I’m happy,” “I’m worried,” “I’m angry,” and to write convincingly and naturally.

There is a theory that in NLP words cure depression, melancholy, weak immunity, allergies, and insomnia. But most likely it's just a placebo.

The ability to communicate helps to build contexts in all areas of life: business, love and family relationships, friendship, social communication, creativity.

For example, in a relationship between a man and a woman: you can ask “What time will we meet tomorrow?”, or you can say “What time will you be pleased to see me tomorrow?” In the second case, the man conveys a meta-message that the girl will be pleased to meet him. She can't argue with this because she wants to meet him. But before the meeting, she had already formed the belief that the meeting would be pleasant and interesting.

NLP is used in negotiations, sales, acting, public speaking, business, advertising, and copywriting. But simply embedding NLP constructs into speech or text is pointless; all beliefs must be worked out and ethical.

NLP teaches you to determine a person’s thinking model in order to better grasp the meanings that the interlocutor is trying to convey to you. After all, during communication, not everything may be voiced, since some details are considered clear to us by default, but at the same time unclear to the interlocutor. NLP teaches you to ask clarifying questions and develop flexibility in communication.

NLP also helps to frame speech in certain frameworks or frames in order to convey a thought to the interlocutor in the form to which he is accustomed, and he does not have to delve into a different picture of the world or value system.

Introduction to Neuro-Linguistic Programming

NLP: BENEFITS OR HARM?

When in 1998 one of the authors of the article in Kyiv, at the largest book market “Petrovka”, asked: “Do you have anything on NEUROLINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING,” he heard in response: “The computer science department is located two rows away from us.”

Quite often, before training, network managers ask the following question:

— I hope you won’t have NLP in your training?

- Why don’t you want it to be?

- Well, you understand, the pharmacist won’t ask the client to describe the sensations that he experiences when he puts his bare foot into a wet shoe in a frosty winter and at the same time observe where the buyer’s pupils have shifted?

Others, on the contrary, require that the training include elements of NLP. To be honest, almost all people in the process of communication use elements of NLP on an unconscious level. There are also masters who master them perfectly, but this requires quite complex training, great motivation, as well as a certain amount of trust in such techniques.

Great masters of NLP, and self-taught ones at that, are gypsies. Who has not encountered a situation when a crowd of gypsies turns to you with some indifferent question, for example: “How to get to the Vladimir Cathedral”, and then, against the backdrop of temporary confusion, a set of proposals follows - suggestions, the purpose of which is to force you to part with a certain amount of money.

We often heard stories of this type at trainings for capital leaders: a man came, gave 20 UAH, and I, like a bewitched person, give change for 50 UAH. That is, people are worried that NLP is used for manipulation; in this case, it is all the more necessary to master it so as not to become a victim of it. As they say, the weak are not touched only in one case - if they suspect that he is stronger than the potential offender. In addition, we should not forget that all communication is about managing each other’s actions and thoughts, but first you need to learn how to manage your own behavior.

Surely many people would like to use NLP. Some even got acquainted with the literature, with examples of how this technique works in other areas. But applying this knowledge in practice and linking it with the activities of a pharmacist is not so easy.

POINT OF APPLICATION IS THE ACTIVITY OF THE PHARMACIST!

A common situation: trainings are often given by psychologists who are divorced from practical reality and are not familiar with the tasks of a first-table pharmacist. Of course, after such training, the group says that NLP gives nothing and it cannot be used in pharmacy sales practice. This reminds us of one anecdote: a business coach flew to a shepherd by helicopter and offered his services. The shepherd said:

“I don’t need you, and I have nothing to pay with.”

Trainer:

- If you don’t need it, I’ll teach you how to herd correctly, after the training you won’t lose a single sheep, your profits will increase quickly, and don’t worry about payment - I’ll take one of your sheep!

Overall, the training turned out to be very exciting; it was called “Psychotypes of Sheep.” Saying goodbye, the shepherd said:

— Thank you very much, your training was very useful, I learned that if a leader sheep appears in my herd, I need to suppress its will by looking intently into its eyes; if there is a destructive sheep, I must set my dogs on it so that the whole herd was looking at this, only one thing is unclear - why did you take my shaggy white dog as payment?

In order to master NLP techniques, you first need to decide whether you need changes at all. Here, for example, is a dialogue between an American businessman and a native:

- Why are you just lying under a palm tree, climb on it, shake off a few nuts and sell it!

- Why do I need this?

- Well, you will sell nuts, earn money, hire three workers who will climb palm trees!

“Why do I need this?”

- They will work for you, and you will only receive money and lie under this palm tree.

- And I’m already lying around.

The main goal of our publication is to try to develop some kind of behavioral flexibility by drawing attention to things that you may not have previously noticed.

If you do what you have always done, you will most likely get the same average result. Although, on the other hand, it is worth asking yourself whether you need outstanding sales success. I remember the words of Verka Serduchka after Eurovision: “I knew that they wouldn’t forgive me for a successful performance, they don’t forgive me for success!” Indeed, people are more willing to forgive each other for crimes than for success.

Using NLP in sales is a very effective and rewarding activity. The collision of advanced psychology and commerce can strike the spark that ignites the fire of a lucky find!

THE MAIN PRINCIPLE OF NLP

All NLP techniques are based on the concept of CONGRUENCE.

The term itself is taken from mathematics. Congruence means matching the person you are communicating with, the situation, etc. We have already said that the seller should strive to become like the buyer, to be his inner voice. Such congruence is achieved through adjustment, or, scientifically, rapport. You can adapt to the buyer’s posture, breathing, pace of speech, and gestures. You should try to be like the client. The better you do this, the more chances you have to please him, because in his soul a person believes in himself most of all.

We often adapt to our interlocutor on a subconscious level. There are people with infectious laughter: when they laugh, everyone around them laughs. Remember the old story about the high school student who disrupted the performances of the brass band simply by sitting in the front row and methodically eating a lemon, and the musicians watching this began to involuntarily salivate.

ANCHORING PHENOMENON

Also common in NLP is the term anchoring. A chain of associations is removed from memory with the help of an associative stimulus - an anchor - and affects the perception and experience of the current situation. For example, you heard the music that sounded at the moment of meeting your first love, and you were mentally transported to those pleasant moments.

How can you use the anchoring phenomenon in a pharmacy sales area? Turn on pleasant music, for example in retro style, if you have mainly elderly people. The smell of pine needles and tangerines instantly transports the visitor to the atmosphere of the New Year - you don’t want to leave such a pharmacy. The atmosphere of home comfort can be created thanks to the coffee aroma; The buyer can be adjusted to the desired mood using visual images (interior decoration, etc.).

The phenomenon of anchoring is associated with the property of any individual element of an experience to evoke in memory the entire experience. For example, the patient is accustomed to the fact that it becomes easier for him to breathe after taking Neophylline (long-acting theophylline in tablet form). Taking the pill, he feels relief at the same moment, before the onset of pharmacological action.

TYPES OF PROGRAMMING

People's behavior is influenced by various types of programs - social, parental, cultural. For example, religion is one of the powerful forms of social programming.

The corporate culture in the pharmacy chain, even if it is not formally stated, constantly weighs on you, and seems to suggest: “Do what is required of you, and the management will take care of you.”

National traditions are also a powerful means of programming; for example, condoms and contraceptives sell very poorly in Central Asia. It is also difficult to imagine a real Georgian man who came to the pharmacy to buy drugs that increase potency. Even in Georgia, drugs to eliminate hangover syndrome are not sold very well; They mostly drink wine there (albeit a lot), and in the morning they take Borjomi medicine.

One Georgian colleague told a funny story - a dialogue between a buyer and a seller:

- Oh, I feel so bad, is there Borjomi?

— Of course the network.

- How much it costs?

- Wah! Apparently, you're not so bad if you're interested in the price.

An original solution to this problem is offered by “Pharmaceutical - a drug that affects the cause of the development of alcohol intoxication (Fig. 1).

Very often we are influenced by parental programs. For example, one of us was told from childhood that he would be an officer, despite the lack of internal inclination towards this. After a period of obedient pursuit of a goal that was not one’s own, it took a lot of mental strength to decisively break this program. It happens that parents constantly tell their daughter that she will not get married. Experiencing considerable anxiety in this regard, having just celebrated her 16–17th birthday, the girl walks down the aisle.

PROGRAM YOURSELF FOR SUCCESS

So, either you realize your goals, or other people realize theirs by using you.

A strong means of mass culture are famous literary works, films, and fairy tales. Unfortunately, we are also programmed by advertising on television, so the buyer often chooses not the drug that he most needs at the moment, but the one that is more actively advertised.

Smiling, showing sympathy for the visitor, you turn on the program: “I am not dangerous, I am ready to meet you halfway.” A curious experiment was once described.

The number of male drivers who stopped near a voting woman doubled after her breast volume was artificially increased.

But after she was almost naked, the number of men stopping sharply decreased. This appearance put her in the DANGER category.

It is very important to program yourself for success. They say that a salesman will never earn more than he allows himself to earn in his mind.

ACCESS SIGNALS “THE EYES”

When the eyes say one thing and the words say another, an experienced person believes the former more. In general, different types of sensory systems are distinguished, and depending on the modality prevailing in their consciousness (Fig. 2), people are divided into visualists (think in visual images), audists (think in auditory images), kinesthetics (think in sensory images) and digitals (human computers). , think in specific categories, operate with concepts and numbers).

The characteristic directions of movement of the eyeballs are also known, depending on which modality a person is using at the moment. So, directing his gaze to the right, a person mentally constructs a visual, kinesthetic or auditory image (while the eyeball deviates up, down or remains at the same level, respectively). Looking to the left, a person recalls a visual or auditory image from memory or conducts an internal dialogue (Fig. 3).

The visual (visual type) is characterized by the fact that at the moment of conversation he seems to depict what he is saying. Often these people use the following expressions: “imagine”, “look”, “my point of view”. It is very important to know that most people are of this type. They often look up when talking and remembering.

The auditory type likes to use the expressions “it sounds like this”, “listen to me”. When talking and remembering, such people look to the left.

Kinesthetic (sensual motor type). Often uses the words “lightness”, “heaviness”, “warmth”, “cold”. Often looks down when talking and remembering.

Digital (computer type). People of this type say words related to information: “interesting,” “I understand,” “therefore.”

Thus, by receiving information about the client not just from his words, but through observation, determining the psychotype of your counterpart, his inherent way of perceiving information and even (!) the truthfulness or falsity of what was said, you get a super-effective tool for everyday use. After some training, you can learn to quickly and accurately draw up a situational portrait of a person - a visitor to your pharmacy.

Matviychuk Svetlana

, head of the Vitalux pharmacy supermarket:

— Training is a very fashionable event these days. Many companies, influenced by fashion trends, conduct all kinds of training for their employees. Everyone participates in them: from the company’s management to ordinary employees - the leaders. It is very important to choose from the many training companies existing on our market the one that will help you solve your problems.

I was not mistaken in choosing business coach Yuri Chertkov. After all, the main goal of the training we attended was the acquisition of new knowledge and skills. It was attended by 2 people from our pharmacy: a consultant and me, as the manager. Since the consultant is just starting her journey in pharmacy, the training was extremely useful for her. The pharmacy immediately felt the post-training effect, since the advice of the consultant who completed the training became more confident, and the dialogue with the buyer began to be structured more competently and friendly. Although I have some work experience, I attended the training with pleasure in order to systematize my knowledge about the psychological aspects of effective communication, since this is very important. I really liked the examples of developing the skills to quickly establish trusting relationships with different categories of buyers, the gradation of buyers that can be transferred to your team. What was especially valuable about the training was that participants were taught how to manage the communication process during sales using various techniques.

Of course, it is very difficult to retell the content of the entire training, but its benefits were obvious.

We hope that participation in the training will allow you to get even more pleasure from communicating with customers and colleagues. o

Gleb Zagoriy, Candidate of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Yuri Chertkov, Deputy General Director of JSC Pharmaceutical

When to use NLP and when not to

Like any tool, neuro-linguistic programming can be used for good and for bad. The result depends on how the person uses the tool. Many perceive NLP as manipulation of human consciousness, reinforcing this with the fact that no manipulation can be beneficial.

There are precedents when NLP is used by scammers and pick-up artists whose intentions cannot be called good. You can also give an example of the unethical use of neurolinguistic programming in advertising. A multi-layered scheme can be built here: a promoter approaches a woman on the street and hands her a leaflet, which gives her the opportunity to undergo an expensive procedure for free, after which the young man asks for a phone number to sign up for the procedure and says that his work will be checked. Next, the woman begins to be “processed” by a company employee in such a way that it is impossible to forget about this visit to the procedure, and during the procedure both the personal charm of the cosmetologist and all sorts of NLP constructs are used. As a result, a woman ends up with an annual subscription to the services of a beauty center in the best case, and in the worst case, with a credit for services.

How to protect yourself from fraud and the imposition of unnecessary purchases? Knowledge of NLP practices and the ability to recognize special structures will also help here. Neurolinguistic programming is not zombies or hypnosis. Some people are less resistant to manipulation than others, this is due to mental characteristics, acquired knowledge and experience. Let’s say neurolinguistic patterns are used in cigarette advertising. If a person has never smoked and has not thought about it, he will not run to the store, but if a smoker sees such an advertisement, then there is a high probability that he will have a desire to try a new brand.

NLP systematizes thinking and speech, helps to understand another person. With proper and ethical use of these techniques, a person can be helped to get rid of bad habits, addiction, and pseudo-infatuation.

NLP helps develop communication skills, successfully pass interviews, overcome anxiety on a first date, conduct effective business correspondence, analyze surface structures and extract deep information. Communication occupies one of the key niches in a person’s life; it is how he knows how to build a dialogue, listen to his interlocutor and convey information that largely determines his success and social status in the future.

NLP lessons

The goal of our online course is to teach you how to use the fundamentals of Neuro Linguistic Programming taught in basic NLP classes. In our training you will not find a complete course in hypnosis and NLP aerobatics, but we have tried to present all the key techniques and concepts that underlie hypnosis and advanced concepts.

If you just want to get acquainted with the basics of NLP, then you can take the lessons presented below. Lessons 1 and 2 cover language patterns, Lessons 3 and 4 cover nonverbal communication techniques, and Lesson 5 covers effective self-development techniques.

Lesson 1. Language model or NLP metamodel. One of the earliest and most popular concepts in NLP is the language model or, as it is called, the metamodel. This model helps to better understand the meaning of human speech. The thing is that when expressing our thoughts, we cannot absolutely accurately convey to our interlocutor what we are thinking about. We miss something, believing that it is already clear, and we unintentionally distort something. But can our interlocutor, colleague, or subordinate understand us correctly? Not always, unless you are a good psychotherapist or psychoanalyst. To properly understand a person, professional psychotherapists ask him special questions that help them enter the deep structure of human thoughts. The metamodel of neurolinguistic programming described in this lesson will help you better understand a person, and in some cases even change his own perception through the use of special psychotherapy techniques.

Lesson 2. Framing and positions of perception. In this lesson you will learn two useful NLP techniques. The first of them, framing, will teach you to frame your thoughts in various frames (frame, translated from English as frame), which will undoubtedly help you develop communication skills. The second technique will allow you to work with five positions of perception and representation of reality. Both of these models can actively influence your speech, making it more flexible.

Lesson 3. Representative systems. In the previous two lessons you were introduced to the key linguistic techniques of NLP. However, no less important in neurolinguistic programming are models for understanding neuroprocesses and their impact on the human psyche. In this lesson we will talk about the influence of the senses on the interpretation of a person’s experience.

Lesson 4. Report, calibration, adjustment. The physiological processes accompanying the moment of communication are no less important than speech itself. It is known that nonverbal techniques are an essential component of any act of communication. The techniques in this lesson will allow you to influence your physiological characteristics during communication, which will help you be a “comfortable” interlocutor when communicating with different people.

Lesson 5. Effectiveness, working with states, anchoring. This lesson will examine NLP techniques aimed at increasing a person’s effectiveness, as well as its impact on one’s own nervous processes. Not many people know that today’s popular methods of improving performance, for example, SMART, appeared within the framework of NLP. This lesson will introduce basic models to help people manage their motivation and emotional states.

Presuppositions - basic principles of NLP

While modeling the techniques of famous psychotherapists, NLP developers identified several general simple rules that these specialists used in their works. Scientists combined the studied material into a common system of presuppositions. Presuppositions in neurolinguistic programming (NLP) are axiomatic beliefs used as a tool to facilitate the achievement of the most effective results from the techniques used. The essence of using presuppositions is that for the most effective training of NLP, they must be accepted a priori (as an axiom). The main presuppositions of NLP are:

• The map is not the territory. Just as the most detailed map will never be an accurate representation of the territory, so the words we use do not contain an absolutely accurate representation of our experience, of which they are a representation. In NLP there are two levels of phenomena: external reality and internal subjective reality. In other words, NLP does not work with reality, or “territory,” but with subjective perceptions and beliefs about reality (“maps”).
• The person with the most flexibility has the most influence in the system. In any system, the person with the most flexible behavior will be able to consider more choices and will therefore have more influence in the system. Accordingly, the more options you have in your communication toolbox, the less likely you are to find yourself stuck.
• There are no defeats, only feedback. This presupposition is borrowed from William Ross Ashby's principle of the importance of feedback loops in information theory. In neuro-linguistic programming, nothing is considered in terms of “success” and “failure.” Unsuccessful results following an action are not a cause for disappointment and despair, but valuable feedback information that determines the effectiveness of what you do.
• The mind and body inevitably influence each other. This is because the human body contains approximately 100 billion nerve cells. Most of these cells are found in the brain. Each of the hundred billion neurons is connected to at least a thousand others. And, therefore, everything in us is interconnected, especially the mind and body.
• Personality and behavior are different phenomena. We are more than our behavior. We may do different things in different situations, and often do so unintentionally. Thus, people's behavior does not define people themselves.
• The basis of any human behavior is a positive intention. This presupposition is borrowed from the belief system of Virginia Satir. Its essence lies in the fact that even a person's seemingly negative behavior is considered in NLP as an attempt to fulfill a positive intention (which he may not be aware of).

These are not all the basic principles that are highlighted in textbooks on NL programming. If we put together all the presuppositions of famous NLP authors, we can make the following list:

Background assumptions regarding mental processing:

1. “Map” is not “territory”.
2. People's reactions correspond to their cards.
3. The meaning depends on the context.
4. The mind and body inevitably influence each other.
5. Individual skills result from the refinement and consistency of the use of representational systems.
6. We respect other people's models of the world.
7. Personality and behavior are different phenomena. We are more than our behavior.
8. Each behavior is practical and useful in a specific context.
9. We evaluate behavior and change in terms of context and ecology.

Communicative presuppositions:

1. We can't help but communicate.
2. The way we communicate affects our perception.
3. The meaning of communication lies in the reaction it evokes.
4. The person who sets the frame of communication controls it.
5. There are no defeats, only feedback.
6. The person with the most flexibility has the most influence in the system.
7. Resistance indicates a lack of rapport
   .

Presuppositions concerning learning, choice and change:

1. People have the internal resources necessary to achieve their goals.
2. People are capable of learning anything in one try.
3. Any communication should increase the number of available alternatives.
4. When performing any action, people choose the best option available to them at the moment.
5. We can control our brains and control the results.

You can read more about presuppositions in NLP in the textbook “NLP Practitioner”, as well as on Wikipedia.