NLP Modelling Project

Transcription

1 If someone can do it, anyone can. NLP Modelling Project John Grinder and Carmen Bostic St Clair in their book, "Whispering in the Wind" describe NLP Modelling as a 5 stage process. This is distinct from analytical modelling, also known as cognitive modelling, in which the expert subject will be asked questions about their process. We are open to you exploring and using both styles of modelling for your project. The five stages of NLP modelling require the following: 1. First find a suitable model. If it is worth modelling someone, they should be a model of excellence at their skill or in their field. We often joke that if you can t find a model of excellence, than that says more about you than it does about others, but this is a subjective matter, look for elegance, minimal effort and congruence in the model when they are performing in their context. 2. Having identified one or more excellent models in a skill, the act of modelling requires us to spend time in the presence of the model while they work or perform their expert function. Our state includes open peripheral vision, internal silence and minimal tension required to assume a similar posture to the model. In this state, we observe, listen, match micro-muscle movement to mimic the model's micro behaviour over time, while we remain comfortable with not knowing. It is essential to keep everything we take in at this stage, unconscious, so no speculation and no searching for meaning. You may at this stage chose to use other kinds of modelling that are not strictly NLP Modelling as recently prescribed by Grinder and St. Clair. For example, the neurological levels (from Robert Dilts) along with chunking questions. Our recommendation is to trial multiple ways of modelling until you find what works for you and what gets you the results you want abandon NLP political correctness in favour of your outcome!! 3. The third stage of modelling is having the model for ourselves. Trying it on. Acting as if. Becoming our own expert at the skills we modelled. 4. The fourth stage is coding this model. Writing it down so that it can be shared with others. What is the strategy that is running? (e.g. is it a V>A>K pattern or A>K>Ad) 5. Finally, the model is coded, arranged into stages and then we share and teach our model to others (this will be achieved via you teaching your model to other members of the Master

2 Practitioner group during a presentation towards the end of the Master Practitioner Course. You will be given a maximum of 20 minutes to do your presentation/experience). Example of Modelling We managed to get our heads around this concept of modelling and modelling projects by looking at an example that we are all very familiar with already. One of the best examples of a modelling project is the Meta and Milton models. Let s take the NLP Milton Model as an example of this modelling process: Step 1: First find a suitable model. Grinder and Bandler identified that Milton Erickson had an unconscious skill (the ability to put people into a deep and effective trance) that they admired and wanted to have for themselves. Step 2: Spend time in the presence of the model i.e. start modelling them. They both spent many months watching Erickson with clients. During this time they did not pre-judge or double-guess at what he was doing, instead they adopted clean filters through peripheral vision, a not knowing state, and simply listened and absorbed the skill. Step 3: Trying on the model (becoming the genius of the skill yourself) Bandler and Grinder than started to try on the skills they had witnessed in Erickson. Trying on the words he used, the tone he used, the stories he told. They too would meet clients and put them into a hypnotic trance using what they had absorbed from Erickson. Only once they could achieve the same results in the client did they know that they had the model. Step 4: Coding this model. They found a way to write down the structure of what Milton said that worked (note that by this time they had Milton as their model and also their own new skill too). They created the Milton model. They created labels such as Lost Performative or Double Bind in order to describe part of Milton s unconscious excellence/structure. Step 5: Share and teach Model to others. Bandler and Grinder shared their model and taught it to students under the umbrella of NLP and Hypnosis. Only once we can get a client into a hypnotic trance like Erickson did, using only Grinder and Bandler s milton model, is the process complete.

3 Your Modelling Project You have been given the chance to do your own modelling project. This should be greeted with a "Yippee!! What a fantastic opportunity for me to embody and master a new skill." Perhaps your inner voice is saying "I may even be on the point of creating something that will make me my first million/training product/promotion route/give me the missing tools to meet my soul mate." And if you are anything like us, and anything like our previous delegates this initial excitement and tonnes of positive K maybe followed with the difficulty of...actually getting started - blank canvas etc. So here are some simple pointers and tips which hopefully shed light on the process of choosing and removes the doubt or frustration that many seem to experience. 1. PURPOSE Remind yourself of the purpose of this project. This project lies within the context of your Master Practitioner certification process. All we are asking of you is that you can demonstrate your ability to deliver the stages within the modelling process, and come out victorious at the other end. By this we mean: a. Work out what you want to model (we have said what rather than who because you may choose multiple people to model one core aspect in e.g. if you are modelling the structure of humour you might spend time going to comedy clubs AND modelling a good friend who is naturally funny) b. Identifying the key elements which are essential for driving that behaviour and adding your Youness to the model: creating your unique Model. This simply means what do they do and how do they do it? Going with the humour example, what internal thoughts does a comedian have? What order do these thoughts seem to come in? Does the order matter? How do they stand and or move? Is their environment important to them achieving the result of humour? Etc. And then, once you have this model, adding what works specifically for you. The You-ness bit! You may have modelled a particular comedian and then abandoned what you discovered from them because that aspect does not work for you, or you may add other aspects. c. Testing your model on yourself to find if you are able to achieve the desired behaviour and results. Really testing that you have this skill. d. Identifying ways of 'teaching' your Model to others, so that they can have a similar experience. So at your presentation, by whatever means you choose, you are giving your fellow master practitioners a direct personal experience of how to acquire the intended behaviour. This is an incredible process to be part of and hugely rewarding for the group to learn the best bits of all of your hard work.

4 2. ECOLOGY CHECK Be mindful of all the factors which can influence your decision - such as time available, resources required, access to models, costs. If you have chosen something that really interests you, then you are likely to have a hobby mindset rather than seeing this as a homework chore. However, you do have a life outside NLP (apparently) so be realistic - less is always more here. The smaller the better. We would challenge you that you cannot find a modeling project to small! We once had someone model ways in which he could listen in a more effective way to people he knows well. Namely his wife! We chunked this project down even more, until finally it was the way he could listen to the first words his wife spoke over dinner each night. It was very specific and very contextualised and we think that was one of the reasons it worked so well. 3. PINPOINTING THE DESIRED BEHAVIOUR Ask yourself - "What do I want to be able to do or qualities to I want to adopt - specifically?" This can be a delicate process. Trust your unconscious mind to tell you exactly what it is you want to model and what you will gain the most from - the "That's it!" moment. ALSO and this bit is really important to us, please choose something that is critical to your future development and/or for supporting you being the example of your identity. For example, if your identity is to be a leader, and yet you lack core behaviours to do this, then you have incongruence in your life. Use this project as your opportunity to use NLP modelling to gain new skills that ultimately take you closer to being the person you truly are, and living a life with behaviours that are true to that. Simply put be the change. 4. UPROOTING YOUR FLAG Mid-way through your project, you may have thought that you found your desired ability and you pitched your flag. You are now well into the process of eliciting the elements of experience involved, and then you discover a gem...a piece of gold. A break-through learning. Let go of all of your work, uproot your flag and start afresh - no matter how much time you think you have 'wasted'. You will waste so much more trying to make the wrong information fit the shape you are after. It's all good practice, and you have just increased your likelihood of generating an effective model a hundredfold. We have had previous delegates whose learning s throughout their modelling project ended up being far more interesting and useful to all of us than the final model. It s the journey not the destination. 5. KNOW WHAT YOU ALREADY KNOW The territory is unlikely to be totally unfamiliar in whatever you choose to model. There's a relief. There are bound to be elements within the models experience

5 which you can already do. There is no point taking up time to explore and develop aspects that are already part of your wiring. Concentrate on the elements which are new to you. For what it's worth, you may find yourself incorporating your existing knowledge when you are at the stage of coding your model. If you only do what you already know you will not learn anything in this process. By all means incorporate, but essentially we are looking for you to learn NEW strategies that support you being you in an even more fulfilling and congruent way. 6. CHOICE OF MODELS The reason we have launched this project before we meet in Scotland is because there maybe people who you already know in your life that you would like to model and question before you come to Scotland. In addition, you will be modelling others during the course itself. This modelling could include other delegates attending the course, the trainers ( i.e. us!), assistants and people we may meet outside of the direct class time for example at the Tibetan centre. It is a HUGELY rewarding process to be modelled as well as modelling. Receiving feedback that part of your unconscious skills are noticed and admired is clearly flattering, but the interesting bit comes when you start to learn about your own deeper structure and strategies, allowing you access to your unconscious skills consciously so that you can use them even more in day to day life. Here are some previous examples of modeling projects to get your ideas flowing: 1. Modelling the structure of compassion 2. Modelling the communication skills of a senior manager 3. Modelling someone s rapport skills 4. Modelling stillness (e.g. spending time with a monk and a yoga teacher) 5. Modelling mindfulness 6. Modelling training (this would need to be chunked down) 7. Modelling the ability to spend time alone (this one was from someone from a large family, who had never learnt how to be ok alone and now wanted that ability) 8. Modelling humour 9. Modelling the ability to be fully present and in the moment (we would passionately recommend this one!) 10. Modelling the ability to Love (this person regarded love as being core to who they were and yet had never been able to fully commit themselves to someone. Exploring this as a modelling project helped this person make dramatic steps to realising their potential and working out what their identity was and could be)

6 11. Modelling the structure of trust 12. Modelling the art of banter The art of modelling is core to NLP. It is what NLP itself emerged from. Mastering this science is what will give you pay-off from your investment for years to come. As gifts go, learning how to install others genius and then being able to share that with others is about as big as it gets!! We look forward to supporting you gain these results and to you sharing them with us, Toby & Kate