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This
article was my review of Michael Breen's NLP Business
Practitioner, which appeared in the Training supplement
that Personnel Today produce, published in October
1999 |
I first encountered Michael Breen in March of
this year when I attended McKenna Breen's NLP Practitioner Course in
London with Richard Bandler, the creator of NLP. Michael is a master
trainer of NLP and the governing director of the Society of NLP in
eth UK and Ireland. I found his communicating style so elegant and
engaging that I decided to enrol onhis course about the applications
of NLP to business.
So, in
April, I was back in London to join a small group of about 60 people
to attend the first of three modules which make up the Licensed NLP
Business Practitioner programme.
The
delegates came from many different professions and levels of NLP
experience. A few had even travelled from Europe to be there. My
background is local government but I was there mainly out of
personal interest.
To those
who didn't know, it must have seemed like the start of anyother
training programme. We sat pateintly and quietly as Michael
introduced himself, the staff and the assistants. The group began to
relax and loosen up as he told us about his background and some
aspects of human behaviour we would be covering. Through his
humourous stories and observations we gradually realised this was
going to be something different. We were ready to begin learning how
to apply the attitude and principles of NLP.
This was
not a detailed, theoretical appraoch but an exploration through
principles. we were introduced to the tools and the techniques of
NLP in a way that is not covered in any of the books. The first task
was to begin to develop a strong and useful emotional state to work
from, to learn how to be at our best when we needed it most. this
state is the foundation from which you caninfluence otehr people and
we were to come back to this time and time again throughout the
course.
With
stories, examples and exercises we looked at how human beings create
beliefs and maps about who we are and the way the world is, so that
we can function in it. we learned how those maps and beliefs
influence our behaviour and how to change them. we discovered the
structure of problems and solutions, how we aquire limitations and
get stuck, and how we can create solutions.
Michael
was very approachable and the assistants were excellent. They were
careful to create and maintain an environment in which it was
easy to learn. The atmosphere was good-humoured and very relaxed. It
was like a whole new world had been opened up and we were sent out
into it to observe.
Five
weeks later we were together again and reporting back.
within half-an-hour the group was back to where it had left off
and was ready for more. Michael clarified some misconceptions by
explaining the original source of the information and original
intentions. He was able to simplify the material we were covering in
a way that explained so much more. The questions to which I thought
I needed answers disappeared when I knew how the "trick" was
done.
Once I
understood the principles and intentions behind the behaviou, I
could see how easy it was to apply them elsewhere; Ihad been caught
up in the theoretical details which I now know to be the
consequences of having a particular intention and applying
principles in a specific way.
We were
being put through a process of continually refining what we needed
to do to get results. When we were given exercises to do, it was
like being thrown in at the deep end only to discover we knew a lot
more than we realised.
We were
set a task - it didn't matter how we got there and there wasn't a
right way to do it. We were told what direction to head in, to make
use of the principles and tools we had learned, what to look for and
very specific instructions to bring them back alive, more so
than when we started. This was a very different experience from any
previous NLP traning I had done before.
We had
covered the attitudes and principles so thoroughly that we were well
intothe course and I was beginning to wonder when we were going to
get to sonme specific applications. When we did, everything just
just fell into place. when we started on problem-solving,
creativity, persuasion and training, I was already on familar
ground. we were making use of the subtle elements of language and
behaviour that have a profound impact on people's thinking.
As a
group we started swapping insights and it became apparent that
Michael was communicating and teaching on many different levels. I
feel that we all learnt a lot more than we were aware of.
When he
asked us to let him know if we had any specific applications i
thought I had found the one element he'd missed. When I asked him
about it, I was initially rather disappointed withhis response until
I realised the consequences.
Michael
simply told me to take what I had learnt and apply it to myself. we
had been given everthing we needed to deal with new situations,
think things through and create our own applications. I no longer
needed to look to anyone else for answers or solutions - and the
potential went far beyond
business.
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