Wednesday, March 18, 2015
BELIEVE IT OR NOT
We are three dimension beings having length, breadth and depth. When we draw a
picture it is two dimensional since it has length and breadth and no depth. Our
photo itself is two dimensional. But a good drawing can create an illusion of
the third dimension by suitable positioning of the person. So the simplest idea
of dimension.
Yakshis are considered to be fourth dimension beings. They have the capacity to
transverse space or any thing. Yakshis can assume any form as they desire, but
normally they assume the form of beautiful young women.
Wild yakshies normally reside in the palmara tree called Kudappana.
In front of a Devi temple near Alleppy in the NH Trivandrum -Ernakulam, there is
a plamirah tree obstructing the widening of the NH. Many efforts to remove the
tree have failed till date. Always the bull dozer goes failing or gets damaged.
It was showed in TV Channel- A big palmarah tree. How that much strength for
the tree? There is no objection to the temple to remove it!!
Many of us would have heard stories told in the Eithya mala about Yakshies. I
myself have written about the story of one Mithran nampoothiri and Ittusu
variasyar (Form taken by yakshi) and the narrow escape of Nampoothiri while
writing about Chottanikkara Devi.
I have also written about our Kaipuzha yakshi in the temple premises walking
after bath combing the hair, seen by my cousin athhai put up near the temple in
the midnight. While narrating the incident to my mother she had no words to
express the beauty of the woman.
I have also heard the story of the watchman of Kaipuzha temple sleeping under
the aalamaram in the premises near to Yakshi temple. In the mid of night he was
awakened by somebody in a summer night and advised to go inside the temple and
sleep in the flat stones before entering the Oottupura. This narration was given
by him to my father when I was a small boy.
Now too people avoid walking along lands having big palmarah trees close in the
night time.
There was a palmirah tree in a near by variam compound near to my house. It was
in the corner of three roads. If any body stand talking near it in the evening,
they were advised to go some where else and talk.
If any body wanted to go and take bath in the early night, they used to go via
the temple to the ghats.
2. Jala munivar
It is the general thinking these sages having 4th dimension will be living under
water in wells and rivers also near ghats. It is generally advised not to draw
water from the wells in the mid noon. Generally in temple ponds no body used to
take bath in the afternoon disturbing the pond.
It is a common un written rule no body should go to bathing ghats after 1 PM to
about 4 PM. This is special about women on their periods.
Some how, what ever the situation, people avoid taking bath in the noon. Even at
4 PM people normally go together to the ghats. Dhobies avoid washing cloths in
the afternoon.
The contention is the jalamunivar get disturbed of their penance.
3. Chunnambu kkaran
While I joined as a junior engineer at Ranipet in 1967, one of my linemen first
told me the interesting story of Chunnambukkaran. In the mid of night in
farmers watch yards, the muniyan will take the form of a neighbour and ask for
lime waking him up. Considering him as neighbour, if he gives lime, he will
track him to canals. Then show his real form and push him down. Others will see
him unconscious lying in the next day. It was news to me at that time.
Probably this may be the reason for telling lime should not be given in the
night. Further lime will be given not in hand, but on a betel leaf only.
4. Sadapedayar kovil
Probably members having Kuladeivam as Sadapedayar may know after the midnight
pooja during Aati velli, all persons has to remain with in temple and relax in
the premises available. Early morning after 5 AM the southern door will be
opened and all can leave the premises. Further children not performed upanayanam
are not permitted in the temple.
It is believed on the way to main road from the temple for about 2 kilometres
along paddy fields; the fourth dimension beings like muniyans are there and can
create harm. Probably our member like Sri Kulathumani can through more light on
this.
5. Blowing after prayer
It is a very common seen near the mosques, people of all communities line up
keeping their small babies on arms in the evenings especially on Fridays. The
reason for the line up is their children wake up in the night and cry with out
stopping. Breast feeding or walking in open with the kids in shoulder, nothing
can pacify them. Finally after hours they sleep exhausted, again wake up and
cry.
I am a man experienced of it before 38 years. After prayer while the muslims
come from the mosque, they blow on the face of children.
What a wonder, in my case my son stopped crying from that day!!!
It is believed the harming being is blown away by their blowing.
6. The strange mother at Kanyakumari
I was in Nagerkovil during 77-79 and have visited Knayakumari at least hundred
of times. During the period I could see an elderly woman wandering along sea
shore near temple with at least seven to eight dogs. Any thing given to the
lady she will be offering to the dogs depending on her will. People will be
going behind her with offerings. She too ate from it and sometimes gives a
portion back to the giver. It is believed those who get that portion become
wealthy in no time.
7. Devi with menses
Near to my native Pandalam, about 12 KMs to north is Chengannur Mahadeva temple.
Devi is more prominent in the temple.
The speciality with the Devi is earlier every moth and for the last 30 -40 years
occasionally, the priest will observe the menses blood stains in the Udayada in
the morning nirmalyam time. The udayada will be seen by the women folk of the
authorised Nampoothiri family to decide it is menses blood stain or not.
Three days there will be no pooja inside and Devi idol in chattam will be kept
outside and small worship is done. On the fourth day a celebration is done
called "Tiruppooth aarattu"
Once during the British regime the Kottayam district collector came to temple.
He scrutinised the temple expenditures and found accounting under " Tiruppoth
aarattu".
When explained the details the collector exclaimed " Menses for idol. What
nonsense? .. and cut down the expenditure.
From next day onwards the collectors wife started bleeding for a menses and
did not stop. She fell sick. Rani Sethubahi was ruling at that time at
Trivandrum. She even sent a message asking the condition of the madam and prayed
for welfare.
Many Days passed. No treatment could cure the madam. The collector too got
grieved and sick and his children also. One of his assistants , if I recollect
an iyer , pointed why a Deva prasna should not be seen. The collector nodded
his head.
Deva prasna was conducted. In the prasna it was seen the problem is due to
stopping of expenses for Tiruppooth aarattu and vidhi was seen as restoring it
back.
The collector immediately ordered restoration. What a wonder!!. In a day the
madam became alright and collector and his kids too from all illness.
Pleased with he deposited some money before Goddess and ordered for
conducting Tirupooth aarattu its interest can be used and the function should
never be stopped.
Chengannur temple has written records preserved for these entire incidents .
Thiruppoth aarattu in Chengannur is a very big festival and thousands visit the
temple to witness it. The Udayada is auctioned for thousands of rupees and
Sri VV Giri Governor of Kerala once was one of the famous who desired and got
it.
I make it a point to visit the temple if time permits when I go to native now.
Once I have been to the temple in 2002 May when the Devi was on menses and
worshipped her outside.
8. Kathakali at Sree Vallabha temple
Sreevallabha temple is one of the Vishnu temples in Kerala 10 KMs North of
Chengannur.
Kathakali is conducted on all days in the temple as offering. Kathakali need not
be for the entire night. This kathakali is offered for Santhana Bhagyam ( Child
birth) and prayer made believing in its efficacy has never failed.
In fact I was born when my father was working at Tiruvalla.
9 Fishes at Kulathupuzha.
I have been to Kulathu puzha temple before the bridge was constructed and after
it. Before the bridge was constructed, we had to traverse through vallam and a
rope was tied to either ends above it. The boat will move as the first two or
three go on hold the rope further and further to the other bank standing in the
front. While crossing we could see very large fishes in the river. Pori is fed
to the fishes. They will be jumping even up to the level of boat and in plenty
I could gather the fishes are not cached in the river for certain distance near
the temple. On standing before the sanctum I could see a large fish made of
bronze suspended near mandapam with inscriptions. Once an officer (during
British regime) came to the temple and cached the fish in spite of warning. He
felt sick on consuming it and nothing could cure his pain. A prasnam was
conducted and it was found that it was due to killing of fish of the God. As
repentance he was asked to make a bronze idol of fish and keep in the temple
before the God.
His pains vanished in a moment. The details of the officer, date of its
submitting etc are inscribed on the bronze fish.
10. Sucheendram temple opening and closing
It is believed Indra is coming and offering pooja in Sucheendram temple near
Nagerkovil in the night after the temple is closed. Hence the name sucheendram.
Once the priest after night pooja observed the pooja items got displaced inside
the sanctum in the next day while opening the temple. It was seen in Deva prasna
it was on account of Indra pooja.
It was decided in the prasna, then on wards, the priest who perform night pooja
shouldnt open the sanctum next day morning. After night pooja the keys of the
sanctum are given after closing to another priest to open in the next morning.
This practice is continued till today.
11. North Compound wall by Bhoothathan
In my childhood days I am told the northern compound wall of Thazathu
Mahadevar temple near Pandalam was constructed by bhoothathan in a night. This
wall close to sanctum about 7 feet from sanctum the most , was getting damaged
and falling down due to river current of Achankovil river which take a turning
there.
Once after such damage new cut granite and other items were arranged and piled
near for construction. What a wonder!!! The wall was found constructed the next
day morning . Comparing to other sides the construction of this wall is crude
and not fully plastered( Day before yesterday I heard in Asianet TV channel
Bhoothathan will complete the work in night only and leave what ever is there be
fore dawn.
I have never heard till date from my boyhood any damage to the wall and
personally seen the crude work, and heavy currents.
12. Nager kovil and snake bite
I have read there will be no snake bites in the near by areas of Nagaraja temple
there. The prasadam in the temple is the fine sand below the idol . The beauty
is the colour of sand changes once in six months.
I was in Nagerkovil from 1977 to 1979. I have never heard or read in newspaper any snake bite in the area.
BELIEVE IT OR NOT -4
13 Moving Kalvilakku.
Perhaps some members would have seen in TV Asia net about it yesterday. In the Sankaranarayana temple at Alleppy there is a Kalvilakku in front of the temple. This was obstructing the view of the idol from out side. For the past few years the kalvilakku is moving back wards and sideways to the left. More than 6 feet it has been moved back wards and about 2 feet to the left.
Nothing else move in the premises. The Archeological department has visited the premises and marked the locations and observed the movements. They could not reach to any conclusion about it so far.
14. Blessing Kabar.
While I was in Krishna giri in 82s, I had a Muslim driver and once he told me about the specialties of Kabar of fakirs. He took me to a kabar near by of a Fakir and intimated any desire expressed with a believing mind will be fulfilled. I offered agarbathies, and prayed for extension of my small house at native.
Next day believe it, an engineer from House loan section from my head quarters came to Krishnagiri to my office. I just asked him, being a Panchayat; just with a plan by a local civil engineer I have constructed a house and desire to construct an extension. He immediately told me, just submit that plan and a letter from Panchayat permitting the construction of the houses with their own plans. I got it and gave extension plan. The extension was approved in about 3 months time on submission.
In the Asia net channel day before yesterday there was the program about Kabar. The wishes fulfilling and two big stones near by a kabar growing was the program. I could not get the location to mention here. When I was watching the program the above incident came to my remembrance .
15. Throwing Lunki in dustbin.
I had a co lecturer xxxx opposite to my quarters. One fine day I could hear quarreling sound in the house with his wife. After some time with a brown face he rushed out , throw a lunki in dustbin of brown colour. Normally he will knock at my door and we two go together to office .
He knocked on that day a little earlier. He told I have to take class for his batch in the first hour since he has not prepared. He will take class in the first period. I said ok and he waited in the hall.
In the leisure time I asked him what was the big voice in the house. He told- whenever he wears a brown colour lunki for the last few weeks, a quarrel ensues in the house with his wife for petty reasons and either could not control. He has thrown that lunki in the dustbin in the morning finding no alternative.
I was also wearing lunki during those days. I recollected a brown colour lunki with black shades whenever I wear get agitated. I told him my incident at that time. In the evening silently I tore my new lunki to cleaning cloths. My wife asked the question why new lunki I am tearing. I told her xxxx incident.
Many members would have felt similar experience either their wearing or their wives wearing particular item.
16. Walking along River Bridge
It is a common belief not to walk in the night along river bridges. Practically there will be no bridges constructed with out some bodys accidental death during construction. Some times accidental fall and later death. It is believed; the souls of such persons will be there along the bridge in the night period. There can be trapping. These beings are called in Malayalam Arukola.
The riverbeds are there where souls will prevail. In the Mahabharatha story I have read Veda Vyasa called the souls of all the kourvas after the Mahaharatha war to Gandhari and Kunti in the Ganga riverbed.
BELIEVE IT OR NOT -5
17. Saturday dead will not go alone.
It is believed if there is a death on Saturday of a close relative or known well, there will be some more death in the immediate. It is a common belief specially among Brahmins.
I am a really experienced person of its occurring . My cousin brother was ill for fortnight aged about 72 before two years. I am informed my brother too critical. I rushed to see my brother. Next day was Saturday and the first news reached us through a messenger was the cousin brother death. In two days my elder brother too left for abode, where as he was seen by the doctor and proposed to shift to his hospital on that day.
18. Almirahs keeping cash should face either east or north.
Whenever we purchase an almirah and try to keep costly items and cash, mostly we get no convenient location to face north or East. The most convenient will be west or south. Many do not know about it also. (Including me earlier). North being direction of Kubera he will be guarding and expanding. East good for everything. West direction of decline and south direction of Yama.
Invariably it is seen when almirahs facing west and south is changed to North and east, definitely a financial improvement is felt for those who had difficulties earlier.
19. Should not go to temple premises in the after noon and wander or circumbulate.
After the after noon pooja it is the relaxing time for the deity. The Ksethra palaka and Dwara palaka will be in full action guarding the temple invisibly. Normally as such no person circumbulate or go to temple in the afternoon.
20. At Banaras burning dead bodies in the Harichandra ghat do not polute with bad smell.
While I have been to Varanasi for performing Gaya sraadha to my parents, I was staying at Hanuman Ghat for three days. While we take bath in Ganga in the third ghat, we could see three or four bodies put to pyre and burning even in morning.
I have personally experienced there is no smell emanating while burning dead bodies there. Further I have no bad dreams or fear on seeing it. Other members can share their experience about it and its truthfulness.
21. Chandrashtama days are bad days.
Persons listening to Jaya TV in the morning can hear Sri Kazhiyur Narayanan will be telling how is the day very briefly in one or two sentences. He will be telling chandrashatama day for the particular rasi every day . That day everything will be bad for those born on the particular rasi. Even the most urgent works proposed and cannot be postponed will meet with problem or difficulties.
The bank manager who has promised to give the loan will be on urgent leave on Chandrashtama day. The most expected courier will not come on chandrashtama day etc etc.
( Chandrashtama day is the one when the natal chandran is on the 7th rasi from birth rasi in the same degree as of yours)
Will continue ....
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Can NLP Help Or Harm Your Business
HUMAN BODY SYSTEM DIAGRAM :
The simple answer to the above is, "both"! It depends on a number of things. Perhaps the first thing to explore is your reaction to seeing those three letters put together? If someone tells you they are an NLP practitioner do you search for your cross and garlic cloves? Do you welcome them and want to know more?
Can NLP Help Or Harm Your Business?
In this article I want to cover four key aspects:
- Why knowing more about NLP and its uses might be useful for you and others in your organisation.
- What NLP is and some of the key principles.
- How it has been used in some organisations.
- What you might be able to do with it in the future.
Although I have been involved with NLP, and using it in work and other parts of my life for over 10 years I am not one of the evangelists nor do I believe it is a panacea! I am not aiming to defend NLP. I have my own views about what it is and how it can work for those who want to learn more about it - but I can offer no empirical evidence for these and do not intend to. Over that time I have realised that it can help most people, and in many different ways. Whether improving the communication and influencing skills of individuals; enabling managers and leaders to operate more effectively; giving sales and customer service people more options when dealing with the wide range of prospects and clients, helping teams to work together, providing tools to address problems or providing everyone with a better understanding of themselves - the list is not limited to particular disciplines or groups.
One of the biggest problems with NLP is its name!! Neuro Linguistic Programming is hardly the branding of a smart marketing team! Apart from being somewhat "user-unfriendly" the last word often carries negative impressions for many. Without giving the whole history, suffice to say that the original developers of NLP, Richard Bandler and John Grinder, were involved in mathematics and linguistics. Much of what they identified and developed was based on the work of well-known linguistics experts - one of whom (Alfred Korzybski) had already used the term neuro-linguistic in his work. The principle is that the "neuro" is to understand how we process and think about things, the "linguistics" is to consider the words we use and the clues within those, and finally, the "programming" is how we have generated the patterns within ourselves and keep running the programmes. (As in computing - even if the instructions within the programme to do not appear to be relevant or make sense.) The key is within this last part and the following definition builds from it: NLP is a set of guiding principles, attitudes and techniques that enable you to change behaviour patterns as you wish."
A fundamental premise of the early work done by Bandler and Grinder was that they wanted to study people who were excellent and to identify what the specifically they did to achieve this. They wanted to be able to break this down and identify the specific elements - and then teach or impart these to others in order to improve their performance. (Hence, a simpler definition which stated that NLP was "the study of excellence".) From this early work a number of tools and techniques were created, some were adapted from different disciplines, and others have been developed by people such is Robert Dilts.
Many of these tools and techniques can be very powerful. This, in turn, can lead to the accusations of NLP being "manipulative". First question - how do you define the difference between manipulation and influence? Second point, is a chisel a murder weapon when in the hands of Michelangelo and he is sculpting "David" or "The Pieta"? Yes, in the wrong hands, NLP has a lot of manipulative tools, especially when you see some of the websites and others about "Mastering the Art of Seduction" etc!! It has to do with the integrity, and intention, of the user.
For me, one of the most powerful applications of NLP was using it on myself. It helped me to know me even better, to recognise that I could develop even more flexibility in my actions and interactions and to take more responsibility for my own thoughts and actions. There is a particular model used within NLP called the Neurological Levels of Alignment (or Logical Levels) which can help in a wide variety of ways, and I have found of great benefit for me - and with individuals and groups within clients. (Get in touch to ask for a diagram.) Although some analysts happily take it apart and disprove it - in my experience it works! Basically, make the changes closer to the centre and they will be more long-lasting.
Applications in the workplace
"NLP could be the most important synthesis of knowledge about human communication to emerge since the sixties" Science Digest
There is no limit to where NLP, or parts of it, can be applied. From writing advertising copy to customer service people handling phone calls, managers motivating their people or sales people developing their skills to win over more customers, the limits are within the mind of the users.
Although NLP has many "direct" business applications, I believe that its most powerful use is for individuals to improve their self-awareness and to develop greater skills in their self-management, communication and interpersonal dealings. It can help improve their Emotional Intelligence. The 5 Pillars of NLP (expanded from 4!) give a good indication of what it is. Outcome thinking, sensory acuity, flexibility, rapport and state management, cover what the key elements are - and offer a caveat about the potential for jargon! Taking each of these:
Outcome thinking: - being clear about what you want to achieve, the aims or goals that you want. This can cover long, medium and short-term outcomes. Fundamentally, it is about doing things for a reason.
Sensory acuity: - paying attention to what is happening and the signals you are receiving. The better you can become at this, noticing changes in voice tone, small shifts in body language, the actual words people are using or even eye movements, the more you can understand the other person and how tune into them. (Those of you who are familiar with the concept of "eye accessing cues" and "representational systems" may like to know that in strict research terms they do not score highly as predictors. However, it does pay to improve our ability to pay attention to others!)
Flexibility: - "If you continue to do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got". If something is not working - do anything else! We can become creatures of habit, yet good communicators and influencers are those who have developed more habits so that are not stuck in particular ways of operating.
Rapport: - the ability to develop a sense of mutual understanding, to tune into the other person and they feel as though you are on their wavelength. This does not have to equate to liking each other.
State management: - taking control of your own emotions, responses and attitudes. The start point for this is to accept responsibility for these, and then to recognise what you can do to generate the "state" you want for the context.
By using a number of the tools within each of these, we can find ways to enhance our own skills in working with others or shift our attitudes within ourselves. For me, this is the start point for using NLP and not just acquiring some tools and techniques to use on others!
Management and leadership
Many organisations use SMART as their approach to setting goals and objectives. How effectively does this work? There is a technique within NLP which is referred to as "chunking" or "stepping up and down" which can be very useful - and does not have to be mutually exclusive to SMART. For many people the SMART goal is not compelling or motivating in itself for various reasons. It may seem too big or far away and all they can see are potential problems. It could be that it is not giving enough of a challenge or payoff. By "moving" the goal it is possible to both make it compelling and to create an action plan for getting started and working towards it. The fundamental process is shown in the figure and might look very simple. It is, and it is also very powerful, especially when the manager resists the temptation to make suggestions.
There are many aspects of NLP which are very useful for dealing with others. For managers and leaders, these can be beneficial when coaching their team members, getting teams to work together, creating and communicating the way forward and enabling them to be more motivated. Going beyond those for a change, there are some really useful tools for handling problem-solving challenges or managing change. The good thing with these, is that they can be used alongside more conventional management tools and add strength to a managers skills-set. Combining these with attention to the specific words and language can lead to insights for moving forward or overcoming problems. An example would be to use an approach called "SCORE ". It is worth adding here, that many NLP approaches work more effectively when "experiential" rather than conceptual. In this case, putting bits of paper on the floor and moving around them encourages different thinking, despite moving some managers outside their comfort zones!
SCORE is not highly complex - and goes through:
- S - ymptoms What is happening right now which we want/need to change?
- C - auses What are the reasons for this? Which are the key ones?
- O - outcomes What do we want to have instead of the present situation?
- R - esources What do we have available (people, skills, or whatever)?
- E - cology Will the outcomes, and using the resources, fit our culture?
(Sorry, there had to be some jargon for it to be an NLP approach!)
Sales and negotiation
This is probably an area where many organisations feel that NLP can make a difference and, indeed it can. Certainly the range of communication and interpersonal tools can be very beneficial when added to a sellers armoury. Mind you, many top sellers are probably using these without even knowing that they are NLP! Do remember, the majority of NLP tools are not novel. They have been developed by breaking down what excellent people do and presenting it back as stand-alone tools or techniques.
The obvious start with sales development is to widen peoples ability to get into rapport quickly, especially with the more "difficult" prospects. This can be achieved in a number of ways. The fundamental idea of matching and pacing (ie, being like the other) is an area which does encourage the "manipulative" label. It is something we all do naturally when we feel in rapport with another - just look around you at work or outside. How many people do you notice who appear to be mirroring each other or moving as though choreographed? However, it is useful to be aware of how you can use this, especially when you sense that you are "out of synch" with someone. Care is needed though, as clumsy matching and mirroring will come across as insincere.
Another thing that can be very useful for sellers is to use the "alignment" model mentioned earlier. I have found that helping people to make sure their "identity" fits with the job empowers them. From here, a significant aspect is to address peoples beliefs and to bring out any limiting beliefs they may have. It is difficult to sell with integrity if you have limiting beliefs about your product or service, or the organisation - or if you are being asked to do anything which conflicts with your values. When using this with a group of potential sellers in a bank in Saudi Arabia we were able to help some change their beliefs and become very successful whilst one or two who did not want to and felt their values were being challenged were better suited to being moved to other roles.
When these areas are aligned, the sellers can also be helped by learning to manage their state. They have to be able to be handle themselves in a variety of situations and often operate in a relatively isolated way. Knowing how to reconnect to a positive or confident state (or whatever they need) is a great asset.
Understanding how to put yourself into anothers shoes can be another plus for sellers, or negotiators. Not only does it reinforce rapport, it can help when putting together the sales case and making sure that your offer matches their requirements. Learning something about language and language patterns can be useful. It can improve questioning skills and, as you get the answers, it will increase your understanding of their real issues, concerns and wants. There is even the option of learning to be "artfully vague" and starting to use hypnotic language and suggestion, although the ethics around this might be questionable!!
Most sellers are familiar with the idea of finding buying motives and hot buttons and suchlike. Well, NLP has another approach that can give you an even more powerful way of doing this. You can even find out things about the way prospects make buying decisions that they dont even know! From this, you can present your sales case using the appropriate language to increase your chances of success. There is a whole area around "meta-programmes" which can benefit you here. A commonly used way of working with these is from Language and Behaviour Profiling. For example, in conversation you can establish whether someone prefers to make buying decisions for themselves or do they seek reassurance from others. Think about how that can help with the presentation. (The question is "How do you know when you have made a good buying decision?")
For sellers and negotiators learning to "reframe" can be important in many situations. Handling objections or blocks can be made easier with this. Another time it is useful can be dealing with internal functions and their own bosses!
Customer Service
Whether people are handling customers on the phone or face to face, they are often having to deal with varying degrees of irritation or anger.
Learning
to manage their own state can be really important! Also, developing the ability to not only look at things from the customers situation but also from a more objective, dispassionate view can help to smooth things over and to focus on solutions.
Getting rapport quickly is key for this role. If training people on the phone, getting them to learn to match voice tone, volume and speed can be a great asset. They can diffuse anger and complaints quickly. Developing their listening skills to calibrate the changes in tone or pitch, or to pick up specific words can not only help them resolve issues more quickly, it can also improve their enjoyment of the job.
Using good questioning to change the state of the customer can help. Shifting them from a complaint frame to focusing on the outcome they want can benefit everyone and take the heat out of things. There are various options to achieve this and good customer service people are practising many of them anyway!
Summary
This has only scratched the surface of where NLP can help in the business world. There are so many examples of where it has helped. Encouraging top teams to work together more efficiently and creating a clear vision for the organisation. Doctors have been known to use certain language patterns to help their patients recover more quickly and with less need for medication. As a personal effectiveness tool, learning to change or adapt limiting beliefs can help you manage your time more effectively. Recognising what are your own values and their priorities can help you to handle pressure better and be more resistant to stress. Understanding your own language preferences can help you to become more flexible in presenting your messages, formally or informally, to appeal to a wider audience more of the time.
I can go on and on. There are ways NLP can harm your business too. The saying, "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" springs to mind"! Just being familiar with one or two concepts can do more harm than good. On the other hand you do not have to have everyone becoming Practitioners or beyond. What does make NLP useful is when it becomes part of everyday life and work - and not just a toolkit to delve into. As with anything in life, whatever aspects or tools are implemented will be most useful when used with "unconscious competence" - and this means learning the fundamentals, practising them and sticking in there until they just happen.
Yes, there are charlatans out there. Some will promise to train your organisation, your sales team, your trainers or whoever in a couple of days. Hmmm, beware! They can give a flavour only. In my opinion, NLP is a great thing when used with integrity and becomes a part of the way you operate. It is not an answer for every circumstance, nor can it be forced upon anyone. It can be fun to learn more. It can help your business or organisation in more ways than you can imagine. It can help to change your own life - and improve it, if that is what you want.
Suggested reading:
- Words that Change Minds - Shelle Rose Charvet, ISBN: 0-7872-3479-6
- NLP Business Masterclass - David Molden, ISBN: 0- 273- 650165
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