The Numbers Game

One of my favourite things about NLP is that it is very much a doing sport. We seek to steer clear at Practitioner and Master Practitioner level of unnecessary theory and over analysis of labels and NLP epistemology. (We do this at NLP Trainers Training) The intention behind this is when you can truly do NLP and successfully apply NLP to others and yourself you are then in a congruent position to firstly understand the theoretical concepts behind NLP and secondly pass them on to others in a Training setting. I class myself as good driver (those close to me may disagree) to successfully drive a car I do not need to know how every mechanism inside of the car works, how to build a car or the historical developments that occurred from the very first car that was built . I simply just need to know how to drive it; I guess I’m the equivalent of Practitioner level in car driving. If I was a formula one racing driver it would be a completely different story, it’s vital for an elite driver to be able to calibrate and understand the tiniest changes that occur during a grand prix to ensure high performance is continual throughout the race. To do this they need an advanced level of practical and theoretical understanding of the car in order to ensure it feels right as they travel at death defying speeds whilst the car is running as quick as it possibly can, this is a continual process over many years of practice. To continue my analogy you could class them at Trainer level. The same is relevant for many contexts ranging from NLP, golf, sales, swimming to name just a few. Learning theory before practical experience can have disastrous consequences such as the eccentric academic who read a book on swimming and on his first ever attempt to actually swim jumped of Brighton pier and promptly drowned, the sea takes no prisoners. This is why we stress the importance of coming to one of our courses and learning how to DO NLP so you can model, learn and make mis-takes in a safe environment before going out there and using this stuff where the results do matter and experience and options are key. Books won’t prepare you for this before practical experience. Get your experience first and then learn the theory, this way the theory makes sense as you have the associations to the patterning being presented based on experiences using it with others and personal experiences as well. The theory will then enhance your NLP practitioner skills and ready you for training others equipped with the WHY so that you can fully satisfy the conscious minds in your training room, but actually do this effectively so your students can benefit from your experience as a highly effective change agent, model you and then do this themselves with others successfully.

I’m very aware that I’ve called this article ‘The numbers game’ and I haven’t mentioned numbers at all , rest assured I’ll get there

For us at the Academy and ITA we set ourselves and our delegates a set of strict guidelines in how we carry ourselves professionally, the length of our courses and the competencies we expect of our students before certifying them. We never compromise our standards and the quality of our training’s for financial gain and marketability. Unfortunately elsewhere in the field of NLP standards have been breached, too many people have been certified as a NLP practitioner who were not ready to go out there and use the techniques safely and effectively. Consider the affect it would have on the practitioner and a vulnerable person working with an intimate and challenging context if the practitioner is not ready to do this piece of work, the results could be disastrous. As one of the head assessors here at the Academy training’s my conscience will not allow me to certify someone who I would feel uncomfortable sending a relative or close friend to. Tough boundaries! Each person you work with is someone’s son/daughter or maybe a mother/father, a wife/husband or loyal friend and we as a field need to ensure standards and quality are high to ensure there are no disastrous anomalies! With the ITA’s seal, John, Carmen, Michael signatures and ITA boundaries on course delivery you know, your clients know and we know you’re ready to go out there and put this stuff to use with very strong foundations behind you. Our practitioner runs over 13 days, our Masters is 11 days and our Trainers Training is 19 days of pure NLP. We teach no irrelevant content systems. 43 days of course time plus post course practice and tasks purely focused on NLP. We don’t offer quick fix NLP here it’s not our style our mission is to ensure you are well trained and to do that you need road time that’s what these intensive programs offer, practice makes permanent! We utilise a multitude of accelerated learning techniques to ensure this is locked in unconsciously so that NLP becomes an automatic reflex that is ingrained in you, when you reach that stage you’re living NLP, that’s when the most sublime applications occur. This is why we don’t compromise ourselves and in doing so attract others who share this outcome and then go out and apply NLP elegantly in every context they come across.

So that’s my take on things, how we do things here and our outcomes as a company. To be successful and reach mastery in anything takes hard work and dedication. We work hard and have dedicated ourselves over a number of years to reach mastery in training delivery, our lead trainers John, Michael and Carmen have over 80 years of collective experience applying, developing, teaching and coaching others in NLP, you can’t buy that kind of experience. Your own development is rapidly accelerated; you’ll learn the tricks of the trade and nuances immediately those otherwise take years to develop. More than that you’ll learn how to develop your own NLP patterns and work with us in a mutual partnership that can only enhance all of our experiences.

As always warmest of regards,

Jack