NLP At Work : The Difference That Makes the Difference in Business

these talks makes me stressed. I know what people in the
audience will think, they’ll think this is all obvious. They’ll want to
leave. I can’t relax. It will be the same experience all over again.”
We discovered a series of deletions, generalizations, and
distortions in his thinking. Over time we took each of these
statements and challenged them in the following way:

Bit by bit we unraveled the complex web he had spun for
himself. He gradually sorted out what he did want to achieve
and how he could manage himself to do that.
Three months later I received this letter from him:

Dear Sue,
I have just returned from giving a presentation in Paris. It was a
joy to do. I enjoyed the demonstrations and I particularly enjoyed
the questions I got from the audience. The hardware didn’t all
work perfectly but I used this as an opportunity to show how
quickly we could recover problems when they occur. You’ll be
pleased to know nobody left the presentation—at least not until
the end! Most of all in the weeks prior to the presentation I slept
well, in fact I think I can safely say my family were pleased to
have me around. This was not the case in the past. I actually

PRECISION QUESTIONS 103

His thinking
“These presentations never go well.”

“They expect me to manage the material and all
the technical demonstrations.”

“Giving these talks makes me feel stressed.”

“I know what people in the audience will
think, they’ll think this is all obvious, they’ll
want to leave.”
“I can’t relax. It will be the same experience all
over again.”

The challenges

Never? Has there ever been a time when one

did go well? How well specifically do you

want it to go? Which presentations

specifically don’t go well?

Who expects you to manage both? How exactly

do you want to be able to manage the

presentation? How do you know they expect

you to manage both?

How exactly does giving the talks cause you to

feel stressed? How do you want to feel?

How do you know that? How can you be sure?

What stops you from relaxing? What can you

do? How do you want to experience this

presentation? What would happen if you

did relax?