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

In the earlier example, when the manager asked “How can I

coach people to come to the right conclusion?” he was

presupposing that:

❏ There is a conclusion.

❏ There is a right conclusion.

❏ He has a right to coach people.

❏ He can coach people.

❏ He has the right to coach people to come to a right

conclusion.

This is powerful language when used by communicators who

presuppose what they don’t want questioned. Often the

communicator does not realize what they are presupposing

(especially when they are unaware or unskilled in the use of

these patterns). Learning about presuppositions can help us

to discover what control we are holding on to and what choices

we might be able to let go.

As I was writing this chapter I became aware of an outcome that I

had set myself, to decide which option of two key opportunities I

was going to take for my future. I realized that I had presupposed

that it had to be one or the other. With just this realization I

discovered that the way forward for me was to believe that it did

not have to be one or the other but could be both.

Some more examples of sentences and questions that contain

presuppositions:

❏ You might wonder who is going to volunteer for this project.

❏ Do you want to sit down while we go through this report?

❏ You might ask yourselves which department will achieve

their target first.

❏ How can I delegate in such a way that we devolve

ownership in the business?

Some traditional sales closes include presuppositions, for

example: “Do you want to place the order now or later this

week?” For me this is an example of inappropriate and

outdated use of presuppositions. One of the factors that

118 NLP AT WORK

We can discover what control

we are holding on to