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

Sitting by Nellie

If we do what we always did,

we get what we always got

quote at the beginning of the chapter suggests, maybe our

ability to model is the key to a peaceful society.

In the business context, we need to be exploring previously

untapped resources. We need to learn from what every

individual has to offer. If we do what we always did we get what

we always got—a recipe for business suicide. So modeling

opens up a completely new world in how we recognize potential

and, more significantly, release it for the good of everyone.

Modeling can take many forms. Some of your most

fundamental skills will have been learned by modeling others.

Babies and young children are expert modelers. Only when

they start learning by more traditional methods do they begin

to lose this skill. Some traditional methods of schooling train

out of us our most natural learning talent. “Sitting by Nellie”

was the method by which many employees were taught to do

their work. This only worked well if Nellie was a model of

excellence or if the new employee was smart enough to know

what worked and what didn't. Unfortunately, it often resulted

in the reproduction of bad practice.

You can model anything; people are excellent in many

different spheres. You can, for example, have excellence in the

ability to:

❏ Generate commitment and respect.

❏ Motivate yourself and others.

❏ Sell and influence.

❏ Achieve a personal best in sport.

❏ Listen.

❏ Speak a language fluently.

❏ Communicate using the latest technology.

❏ Network.

❏ Lead and inspire.

Equally, you can have excellence in your ability to:

❏ Get depressed.

❏ Sulk.

❏ Lose your temper.

❏ Remain untouched by emotion.

❏ Procrastinate.

156 NLP AT WORK