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

True beliefs

likely to facilitate their staff's development through

questioning and coaching rather than by telling them what

to do.

❏ People make the best choice available to them at the

time that they make it. This does not mean that you have

to accept the choice they made. However, leaders who do

hold this belief will be more understanding in the way they

deal with a jobholder who has made a mistake.

❏ There is no failure, only feedback. Imagine a company in

which all the employees held this belief. It would be an

organization with a climate of total honesty, openness, and

learning. This is the key to performance improvement.

❏ The meaning of the communication is its effect. For

communication you could substitute leadership—the

meaning of the way you lead your staff is the results they

achieve. If your team is performing well, that is a statement

about your leadership. Equally, if your team is performing

badly, this is also a measure of your ability to lead. The

second part of this belief runs: “If what you are doing isn't

working, do something different.” This is a useful point to

bear in mind and act on if your appraisal system isn't

achieving what you want it to achieve.

It is valuable to have all the beliefs of excellence. The ones

above are those that seem to have the most relevance in a

world of change. A company needs to be clear about the

beliefs on which it is founded. But there is no value in paying

lipservice to this: The beliefs you want as the foundation for

your business must be those that are truly held by everyone

in the business. One of the most valuable things a top team

can do is to explore the actual beliefs held by the

management team and decide if these are the ones that

support their future vision. If they don’t, start challenging them

and the people who hold them.

As someone in one of the big financial consultancies said

when asked what would happen to the people who did not

fully share its newly published values and beliefs, “You are

either living them, learning them or leaving.”

256 NLP AT WORK