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

❏ Find out how someone structures their thinking to achieve

what they do.

❏ Elicit the unconscious (and therefore taken for granted)

ways of thinking that make the difference in the results we

achieve.

❏ Do an inner benchmarking of excellence rather than relying

only on external behavior.

❏ Deduce the values and beliefs behind someone’s behavior.

❏ Recognize other people’s different emotional states.

By developing our sensitivity to body language signals we can

tell when someone has changed the way they are thinking. We

can begin to determine what strategies they are using when

they are achieving what they want and when they are not.

I was talking with someone about their goals for their work and

their life. This person talked about two goals. The first was a

goal they had been given in their work. As she talked about this

her face was pale, her lips were taut, and she sat forward with

her shoulders hunched. Then she talked about a goal that she

had to travel and work in Canada. The moment she began to

think about this her face flushed slightly, her shoulders dropped,

the muscles of her face relaxed, and she began to move her

arms in a fluid, easy way as she gestured while she spoke.

What we established (with not too much difficulty) was that

when she was thinking about her work goals she was very much

into problem thinking, concentrating on what she had to do and

what she ought to do. She was also dissociated in her thinking

as she did this. When she thought about her goals for working

in Canada, she immediately imagined herself there doing the

kind of work she really wanted. She was thinking about this in

an associated way; she could see it as if she were looking

through her own eyes and hearing it through her own ears.

Most important of all, she was feeling what it was like to be

there. The body signals she was evidencing for the second goal

were characteristic of what was, for her, compelling motivation.

Most people have two key characteristic states: one when they

are aligned and in touch with their unique skills and attitudes,

and one when they are out of touch with who they are and their

68 NLP AT WORK

Nonverbal patterns