Use anchors with integritySTEPS FOR ANCHORING
A RESOURCEFUL STATE
IN A MEETING
Can you imagine how different performance appraisals would
be if managers were measured by the state in which they left
their staff at the end of the discussion?
The examples of anchoring we used earlier in this section,
e.g., touch, aren't so available in a business setting. It isn't
always part of the culture to touch others in this way. It is
necessary to be a little more creative with the anchors you use
to enable others to access resourceful states.
Examples of anchors you can use in business are:❏ A word or words that you would not use regularly in
conversation, said with a specific volume and tonality.
❏ Use of space. This can be employed to good effect in a
presentation, where you can anchor different information
and responses to you by standing or moving to different
parts of the room.
❏ A posture or movement that you would not naturally make
in discussion.My experience is that using anchors in this way only works if
you use them with integrity, in a way that fits with other
people's outcomes. I believe that if you attempt to use them
manipulatively, in a way that is out of line with the other
person's outcomes, that other person will sense this, often
intuitively, and subsequently block it.1 Identify the state you want to anchor in the other person
that will support the achievement of your mutual outcomes.
This might, for example, be a state of confidence,
decisiveness, or happiness.
2 Decide what anchor you will use, a particular word or a
specific gesture or posture that can be noticed by them in
some way (very likely unconsciously).
3 When the other person naturally demonstrates the desired
state, use your anchor. You will probably need to do this
four or five times.
4 If the discussion gets to a stage when this state would be
valuable and is not naturally occurring, fire your anchor.
Notice what happens. If you have been successful in setting
the anchor, then the other person will demonstrate the state.198 NLP AT WORK