The NLP Induction
Essentially NLP allows you to be more effective in your work with clients, enabling them to change more readily. Using NLP facilitates behavioural change – usually lifestyle changes such as exercising more and eating more healthily – by enabling your client to address any negative beliefs they might have which cause them to sabotage their efforts despite all their good intentions. Put very simply, what NLP allows you to do, is to work with your client’s mind, not just their body – a skill which I know you will recognise as invaluable, both for yourself, and for your client. Once clients believe in themselves and have only positive thoughts that support them, they will reach their goals. With NLP – and there are a variety of techniques that you can learn – you can help your clients achieve this state of being. While you can gain a considerable amount of knowledge by reading articles and text books there is no substitute for taking an experiential training in NLP if you want to learn how, when and with whom to use specific techniques. However, the first step in getting to understand when a particular technique will be effective is simply knowing your clients better – and this is a process you can begin, without attending a course, by developing your sensory acuity, working on your rapport skills, and being more flexible in your approach.* And there is no better time to start communicating more effectively than when you first meet a client - there are 6 key areas where you can easily introduce some fundamental NLP concepts and skills as you work through an induction.
1) Exercise History
When gathering information about your client’s exercise history, the focus needs to turn to what has worked in the past, and what is working for them now, rather than allowing them to become preoccupied by what is not working. They need to delete their thoughts of their various past ‘failures’, by letting go. Make sure that what you have to offer them is different and assure them that they are no longer caught in the pattern of repeating something that hasn’t worked before. Remind them – if what you are doing isn’t working, do something different.
2) Outcomes
a) Use the Well Formed Outcome Model to establish the client’s goals, which should be
1. Stated in the Positive
“What do you want?”
“What will that do for you?”
2. Demonstrable in Sensory Experience – Evidence Procedure
“How will you know when you have got it?”
“What will you be seeing when you have got it?”
“What will you be hearing when you have got it?”
“What will you be feeling when you have got it?”
“What will I see you doing when you have got it?”
“What will I hear you saying when you have got it?”
3. Started and Maintained by You
“Can you start and maintain this outcome?”
4. Appropriately Contextualised
“When, where and with whom do you want it?”
“When, where and with whom do you not want it?”
“How long for?”
5. Maintain the Current Positive Byproducts
“What do I get out of my current behaviour, that I would wish to preserve?”
6. Ecology Check
“Is it worth the cost to you?”
“Is it worth the time it is going to take?”
“Is this outcome in keeping with your sense of self?”
An ecology check ensures that your desired outcome is something that will really work for you. Any such check needs to monitor whether you are completely happy with the change and the consequences it will have for you and your significant others.
b) Cross check with SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timed)
In order to help clients shift their thinking you will need to persuade them and demonstrate to them that they can literally change their minds and do things differently. Change doesn’t have to be difficult, it can be quick and lasting. You will need to encourage them to get very clear about and focus on what it is they want, because you get what you concentrate on. Their task is to focus on how they will be when have achieved their outcome because this gives the unconscious mind a description of where it needs to take them. The nervous system is unable to differentiate between a real and an imaginary experience - consequently when a client stops giving themselves a hard time and shifts their focus from what is wrong or missing, or what they don’t want, to what they do want, they will begin to feel better. The unconscious mind will let go of out of date negative patterns and adopt the behaviour which matches their new ‘image’ - the more clearly thought out and distinctive your clients’ goals are, the more actively they will pursue them.
3) Establish clients beliefs and values, sense of self
It is vitally important to assess your client’s beliefs about how they rate their chances of success, and to establish whether they believe change is possible? Your challenge as a Fitness Professional will never be greater than when a client has a limiting belief around change; some clients just don’t believe they can reach their goals and have plenty of evidence to support their belief. They have been here before but unfortunately never got the T Shirt; as far as they are concerned they have 'failed’. Remember and explain to your clients there is no failure, only feedback.
They need to be reassured that they have everything they need within them to reach their goals. It is also crucial to find out whether they have any issues at the level of identity, that is, to establish whether the client has a negative self image. Listen out for statements that suggest the following - when talking about their goals clients may wonder whether they can do it (belief), whether it is worth it (value), that is whether it is keeping with their beliefs and values.
Beliefs govern much of our behaviour, so the most effective way to change behaviour is often to change beliefs. Changing habits, for example is easier for the client when they realise that they are no longer part of their self-image. When a change in behaviour is backed by a change in beliefs and values, and a more complete sense of self they will outgrow habits effortlessly.
4) Readiness
People are both put off by change, and put off change. They tend to associate it with discomfort, particularly when it involves exercise and/or dietary changes. They can also feel threatened by change, and it can pose a threat to their significant others. Consequently finding the motivation to take action and maintain lifestyle changes can be a challenge.
So how do we persuade them to overcome resistance to change, take action and do what they want to do, which translates as, how do we motivate our clients? Asking them WHY they want to change is a key question and a great place to start. Different individuals are motivated in different ways; they may be disgusted at their own behaviour eg smoking, and want to move away from their current state. If their experience is one of discomfort, the unconscious mind, as it seeks to avoid pain, will try to steer them away from that discomfort. However for people motivated in this way it becomes a matter of willpower; their focus is on the unwanted behaviour which makes it harder to override brains old instruction, to seek pleasure in the habit, and it is all too easy to slip back into the status quo. This leads to the frustrating experience of habits seeming impossible to break even when we want to.
Other clients are motivated by wanting to move towards something better, for example wanting to look or feel different. Their attempts to adopt a new healthier behaviour will be more successful as their natural way of doing things is to focus on where they are going. Your task is to identify what motivates your client, are they an ‘away from’ or ‘towards’ person. If they are an ‘away from’, capitalise on their natural tendency in the first instance to get them started and then encourage them to shift their thinking to the latter.
5 Co-Design Programme
What you also need to consider however is whether your client feels that they should change rather than actually wanting to, as this will necessarily lead to an internal conflict.
Whenever you can, try and discourage your clients from using the words should, ought to, must, have to…. in fact, think about making it your mission to eradicate these words from your language and lead by example. Of course, there is sometimes a case for ‘needing to do something’ in terms of health and fitness where a de-conditioned client’s health is compromised, but generally speaking, want, rather than should, is more motivating.
Suggest that your client chooses their own action phrase - for example, I could, I am going to, I might. The latter is particularly useful as it simply allows for the possibility of change, and is therefore less threatening. Increasing the choice for your client in this way, by giving them the option of exercising or not, puts them in a stronger position, gives them more control and increases the likelihood of action. Choice is better than no choice.
This may well require a real shift in your own thinking as standard practice in the Fitness Industry enforces the idea that we must exercise - rather than being prescriptive about exercise, demonstrate some behavioural flexibility, put the ball in your client’s court. Give them options, increase choice, and let them call the shots – let them choose their goals and how to get there. Essentially, this is the difference between instructing and coaching.
6 ) Contract
Finally what we suggest you do before moving on to using the actual techniques is to get your client to sign on the dotted line. Ultimately what turns the dream into reality is a decision and nothing focuses the mind on an outcome like putting it in writing.
Perhaps you would like to put your commitment to your client in writing too – this is standard practice in Life Coaching.
Finally, remember; one of your objectives during The NLP Induction is to gather as much information about your client as possible; however, don’t stop once the induction is done – it is an on going process!
Coaching Tips Summary
Ask powerful questions
1 Exercise History
What have you tried before?
Why do you think it didn’t work?
What did work?
What is working now?
persuade your client to shift their focus to what has and is working, and let go of their ‘failures’
2 Outcomes
Can you tell me why exactly you are here?
How can I best serve you?
What questions do you need me to ask you so that you can tell me what you want?
persuade your client to focus on what they want, not what they don’t want
3 Logical levels
How do you rate your chances of success?
Do you believe that change is possible?
identify the underlying thought patterns
clarify whether to intervene at the behavioural or belief level
look for the change that will have the most leverage, that is, the change that will give the greatest result
4 Readiness
Are you ready for this change?
Why do you want this change?
Do you know what to expect?
identify whether your clients are motivated by moving away from or towards a goal
start thinking about the types of obstacles/resistance your clients experience when they are considering making a change.
5 Co-Design Program
Where do we go from here?
How do we get there?
What’s going to work for you?
coach rather than instruct, be less prescriptive
increase choice, give options.
let client decide pace and direction.
6 Contract
Ask your client if they would like to be held accountable to take action, daily, weekly, monthly
remind clients to get focussed and committed….it is action that generates success
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