NLP Benefits - Phil Jones
The Benefits of NLP - Discussion between Michael Beale and Phil Jones, Business Consultant September 2007.
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http://www.ppimk.com/nlp-podcast/phil.mp3
Michael: Hi Phil. Would you please introduce yourself?
Phil: I'm a management consultant and I've been doing that for about 15 - 18 years in various forms. I specialize in business strategy and performance management, particularly around the balanced score card. And a great deal of what I do is not just the hard part of strategy and performance management -- the processes, the technique and the like, but the soft part -- the thinking, the relationships, the culture, how you make strategy actually happen, and how people think about it and talk about it.
Michael: What is the typical profile of your clients?
Phil: It's usually the Chief Executive, it can be anything -- public sector, private sector; they will usually be a reasonably large corporate. They could be mid size FTSE 100, or International companies. I've worked with FTSE 350s, sole traders, family-owned businesses, city councils, NHS, all sorts of businesses. It's usually the chief executive who is saying, "I need to sort out performance and strategy. Help me sort it out."
Michael: How would you describe your experience with NLP?
Phil: I first encountered NLP probably about 8 to 10 years ago. A lady called Sue Knight appeared on a one-day training course when I was in my KPMG days. She did a session on handling difficult people and I said "Hmm, this is interesting." I happened to resign that day from KPMG, and it wasn't related! (Laughs) I have done my Practitioner and Master Practitioner, and I run an NLP practice group in Cambridge. I've actively tried to use NLP for roughly six, eight, nine years. In 1999 I did Practitioner, and 2004 and 2005 I did Master.
Michael: Following on from that, how do you actually use NLP in your work?
Phil: I don't! (Laughs) I do, but I don't tell people I do.
Michael: What do you actually do?
Phil: A lot of the elements of NLP are about modelling and increasing awareness, and understanding how communication is going on, rather than the techniques like coaching and the like. So a lot of what I am doing with NLP is helping people think differently and uncovering the elements of communication problems that they may be having. So a typical example: I'm in a management team meeting, they are talking about their strategy and perhaps one of them will put a really heavy normalization in. I'll simply say, "So when you say that, what do you mean?" using a meta model pattern.
Michael: Can you give an example of normalization?
Phil: OK. A great normalization is everyone thinks of a dog. You ask people what particular dog it is, and they'll go: Retriever, small Spaniel, puppy, Labrador... The normalisation is actually in a way a generalisation. They are using a general word for some thing, the same way consultants use a broad catch-all in coaching.
Michael: You get them to expand on something they have a "box word" for.
Phil: Correct. "Box word" is a good phrase for what they are doing. Jargon should happen between consenting adults in private. And quite often jargon appears and they haven't become consenting adults. So one use that's extremely powerful is simply: "What do you mean by strategy in this context?" Using that question, I've got 16 different uses of the word strategy. That's not strategies, that's different ways people use it.
Michael: It's around asking good questions. How else do you use NLP?
Phil: Yes, it's around asking good questions, it's also about helping people think better. I have a new way of doing client interviews. I'm looking for the length of time it takes them to answer because that tells me they're thinking and I've asked them something deep. Another good example: if I am doing future thinking I'll explicitly get them to be in the future as if they are there, and look around there, which is a classic future NLP positioning.
Full Interview transcript:
Phil Jones Interview
Phil Jones Interview
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