What is modelling?
If someone can do something then anyone can do it.
NLP emerged in the 1970's as a result of number of modeling projects conducted by Dr Richard Bandler and John Grinder. In order to accurately define what their subjects were doing Bandler, Grinder and others developed a new approach to modeling which encompassed internal processes as well as external behaviour.
In other words, NLP has found ways of making conscious the out-of-awareness behaviours, mental habits and beliefs of top performers, as well as defining a code for describing these processes. The result is called 'a model' and once specified, it can be learned by others as part of their quest to improve performance.
The general principles and methods of modeling are independent of the skill-set being modeled or the environment in which the modeling takes place. Thus the approach can be applied to almost any circumstance and is being used extensively in business, education, health, sports, personal development and other application areas.
In the twenty years following Bandler and Grinder's original formulation, the list of skills modeled in major organisations has expanded at an increasing rate and the NLP model of modeling has been refined and extended many times. Modeling projects undertaken range from very specific behaviours to highly general competencies and include:
Sales professionals, Safe Driving, Project Management, Futures Trading, Strategic Thinking, Creativity, Systemic Thinking, and Leadership Skills, are a few amongst a whole range of different other skills.
Unconscious Competence
So, what is modeling excellence based on?
Each of us has a particular set of strategies which enables us to function effectively in an organisation. These repetitive sequences of internal and external behaviour include strategies for delegating, learning and teaching, motivation, creativity, decision making and a thousand other functions. Yet these skills are most often acquired by unconscious trial and error, and, because they are not obtained explicitly we have little idea of how to transfer them to others.
What is more, people may succeed magnificently using one particular strategy for a certain function (defining company policy, for example) whilst seriously underachieving when they attempt to apply the same strategy elsewhere (explaining those polices).
When you ask people who are really excellent, 'How do you do it?' the most common response is, 'I don't really know' or 'I just ... sort of ... do it and everything happens naturally.' This is typical of 'unconscious competence'. By the end of the modeling project the person being modeled invariably says 'Well, I never realised that's what I do' and often they will add 'I thought everyone did it that way!'
Even a little modeling will show that people often use widely different internal processing strategies, and this accounts for the gap between mediocre and top performers. Most strategies, once they are made explicit, can be easily learned or modified to accomplish organisational or personal goals.
So modeling is the study of excellence, finding out why someone is excellent at a particular skill. A highly effective process of finding why and how excellence is generated. Modeling is one of the most efficient methods of improving and transferring excellence. One of the interesting things to note is that whilst there may be generalities, each industry, company, and team will have unique reasons why and how excellence is achieved.
Many people confuse modeling with time and motion studies; the two could not be further apart. Time and motion concentrate's purely on the actions. Modeling elicits the detailed thinking processes that cause the actions to happen, the 'why's' and the 'how's' if you will. The two are clearly separated in terms of the quality of the information and the results they achieve. One seeks to save time and reduce costs, the other deals with excellence, replicating, and multiplying success.
Modeling concentrates on the core thinking processes.
A core principle is 'if someone can do something well then anybody can do it' in order that this becomes a reality, first we must understand how someone is excellent.
By clearly understanding how a person thinks and acts in order to achieve excellence, two clear advantages are derived.- Once someone knows and understands how they are excellent they can then do more of it, and therefore become more successful.
- The same successful process can be shared with others in the team to raise production/productivity and profitability, whilst at the same time reducing stress, or attempting to reinvent the wheel all over again.
Modeling the best behaviours of the people in your organisations and then spreading that knowledge across others in similar roles can result in dramatic, consistent results quickly.
Using the advanced technology of NLP, (Neuro Linguistic Programming), we then embed this into the unconscious, so that change becomes natural and easy.
The next stage is equally powerful if not more so. Having now obtained the template of success, we then share it with the rest of the team so they to know how to create success and reduce stress. Importantly this core and important information is also available to any new members to the team.
This differs dramatically from traditional training - traditional training takes a generic set of skills and then attempts to put people into a mould.
Modeling works with both the conscious and unconscious minds so that behaviours and attuituides are changed for a more profitable less frustrating performance in the role. Old fashioned and traditional training is highly focused on only the conscious mind. Because modeling works with both parts of the mind people listen, understand and are compelled to change to a more successful way of operating.
To find out how modeling can help your business call us now on 01908 488 260 NOW or email us by clicking here.
