Programming business minds

The ongoing crisis has taken a toll not just on businesses but on business leaders and professionals as well. However, it is imperative for everyone to remain motivated and engaged and neuro linguistic programming, or NLP as it is more popularly know as, is one of the ways to do it.

NLP, a behavioural technology, which is believed to lead to greater self-confidence and self-esteem, is being used these days as an effective management tool, both globally and in the UAE.

Recently, Careertunity, a job portal, held a NLP seminar at the Atlantis hotel for heads of corporates, HR departments and professionals and Emirates Business was at hand to find out what it was all about.

The key speaker of the seminar, Ranjan De Silva, leadership and team development consultant and partner at Sensei, who is an NLP expert, talked about methods to train the mind and use language which can enhance positive thoughts, feeling and demeanours as these are keys to one's success.

Talking about the benefits of NLP for business leaders and organisations, De Silva said: "NLP is a very powerful tool for stress management and has been widely recognised for its positive effects on personal and organisational development. NLP techniques are designed to help people set clear goals and define realistic strategies, subsequently improving effectiveness, productivity and thereby profitability.

"NLP offers substantial advantages to people performing most roles in organisations, including directors and executives, managers at all levels, sales people, administrators, engineering and technical staff, customer care operatives, receptionists, secretarial staff, trainers, and HR and counselling staff."

De Silva said NLP allows people to change, adopt or eliminate behaviours, as they desire, and gives them the ability to choose their mental, emotional and physical wellbeing.

With NLP, people learn how to grow from every single life experience, negative or positive, thus increasing their ability to create a better quality of life. NLP is based on the ability to produce the results desired by an individual, thus allowing them to become proficient at creating their future.

De Silva said: "NLP helps you develop a genuine understanding of the value of excellent communication in all walks of life – and the skills with which to achieve this. NLP training leads to greater self-confidence and self-esteem. It helps many people clarify their direction in life and gives them the skills to achieve more of their potential. NLP training makes you aware of the importance of knowing yourself, and enables you to become more congruent. You greatly enhance your ability to listen to others and utilise analysing and questioning skills to find out what is really meant.

"This in turn leads to better communication and fewer misunderstandings. You are able to get on with and understand a wider variety of people than you normally would."

Going into the benefits of NLP for businesses and employers and bosses during the current downturn, De Silva said: "When we talk about employee engagement in this part of the world, we should always factor in cultural diversity and use the tool accordingly.

"NLP equips us with multiple tools, use of which can result in better productivity by employees. It is for us to decide on the use of relevant tools given the diverse cultural context here. So, employers need to be innovative in their approach to better understand their staff and respond accordingly as a happy employee will invariably be more creative and productive, which is vital in today's troubled business environment.

"Staff these days are terrified about what is happening around them and when you as a business leader will communicate better with the staff and tell them more clearly what is really happening within the organisation they will be more reassured and concentrate better on their job. It helps to talk clearly to the staff and tell them where the organisation stands in the current economic situation."

De Silva said NLP is important for business leaders as they are able to build more fruitful business ties with a wider variety of people, which is very important in a place such as the UAE which has so many nationalities.

Business leaders then have greater success rates in both the planning and achievement of defined objectives, they are able to lead their people through periods of change by taking with them all of the positive by-products of the current situation, thus reducing resistance.

Also, by developing a greater awareness of how individuals are motivated, business leaders are able to enhance the performance of their organisation.

They prepare for and run more effective meetings, especially those that may involve conflict, which again is vital during these days of crisis, he said.

De Silva said: "For professionals, especially sales people, NLP is a great boon as it helps them put negative experiences that they have during their sales calls behind them, concentrate on the good things and helps them build a positive mindset so that they can get back to the task at hand and not be demoralised by rejections."

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