Table Of Content

N L P COACHING THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK ii N L P COACHING AnÊevidence-basedÊapproachÊforÊ coaches,ÊleadersÊandÊindividuals SusieÊLinder-Pelz Publisher’s note Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book is accurate at the time of going to press, and the publishers and authors cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused. No responsibility for loss or damage occasioned to any person acting, or refraining from action, as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by the editor, the publisher or any of the authors. First published in Great Britain and the United States in 2010 by Kogan Page Limited Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permi�ed under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmi�ed, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licences issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned addresses: 120 Pentonville Road 525 South 4th Street, #241 4737/23 Ansari Road London N1 9JN Philadelphia PA 19147 Daryaganj United Kingdom USA New Delhi 110002 www.koganpage.com India © Susie Linder-Pelz, 2010 The right of Susie Linder-Pelz to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. ISBN 978 0 7494 5452 4 E-ISBN 978 0 7494 5907 9 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Linder-Pelz, Susie, 1948– NLP coaching : an evidence-based approach for coaches, leaders and individuals / Susie Linder-Pelz. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7494-5452-4 1. Neurolinguistic programming. 2. Employees–Coaching of. 3. Executive coaching. 4. Personal coaching. I. Title. BF637.N46L57 2010 158’.9–dc22 2009035458 Typeset by JS Typese�ing Ltd, Porthcawl, Mid Glamorgan Printed and bound in India by Replika Press Pvt Ltd Contents Acknowledgements vii Introduction 1 What is NLP? 2; Questions this book addresses 5; Who is this book for? 8; My researcher-practitioner perspective 8; Mind the gap 9; Outline of chapters 10 Part 1 NLP and coaching 1 What is NLP coaching? 15 A bit of background 16; The goal of NLP coaching 17; Modelling is the key 18 2 Catching a coach at work 21 The skills an NLP coach uses 21 3 The ‘magic’ of NLP 40 Invisible glue 40; Five faces of organizational coaching 41; Coaching issues 43 4 Meeting industry standards 52 NLP coaching vs NLP practice 52; Packaging NLP coaching 53; Meeting professional coaching standards 55 5 Shi�ing paradigms 58 Science and post-modernist inquiry 58; Humanistic and positive psychology 60; Convergence of neuroscience and psychology 62 vi CONTENTS Part 2 An evidence-based approach to NLP coaching 6 Best practice is evidence-based 67 What does evidence-based mean? 67; Theories, principles and presuppositions 68; Nine systemic principles 70 7 Systemic principles with psychological overlay 73 Roots in psychology and support from neuroscience 74; Unsubstantiated aspects of NLP 93 8 Links to psychology 95 Links to other coaching psychology approaches 95; Distinctive and shared practices 99; More on mindfulness 101; Is NLP really ‘atheoretical’? 102 9 Empirical evidence 103 The historical role of research in NLP 103; The verdict so far 106; Yin and yang in coaching research 108; The case for mixed methods 111; Conclusion to Part 2 112 Part 3 Towards best practice 10 Building on NLP coaching 117 Symbolic Modelling and Clean Language 117; Theoretical origins 120; Principles 122; Methodology 123; Practice 125; Meta-Coaching 127; Meta-level principles 128; The Meta-States model 129; The Axes of Change Model 131; The Meta-Coaching methodology 133; Case study in career development 135; What do these approaches add? 137 11 Working as a practitioner-researcher 139 Findings from a small practice 139; Calling for good research questions 141; How NLP coaching works 142; Impact studies: Does it work? 143; Comparisons with other approaches 145; Visioning the ‘gold standard’ 147; Rigour and vigour 149 12 Benchmarking and evaluating competencies 151 Competency-based NLP coach training 151; From modelling to benchmarking 152; Benchmarking NLP skills in organizations 156; Research-mindedness 159 Conclusion 162 Endnotes 165 Bibliography 213 Index 228 Acknowledgements Several colleagues provided valuable information and insights for this book and I acknowledge each of them in the body of the text. In addition, I thank Andrew Bryant, Michelle Duval, Joseph O’Connor, Paul Tosey and Lisa Wake for their wri�en contributions. And I am very grateful to Lisa, Michelle and Paul, as well as to Michael Hall and James Lawley, for taking the time to give me feedback on parts of the manuscript. I dedicate this book to my wonderfully supportive partner, family and friends. THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK viii Introduction Coaching is big business because of its potential to change people and organizations. To achieve personal fulfilment and organizational effective- ness, people and teams o�en need to change existing behaviours and take on new ones – such as greater flexibility, ability to deal with conflict and to renew creativity. Individuals and teams need not only to see and feel the desire to change, they need to actually know how to change. Many organizations try to reduce or control [the complexity that is a fabric of our working lives] and this simply isn’t possible. It’s not about tackling complexity but more a case of understanding what it means for how we work to develop people and organizations.1 Traditional notions of learning – to define outcomes and then design content and processes in order to get there – no longer work with personal, leadership and organizational development. Meaningful learning occurs when human resource professionals step back and make space for people to make sense of their own experience. Coaching is a collaborative process of facilitating a client’s ability to self- direct learning and growth, as evidenced by sustained changes in self- understanding, self-concept and behaviour.2