NLP MP3

I have commented in recent times about how in some camps of NLP there is an increasing trend towards more and more hyped terms and titles. Almost everyone is a "super coach" "Master of X or Y" and beyond!

None of this IMO bodes well for NLP to be considered seriously in the public domain, which is a really missed opportunity and adds fuel to the argument that those make about NLP being little more than pyramid selling for courses with each company promoting themselves as "the premier" or "world class" trainers with very little (if no) real evidence for making such claims!

On my blog at http://www.nickkemp.com/blog/index.php I made the observation that many new NLPers in recent years have actually begun talking about certifications as actual qualifications, which to me at least seems a bit odd as in most instances there is no real testing of skills or common quality of standards! My hope is that common sense will eventually prevail and the current tougher economic climate will sort out a lot of this hype and nonsense. www.NLPmp3.com continues to promote the views of skilled trainers from across all schools of NLP and will continue to do so.

In recent times I have had a number of discussions with a number of different trainers who have all voiced the view that there is a decline in the popularity of NLP. Certainly workshop numbers are well down for many trainers and many presenters are offering 2 for 1 and 3 for 2 options. NLP Practitioner trainings are being offered at massive discounts and there are constant attempts to re market the same trainings with new titles.

It also seems that there is a serious outbreak of linguistic superlatives and a number of indvidualss leaping from being a humble trainer to a master trainer and (wait for it) a META master trainer! Of course titles and actual skill levels don't always coincide! Many of the NLP online groups also do very little to assist in making NLP credible as a set of skills and it seems that there is a new breed of quite unpleasant individuals online who have very fixed opinions and who rejoice in herd like activity and bullying online.

One glimmer of hope is the R and R project spearheaded bh Frank Bourke which is a call for genuine study and application. This is a far cry from some of the pyramid style selling of events and rather ludicrous claims made about NLP. Yes NLP can be a great set of tools when correctly used, but I know of a number of individuals who have not renewed certificates and quietly moved the focus of their business away from the specific brand that is NLP.

Frank is mentioned in Frogs into Princes where they describe "Frank Farrelly. . .is a really exquisite example of requisite variety."
In the late 1970s the Temple University Psychiatric Department held a conference, Analysing the Analyst, where Frank gave a number of demonstrations of his work. It was during this period that Richard Bandler and John Grinder began to take an interest in his ideas. In my view Farrelly and Milton are the primary influences on Bandler and having seen RB up close for many years as well as spending a great deal of time with Frank, it’s clear to me that without Frank, NLP would be quite different

Interestingly both of them have also continue to reference Frank in recent times as well and on http://www.nlpmp3.com I have Richard talking about Frank’s influence on NLP as well as interviewing Frank on his thoughts on Bandler and Grinder which is also available as a free download.

Frank created Provocative Therapy as far back as 1963 and then had his book of the same title published by Bandler’s Meta Publications in the 1970s after Bandler extensively videoed him and IMO took a great deal of Frank’s influence into creating what became NLP. Amazingly most NLPers are unaware of any of this and few have studied PT to see just how much of an influence Frank was, but then many NLPers attend a few weeks training to then claim to be "Master Practitioners!" Frank once commented "How could anyone be a master of anything in a few weeks?"

These days a lot of what passes for NLP is really IMO pretty embarassing with more of an emphasis on "entertainment" that learning. Frank continues to teach and it's a real breath of fresh air to learn an approach that is truly elegant and based on working in a very precise way of working with clients.

Increasingly more and more NLP training companies are trying to present themselves as "The UK's main NLP Training provider" I find it extraordinary that such blatant misrepresentations continue to manifest on the net and can only assume that this is another desperate attempt to attract the public to courses!

Alongside the craziness of NLP based newsgroups and attempts at "regulation bodies" which offer no real benefits, this kind of behaviour is a dreadful advert for the field of NLP.

Ok, now I have your attention with the blog heading, this is an interesting question. Many (but not all) the interviewes on the NLPmp3.com site earn a good living from using their NLP skills. Some who don't do so, tend to have failed to develop their own profiles and instead tend to align themselves to what they perceive as "celebrity trainers" not realising that when you are constantly "the magician's assistant" you are never "the magician..."

An accusation made by some in the public domain is that NLP is often like a pyramid selling scheme, especially with the idea of "apprentiships" where NLPers pay trainers substantial amounts per anum. Of course where there are genuine opportunities to learn skills, then IMO this is fair enough...

I have been involved in NLP since the 1990s and have in recent times commented on how embarassed I am by a lot of the activity especially in the UK, where NLP is presented in a really hyped manner.
The reality is that many NLPers don't earn a reasonable living from using their skills (from what I see) and in many cases resort to trying to become "life coaches" or (god forbid) "mentors" to members of the general public. In these economic times where seminar places are sometimes heavily discounted, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for NLP. Regardless this site will continue to promote intelligent discussion and debate about how to best use these skills!

Today a colleague sent me a copy of an online argument between two trainers arguing about "unconscious installation"
I have to say reading this is, even more embarassing than the usual nonsense that apprears online! I guess that one of the individuals is trying to drum up numbers for a workshop, but doesn't realise that his communication skills could do with some improvement...

I work alongside many professionals who are trained in CBT and other talk therapies. Little wonder that many of them have a poor opinion of NLP when they see these kinds of behaviours. I set up www.nlpmp3.com to present a more professional take on NLP and to show that there are "intelligent NLP trainers" out there that have a genuine interest in people rather than believing their own hype.

Although I have been pretty vocal about much of this nonsense in recent times, NLP still remains a useful set of tools that can be used to great effect, in the right hands