NLP, or Neuro-Linguistic Programming, can be described as the art and science of change management and performance excellence. It has been developed by modelling human excellence in fields as diverse as communication science, coaching, therapy, education, business leadership and personal development. It encompasses the three most influential components involved in producing human experience: neurology, language and programming. The neurological system regulates how our bodies function, language determines how we communicate with other people and our programming determines the kinds of models of the world we create. NLP describes the fundamental dynamics between mind (neuro) and language (linguistic) and how their interplay affects our body and behaviour (programming).
NLP is a pragmatic school of thought that addresses the many levels involved in being human; the development of behavioural competence and flexibility and an understanding of the mental and cognitive processes behind behaviour. NLP provides tools and skills for the development of states of individual excellence and it also establishes a system of empowering beliefs and presuppositions about what human beings are, what communication is and what the process of change is all about. At another level, NLP is about self-discovery, exploring one’s identity and mission. It also provides a framework for understanding and relating to the part of human experience that reaches beyond us as individuals to our family, community and global systems. NLP is not only about competence and excellence, it is about wisdom and vision.
