Tool Chest | The Solution Tap

About My Tool Chest

The great majority of my clients found the following strategies to be perspective changing and life-changing--and increasingly so as I have gained experience helping people resolve practical problems and achieve desired outcomes over my previous 26-year career.

What is Neuro-linquistic Programming (NLP))?

and

What does it do?

Simply put, NLP is a collection of strategies to accelerate change by identifying and tailoring your internal roadmap of reality to one that is more realistic and more helpful.

NLP sees people as capable of living out qualities they value and achieving what they value. This is not about perfection. It is about meaningful growth and achievement.

NLP is effective in

Clarifying your desires and values,
Accessing and enhancing your relationship skills,
Finding and applying models of competence or excellence,
Accessing resourceful internal states,
Removing internal blocks to desired goals such as fears and blocking beliefs,
Resolving internal conflicts, as when one part of you says, “Do A,” and another part says, “Do B,” and you can’t decide which to do..
Turning personal values into living personal traits, and
Mentally rehearsing living out those changes for when and where you need them in your life.

The changes you make stick with you, therefore...
Your work moves faster because you build on the progress you established during the previous meeting.
When completed, you tend to feel like you have always had the changes you have made. You may remember the old problem, but it is typically more difficult to recapture what it felt like.
Your gains can be generalized or applied to different times n your life, both past and future, to solidify your gains.
Your gains can be generalize or applied to different settings or circumstances where you may find them useful.
Because of the effectiveness of in-session work, for most people it can minimize or eliminate the need for in-between meeting homework, or free you time to work on tasks related to other aspects of your desired goals.

Advantages of NLP and related strategies

Many have found NLP to be a life-changing resource. One of the biggest advantages of NLP for most people is the speed of change with NLP compared to many other modes of helping people. This is a practical consideration when you consider that much of what blocks us is often more internal than external. These blocks include fears, hesitancy, ambivalence, faulty assumptions, internal lack of direction, and unhelpful beliefs.

What does strategic questioning do?

Strategic use of good questions is the heart of a good coaching model. Both NLP and facilitating thoughtful states heavily utilize the use of good questions. There are several reasons for this. Only you really know deep down the things you long for and what makes them valuable to you.

Only you know your resource terrain, including things like

What your deepest longings are,
What your abilities are,
What personal resources you have,
What you know,
What you don’t know,
What keeps you from moving forward, and so on.

Good questions help pull these into focus as you work toward what you want. Good questions invite exploration and draw us forward. Statements of fact or opinion can trigger our defenses and slow the journey toward what we want. Good questions help us figure out what steps we can take toward what we want, in what order, even if they are very small at first. Good questions help us hold ourselves accountable, primarily to ourselves, our dreams, to those who will benefit, and only secondarily to the coach as a source of support and encouragement.

What does thought-provoking questioning do?

Strategic use of good questions is central to good coaching, mentoring, and leadership. Both NLP and facilitating thoughtful states heavily utilize the use of good questions. There are several reasons for this. Only you really know deep down the things you long for and what makes them valuable to you.

Only you know your resource terrain, including things like

What your deepest longings are,
What your abilities are,
What personal resources you have,
What you want to learn,
What keeps you from moving forward, and so on.

Good questions help pull these into focus as you work toward what you want. Good questions invite exploration and draw us forward. Statements of fact or opinion can trigger our defenses and slow the journey toward what we want. Good questions help us figure out what steps we can take toward what we want and in what order, even if they are very small at first. Good questions help us hold ourselves accountable, primarily to ourselves and to our dreams, and only secondarily to the coach as a source of support and encouragement.

What does facilitating thoughtful reflection do?

Thoughtful reflection

· Focuses your thinking,

· Gives you time to explore and answer questions thoughtfully and more accurately,

· Improves creativity and problem solving,

· Improves self-awareness, and

· Helps you access your core needs and values.

Too often we don't know who we really are or what we want because we are so caught up in the complexities of events around us, other people's expectations, our own negative self-talk, or the “tyranny of the urgent.” Many people have difficulty slowing down to the speed of intuition and critical thinking or lack an environment where this is possible.

Both effective coaching and NLP provide such an environment.

One of my key discoveries when I was a licensed therapist was this: Going slower is consistently faster in the long run. and works much better than does me being the instant "expert" or "answer man." It does a much better job of tailoring the outcome to each client's wants and needs.

I have learned and developed these skills for over 26 years in my previous career and am adapting them to a coaching context.