I recently asked an experienced Lean coach what the most difficult part of his job was. After a moment’s reflection, he responded: ‘Changing behaviour in order to improve performance – at all levels of the organisation.’ Changing behaviour is probably one of the most difficult and challenging areas for any Lean practitioner. Moving the performance dial by even a small percentage will almost certainly require a change in individual behaviour and approach. After all, how can we achieve a different outcome if we approach work in the future the same way as we have in the past?

1. 1
Is there a role for Neuro Linguistic Programming in enabling change?
I recently asked an experienced Lean coach what the most difficult part of his job was.
After a moment’s reflection, he responded: ‘Changing behaviour in order to improve
performance – at all levels of the organisation.’ Changing behaviour is probably one of
the most difficult and challenging areas for any Lean practitioner. Moving the
performance dial by even a small percentage will almost certainly require a change in
individual behaviour and approach. After all, how can we achieve a different outcome
if we approach work in the future the same way as we have in the past?
I had read about NLP several years before becoming a Lean consultant, but was a little
suspicious and sceptical about using it as an aid to changing behaviour in business.
Since becoming qualified myself in NLP techniques, I feel that they do have merit and
are at least worthy of investigation.
What is NLP?
NLP is a methodology supported by a series of tools and techniques designed to help
individuals attain excellence in their chosen field. It was created in the late 1960s by
John Grindler, an assistant professor of Linguistics at the University of Santa Cruz in
California and Richard Bandler, a psychologist, mathematician and computer scientist.
These two academics pooled their expert knowledge and experiences and together
modelled three therapists who were all exceptional performers in their respective
fields and who set out to identify the difference that ‘made the difference’.
They had spotted a clear distinction between average and excellence in human
performance and wanted to understand why it occurred and whether that excellence
could be reproduced in those who had previously demonstrated average performance.
How is it used?
Today, sports psychologists use NLP techniques widely as they enable them to study or
‘model’ every detail about the strategy that top performers develop to maximise their
performance. This learning can then be shared by average performers enabling them
to improve their own performance.
NLP also explores how people relate to and communicate with each other, how their
decision making preferences vary and their preferred styles of influence, resulting in
positive changes in behaviour. It is a complex, but fascinating subject and one that
could provide a valuable additional set of tools and techniques for the Lean coach,
whose main remit is improving process performance.
Behavioural change is unconscious – it happens gradually and we are not aware that it
is happening. The real power in the NLP approach is when conscious awareness
becomes apparent and the individual will start to see, hear or feel the benefit of
personal performance improvement that is associated with a positive change in
1 themselves. They will often feel and look better which has a positive effect on their
whole outlook.

2. 2
stpartnership.co.uk
An illustration
NLP is a broad and complex subject, but for simple illustration on the potential value of
NLP in changing behaviour and improving performance, I will explore one simple
technique for improving communication, known as ‘chunking’.
I was talking to a highly qualified and experienced surgeon recently and asked him,
‘What frustrates you most about your job at this moment in time?’ His response was,
‘My senior registrar in the hospital. When I ask him a simple question about his
diagnosis for a seriously injured patient, he always responds in too much detail. He is a
good doctor, but he frustrates me immensely and I find myself getting increasingly
short with him in my responses. I haven’t got the luxury of time in my job and
sometimes have to make very quick decisions in certain life threatening situations. It
really winds me up.’
Do you recognise this scenario in your own organisation? People develop habitual
forms of thinking and communicate accordingly – they develop a habit of thinking in big
‘chunks’ of information or in small ‘chunks’ of information in specific detail. Having the
ability to communicate on the same level as another person avoids miscommunication
and misunderstanding and gives you choices.
Chunking can shed new light on a situation
and enable you to consider potential options
you might have missed at a lower chunked,
more detailed level. It offers new choices and
is a useful technique when you have a
problem or block to overcome.
When we chunk up, language gets more
abstract and there are more chances for
wider discussion and agreement. Chunking
down will shed more light on specific details
which may have been missed in the chunked
up discussion. The surgeon values a high level
response, delivered quickly and without too
much detail from the senior registrar – speed
and quality of information comes to mind.
Underlying all behaviour is a positive intention by the individual concerned and
therefore to change a person’s behaviour you need to first ask the question what the
positive intention behind this behaviour is. By chunking up or chunking down the
question has to be answered in the individual’s mind – if I achieve an outcome by
changing my behaviour, what will that do for me or get for me as an individual? If it
2
won’t help me – why change?

3. 3
stpartnership.co.uk
In other words, communicate with the surgeon at a level of language which
demonstrates to the consultant that the senior registrar, whilst having a deep
understanding of the specialist medical issues involved, is able to communicate
accurately and quickly without needing to resort to minute detail about the case. In
this example, the senior registrar will achieve much better aligned communication,
gained the surgeon’s respect as a result and developed the professional partnership
which the surgeon demands of his pupil.
Think about style
As you learn more about the subject of NLP, you will realise that different people have
different ways of thinking and that, whilst predominantly visual thinkers prefer
language which reflects visual words (‘looks like’; ‘I see’; ‘paint me a picture’ etc),
auditory thinkers will use language which reflects their preference (‘I hear what you are
saying’; ‘that’s music to my ears’; ‘listen to what I am telling you’ etc).
If you have any true auditory thinkers in your organisation, you should be aware that
they will process sounds more acutely than other thinking types and often find it
genuinely difficult to work in an office environment seeking out areas of peace and
quiet to enable them to concentrate more effectively and be more productive. A third
type of preferred thinking style is kinaesthetic (illustrated by language that contains
words associated with feeling or touch) e.g. ‘I feel that we should take this specific
course of action’; ‘touch wood’; ‘my instincts tell me’ etc.
While most people display a mixture of styles, understanding an individual’s preference
for language type and thinking style will guide you to construct questions using a set of
words that has much greater meaning and impact for the recipient than a sentence
constructed using a set of words to which he or she does not relate. This is a
particularly useful skill when trying, for example, to ascertain the true ‘Voice of the
Customer’ designed to inform future state Value Stream Management work.
So, while NLP is highly effective in skilled hands to resolve everything from individual
phobias related to fear of flying, snakes or making a presentation to large audiences, it
is equally effective in eradicating limiting beliefs about an individual’s ability to change
his or her behaviour and improve performance. In this regard then NLP provides a most
useful and valuable additional set of tools and techniques for the Lean Practitioner and
is worthy of further investigation.
The Author
Richard Harrison, specialist in sales transformation and customer value, is also an
INLPTA qualified Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) Master Practitioner.
For further information, visit www.stpartnership.co.uk.
3