egyii blog

For our updated overview, please see:

Egyii Overview May 2009 

Thank you.

Trip & James, Team Egyii, Singapore

HR-in-Action Nite- 2 April 2009
for the HR Community @ SHRI Singapore Human Resources Institute

The secret to getting good results at work is by getting control of our thinking, rather than just diving into new behaviours.

Most learning programmes try to help us change our behaviours by giving us new knowledge and skills. However, much of the time nothing actually happens because we have not addressed the things that drive those behaviours i.e. our thinking patterns. It’s like a plane trying to change course while all the time having the auto pilot set on another direction.

Yes, it’s important to learn new behaviours. But since so many of them are habitual, we need to change the beliefs, values and emotions that control those behaviours if we are to experience change that lasts more than a few days. And the funny thing is, when we do control our thinking patterns, the behaviours tend to take care of themselves.

Based on Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), this talk will introduce you to some of the key drivers of our behaviour as well as methods for getting control of these. You will find that you can apply this knowledge in any situation both at work and at home, and you will gain a new sense of control over the results you get.

Please feel free to click on the downloadable Slideshare version of the presentation here.

For more information, please email us at stuff@egyii.com.

Bon vivant!

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) training has a lot to say about motivation: how we motivate ourselves, and how others are motivated. These motivators are called Metaprograms, and when we understand how they work, we gain enormous power to influence ourselves and others.

In fact, ignorance of Metaprograms can relegate us to the group of chronic underperformers if we are in sales, management, human resources or leadership. Understanding this vital aspect of relationship management gives us one of the keys to performance acceleration and improved personal results.

One Metaprogram is known as ‘toward or away from’, and describes people’s preferences and drives. For example, if John is a ‘toward’ person, then he will be motivated by the prospect of receiving or gaining a benefit, or achieving a future goal which has positive results for him. In other words, you must show him how he can move towards a pleasurable feeling. If you attempt to persuade John by emphasising what he will lose by not doing what you suggest (e.g. buying insurance or investing in your financial product), you will fail to win him over time and time again.

On the other hand, if you attempt to influence him to invest in your financial product by emphasising the possible increase in asset values and income, he will probably sit up and listen to you. So long as you present John with a movement towards some positive future outcome, you will gain his attention and interest.

Turning to the opposite motivation, if John’s friend Judy is an ‘away from’ person, you will stand a greater chance of persuading her if you present her with the lost opportunity of not investing. You will need to show her how much profit she will potentially lose by not investing (“Imagine the increased wealth you would lose by this time next year if you don’t switch from cash to a unit trust”). In other words, she is motivated by avoiding pain. With Judy, no amount of positive messaging will encourage her to invest. She is motivated by the fear of loss, and will do anything to move away from a potentially negative situation.

Of course, ‘towards or away from’ are not the only metaprograms. You can probably identify some other of your motivations if you think about it.  The point is, no amount of skill in active listening or speaking in short, clear sentences is going to help you get the results you want if you don’t first lay the foundation of human understanding. Once this is in place, your relationship skills will come into their own and help you achieve more than you ever thought possible.

If you want to succeed in your career, or you’re a manager who wants to get the best out of your people, the first place to look is inside.

What does this mean? Well, some people such as myself, James Irvine and my partner Trip Allen at http://thethinkingcircle.com believe that it doesn’t matter how many communication or leadership skills you learn – if your beliefs or ability to put yourself in the right frame of mind are working against you, no amount of technique or skills asquisition will work.

If you are really interested in personal development and performance acceleration, start with your private voice i.e. the things you say to yourself all day long. Pay attention to the kinds of messages you are giving yourself, because these messages will directly affect your state (i.e. your mood and thoughts) and therefore your behaviour. In fact NLP teaches us that our internal communication does more for our performance than our external communication, our public voice.

Egyii’s founders know this, because Trip Allen and James Irvine have experienced the powerful impact on their results of even small changes in their beliefs and thoughts. So if you really want that performance acceleration, or you want to differentiate your company through your people’s flexibility, resilience and resourcefulness, then look inside first. You will be amazed at the difference to your leadership capabilities, relational skills and personal results even a small personal change can make.