What NLP Adds to Coaching

NLP skills assist the coach in every session. Coaching can be effective whether it is face to face or at a distance. Since much of coaching takes place on the phone or on the internet, an NLP coach uses sensory acuity to listen to the client’s voice tone and tempo. In addition, the coach knows how to listen at different levels, to the client’s message and to the meta-message.

The NLP coach listens for familiar language patterns that indicate a client’s self-imposed limits, and knows how to generate powerful questions in response to those patterns. The NLP coach can introduce the idea of multiple perspectives through skillful questioning: “What might your ‘future self’ suggest?” “Is this the critic? What does the dreamer have to say?”

An understanding of NLP models enriches the abilities of a coach by coaching with outcome specification questions. Eliciting a well-formed outcome helps clients define their vague dreams and set up evidence procedures. In many cases, just specifying an outcome generates movement toward it. Exploring underlying beliefs is also an important aspect of coaching. Beliefs change naturally as people align with their goals and values.

These and other NLP models provide coaches with exceptionally enhanced versions of the coach’s basic tool, the powerful and insightful question. NLP models that generate powerful questions include: timelines, reframing, perceptual positions, the meta-model, and logical levels.

NLP coaches might be tempted to use all the tools at their disposal in each call session. But, while coaching, it is important to take off the NLP expert hat and enter into a coaching state of curiosity and not knowing.