NLP Anchoring in Training, a practical example
The following is a practical demonstration of an NLP technique in a training environment. The techniques described and used will only be familiar to anyone that has completed a good NLP Practitioner Training Course. I use chained states in a classroom environment, if it helps to understand possible covert anchor chain applications. This is an adaptation of something I have seen David Shepard do on many occasions.
Setting Up an NLP Anchor Chain
The chain is going from confusion to understanding and I tend to use it in classes where I know there will be heavy duty content and potential for delegates to have difficulty getting it. I can set it up in about five minutes if necessary, but I generally prefer a longer elicitation process and given the choice would spend fifteen minutes over this. I will put out the whole lot and then you can go off and adapt as you see fit. This process uses stage anchors - these are the same as the spatial anchors you might use with your hands but are fired from particular locations on the stage.
In this context I prefer this sort of marking out because it gives me the freedom to jump back and forward from any of the states as I want. The chain consists of three states, in order: confusion, on the edge, enlightenment / understanding. The specifics of each state will be clearer as you read through this.
Step 1- Pre and Reframes
I tell the group at some stage on this course that they will be confused and then tell them that they should be pleased about this. This usually gets some people confused, so I am standing where I want the confused state to be. Walking towards the understanding spot I explain confusion is about having all the pieces of the jigsaw but not having them in the right places yet and they should be pleased to have the pieces.
I go on to say something like So confusion is about having the pieces and not yet fitting them together….but the really good thing is, you have the pieces. YOU UNDERSTAND NOW? And as you are thinking about that what sort of future possibilities does this give you? That is something you can GET REALLY EXCITED about….
If I am really cooking it I will elicit excitement from the group and anchor that to the understanding spot as well.
Step 2- Elicit States
I go back to my confusion spot starting a metaphor about being confused on a course accessing the state myself. Remember all you have to do is get them a little confused and then slide it up to something stronger. I generally anchor to the spot using my physiology…apparently my face shows confusion really easily.
On the edge - This is a state of almost there, I know I am going to get it soon. So the loop from the first story is open (I don’t tell them how I get out of the confusion) and I switch to metaphor two. I have several but my favourite is about when I was learning to be a hang glider pilot (for those of you that have seen me recently I don’t fly much now but I bounce a great deal better). It’s all about having all the pieces, knowing I’m ready and just waiting on the side of the hill for exactly the right moment to just leap out with the absolute confidence (yes I do generally elicit confidence and build the slide at this spot as well). I then go through the first few second of being in the air and all the pieces being all over the place whilst walking to the enlightenment spot.
Enlightenment - “…when you suddenly realise that YOU ARE FLYING. All the pieces have fitted together, you are in the flying seat, soaring and looking to the future possibilities and getting excited about it.” Please feel free to hallucinate your own sliding anchors for the excitement as well as the physiology around these spots as part of the commentary. Also note I don’t give them any closure over this first flight thus keeping a second loop open. I just step away from the three spots and go into something else eg. the course content.
Applications, Firing the Anchor Chain
The most obvious is when any or some of them are confused you walk them through the three spots to enlightenment. On courses I have really cooked the states I can often do this without saying anything and they get it. If I want to help them along I will start on the confused spot and say something like “your confused because you haven’t reviewed all the pieces you already know.”
Walking towards state 2 I’ll ask them to come out with the information they already know. As they give me answers I will ask “So what have you learnt?” as I am walking towards the understanding spot letting them get excited about knowing all this stuff.
Other things you can do with this are if someone is objecting or heckling just throw them into confusion. Or if you want the whole class to get a massive and exciting light bulb moment keep them on the edge until you are ready for them to get excited about what they have suddenly realised.
Often with people that are really stuck with confusion I will stretch the hang gliding metaphor starting in confusion I will tell them that (moving to on the edge) is a matter of pretending to be confident, firing the confidence anchor for them, ramping it up as I tell them that on my first flight I was pushed off the edge by my instructor and asking them what kind of a push do they need. As they think of answers I gently start towards understanding. If you elicit pleasure / enjoyment states and stack them to the understanding spot you can also reward good behaviour and start to condition the class to respond to you the way you want… In fact on longer courses I will usually create a pain spot at a different stage location. By the nature of doing this you have built a slide between the two and it gives you the opportunity to totally train your audience in acceptable and unacceptable behaviour just through stage position.
There is a lot more I could say on the subject of stage and chained anchors but I think this post is long enough already and there will be more soon. For those of you that are still here thanks for reading and I hope this might give some of you an idea of some applications and other stuff you could be doing with anchors. If you want to know more about anchoring a great place to start your exploration would be Tom and Kim’s Essential Skills Website. I strongly recommend you have a look.
April 6th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
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May 30th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Tony,
Trust me everything on this website is true. I sometimes change names to protect people, I might focus on a specific element to make the point and I often use dramatic language to create some excitement…but everything is true, real and good practical examples of how NLP, Hypnosis and Accelerated Learning can be used to create some dramatic results in the real world.
Rintu
August 9th, 2008 at 3:56 am
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August 13th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
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