strategies

strategies

A Strategy is a sequence (or syntax) of internal and external representations that consistently achieve a specific outcome or behaviour. We have a strategy for all of our behaviours. There are strategies for everything ranging from which leg you first put into your trousers to which part of your hair you comb or brush first. There are strategies for motivation, procrastination, buying, selling, eating, driving, falling asleep, and even falling in love. Every one of us has a strategy for each of the behaviours that wedisplay.

Nowhere in our system of learning are we taught about these strategies. And more importantly, no where are we taught that we can learn the specific strategies for achieving of our goals. In school, new strategies for math, spelling, etc., were installed by rote, and until recently we were pretty much left up to discovering our path to success through trial and error. Now we know that most strategies can be easily learned or modified to accomplish the goals that we decide upon.

The key to understanding strategies is to know that you have to look, listen, and feel perhaps a little more intensely than you ever have before. This means that people will be telling you their strategies during conversation, and you will be looking for clues about their strategies.

The key to successfully eliciting a client’s strategy is to put that client into the experience of the event. By fully associating the client into the state, you will be able to look, listen, and develop an understanding of the strategy itself.

Like a good recipe, the strategy has specific ingredients. Each of the ingredients goes into the strategy in a specific order to produce the result. If you leave the eggs out of a soufflé, it won’t rise and you won’t have a soufflé. Likewise if you leave an important component or piece out of a success strategy, you won’t have success.

Strategies involve everything we do. All our daily activities are generated and maintained by strategies. Whether or not we finish what we do is governed by a strategy. We have strategies for...

Love Decision Relaxation Fatigue Motivation Tension Learning Happiness Fun Forgetting Sex Boredom Parenting Eating Marketing Sports Health Wealth Communication Disease Depression Sales Creativity Poverty……..

and, actually, everything else we do.

strategies

A Strategy is a specific sequence, of external experiences and internal representations, which consistently produces and leads us to a specific outcome. Because we have strategies, we can have certain behaviours that operate unconsciously. Human experience is an endless series of representations. To deal with this endless sequence, it is useful to suspend the process and contextualise it in terms of outcomes.

The Elements are the representational systems or modalities (V, A, K, O, G, Ad) which may be internal or external. The modalities and submodalities are the building blocks, which in a certain order, make up the strategy. The Sequencing or order of the representations make up the strategies which determine the outcome.

The different aspects of strategies are:

Elicitation: The first step is to discover the person’s strategy through the process of elicitation.Utilisation: The next step is to utilise the strategy by feeding back information to the person in the order and sequence that it was elicited.Change/Design: The next step is to then be able to change or design the strategy.Installation: We then may want to install a new strategy if needed.

ELEMENTS OF STRATEGIES

Components: - Elements & sequence

Elements:

V Visual: External-Internal (Constructed/Remembered)A Auditory: External-Internal (Constructed/Remembered)Ad Auditory DigitalK Kinaesthetic: External- Internal (Constructed/Remembered) Feeling/ Proprioceptive (body awareness) Tactile (Associated) Meta, Feeling About (Dissociated)O Olfactory: External-Internal (Constructed/Remembered)G Gustatory: External-Internal (Constructed/Remembered)

t.o.t.e model of strategies

The T.O.T.E. model was first introduced in Plans and the Structure of Behaviour published in 1960 by George Miller, Eugene Galanter and Karl H. Pribram. T.O.T.E. stands for Test, Operate, Test, and Exit. It is a sequence based on computer modelling of both internal and external activities which produces a specific behaviour or outcome which is often just below the level of consciousness. Their belief was that all complex behaviours are the result of a series of steps that happen as a TOTE. The elicitation and installation of strategies takes place at the conscious level and once applied, can again becomeunconscious in demonstration.

1. The first Test is a cue or “Trigger” that begins the strategy. It establishes the criteria “fed forward” to be used during the strategy and is used as a standard, or “criteria,” for the second test. This is the actual present state event that initiates the activity that establishes the strategy. It is from this cue that the strategy proceeds.

2. The Operation accesses data by remembering, creating, identifying, gathering and verifying the information required by the strategy from the internal or external representational systems (present state).

3. The second Test is a comparison of some aspect of the accessed data with the criteria established by the first test (desired state). The two things compared must be represented in the same representational system.

4. The Exit, or Decision Point or Choice Point, is a representation of the results of the test. This is where the client chooses to move on. If there is congruency or a match, the strategy exits. If not, or there is a mismatch, the strategy recycles.

5. The strategy may recycle by: • Changing the outcome or redirecting the strategy. • Adjusting the criteria, chunking laterally or reorienting. • Refining or further specifying the outcome. • Accessing more data.

6. Strategies may be grouped together:

Buying Strategy: Love Strategy:1. Motivation 1. Attraction2. Decision/selection (to buy) 2. Recognising Attraction3. Convincer 3. Deep Love4. Reassurance

tools for strategy elicitation

COMPONENTS FOR ELICITATION

The following pieces of a strategy work simultaneously and separately to produce the total strategy. As you become more practiced at strategy elicitation you will notice the role each plays in individual strategies for the client in different circumstances and situations.

Verbal LanguageThis is the spoken language the client uses during strategy elicitation. As you begin to askquestions you hear cues in the language with respect to the representational systems. The strategy is revealed when combined with body language and eye accessing cues.

Body LanguageAs you notice the client’s body language during the elicitation process you see movements which support the strategy. This movement can work in one of three ways: (1) it can back up the eye accessing cues, (2) act as a separate part of the strategy, or (3) be a synaesthesia.

Eye Accessing CuesThis third component backs up the verbal and body language and also can act as a leader for the other three. There is a congruency between verbal, body and eye accessing cue languages.

Representational SystemsAwareness of the representational systems is required to annotate or diagram the strategy. It is the representational system information that you are looking for during the strategy elicitation itself.

SynaesthesiaA synaesthesia is the automatic link between one representational system and another expressed verbally and/or non-verbally. Examples are, “It caught my eye,” (V/K) and, “It looked like it would feel comfortable,” (V/K).

nlp strategy notation

Representational Systems Superscripts SubscriptsV = Visual (Pictures) r = remembered t = tonalA = Auditory (Sounds) c = constructed d = digitalK = Kinaesthetic (Feelings)O = Olfactory (Smells) i = internalG = Gustatory (Tastes e = external

Examples: Ae = Auditory External Ai = Auditory Internal Ar = Auditory Remembered Ac = Auditory Constructed Art = Auditory Remembered Tonal Aid = Auditory Internal Dialogue Vc = Visual Constructed Kr = Remembered Feelings Vi = Visual Internal Ke = Tactile Feelings/Sensations Vr = Visual Remembered

STRATEGY ELICITATION OVERVIEWFrom the TOTE Model

PREFRAMEPut yourself in a state of Uptime and excellence.Establish rapport with the client and set the frame.Identify a specific decision and when and where made.• Is client pleased with the purchase?• Was the client alone when the purchase was made?• Can they remember the situation when purchasing the item?

QUESTIONS TO ASKTest: What let you know it was time to decide? When did you begin deciding? How did you know it was time to decide?Operate: How did you know there were alternatives? How do you generate alternatives?Test: How do you evaluate alternatives? What has to be satisfied in order for you to decide?Exit: How do you select which alternative to take? How do you know (or what lets you know) that you have decided?

ELICITATION(some tips/tools to make the elicitation go well)Put the person back into the experience. Make sure that they are in a fullyassociated, intense and congruent state.

Anchor the state. (eg, “So, here you are, you’re in M&S...”)Speak in the present tense.

Use all accessing cues: predicates, eyes, breathing, tonality, gestures.

Ask questions such as: How do you decide, know, think, etc. to . . . ? What happens first? or How do you know it’s time to start? How do you know that you have finished?

Use unspecified predicates such as ‘notice’, ‘decide’, ‘choose’.

Give more than one option.

Use contrast frame

Use counter example statement. eg Client: “I spoke to the shop assistant”. Practitioner: “What would have happened had he not been there?”

Backtrack to get to the next step. Ie re-trace previous steps to get the next one

Make sure that you get a logical sequence.

Notice loops or recurrent sequences of steps.

Make sure that you have all the key functional pieces, in major representational systems.

Fire the anchor to assist them in accessing if necessary.

Be particularly alert for auditory markings.

List possible options if appropriate.

UTILISATION/TEST

Feed the sequence back and calibrate – mismatch and then match.

NOTE: Write down what you get as a sequence of elements. Only get as much detail as necessary.

Elicit and do not install. (Backtrack to the beginning to elicit further detail if required.)Test & future pace.

guideline script for formal strategy elicitation

Can you recall a time when you (strategy)? Can you recall a specific time?

As you go back to that time now and experience it (really associate the client into the experience), . . . what was the very first thing that caused you to (strategy)? Was it something you saw (or the way someone looked at you?), or Was it something you heard (or someone’s tone of voice?), or Was it the touch of someone or something?

What was the very first thing that caused you to (strategy)?

After you (saw, heard, felt) that, what was the very next thing that happened as you(strategy)? Did you picture something in your mind, or Say something to yourself, or Did you hear something or someone, or Have a certain feeling or emotion, or Did something else happen?

What was the next thing that happened as you (strategy)?

Then what happened?

Note: Ask open questions until the strategy is elicited. Feed it forward.

Test: Mismatch the strategy and then match it.

informal strategy elicitation in a business context • I really like your watch/briefcase/BMW. What made you choose that one?• You said you’ve been in this job for 10 years. What made you choose/decide to take this job.• Have you ever bought a training course/used a management consultant that you were happy with?• How did you decide to buy that particular training course/consultant?

buying strategies

1. Motivation (usually end with a K) This can last for moments or years. From a NLP Buying Strategy point of view the motivation strategy is everything that happens until the client walks into the showroom or shop.2. Decision/selection (to buy) This is what the client does as they are making their choice or selection or decision.3. Convincer (automatic, # times, period of time, consistent) Normally the client will run their convincer strategy while making the purchase.4. Reassurance How the client re-assures themselves they have made a good decision.

decision strategy exampleI walked into M&S and I had a look for the sweaters, then I walked over and saw the sweater, it really caught my eye (VK synaesthesia ). I checked the label to make sure it was the right size, price and material (Ad)I picked it up and tried it on (Ke)It looked and felt great (V / K synaesthesia)I said to myself ‘yes that’s the one for me’ (Ad)

convincer strategiesA client’s Convincer Strategy is the filter used in becoming certain or confident that something is okay. There are two filters that make us convinced of something. The first concerns which representational system we use (Convincer Representational Filter) and the second is the number of times we are required to be convinced (Convincer Demonstration Filter).

Convincer Representational Filter:How do you know someone else is good at what they do? Do you have to . . .• See It Visual (V)• Hear About It Auditory (A)• Do It With Them Kinaesthetic (K)• Read About It Auditory Digital (Ad)

Convincer Demonstration Filter:How often does someone have to demonstrate competency to you before you areconvinced? Is it . . .• Automatic• Number of Times• Period of Time• Every Time (Consistent)

reassurance strategyA client’s Reassurance Strategy is used to make sure that what they have done/purchased/decided to do is OK. Typically in a buying situation the client will run theirreassurance strategy within 2 weeks of the purchase.

well formed conditions

FUNCTIONAL WELL-FORMEDNESS CONDITIONS

• The Trigger that starts the process carries with it the final criteria. All strategies must have a trigger.• Operations to alter the present state to bring it closer to the desired state –gathering data• Test that compares the present state to the desired state based on pre-sorted or ad hoc criteria.• Exit decision point that determines the next step based on the congruence or lack of congruence of the test comparison.

Knowing the functional well-formedness conditions allows you to ask very specific anddirected questions.

STRUCTURAL WELL-FORMEDNESS CONDITIONS

• Follows the T.O.T.E. model.• A well-defined representation of the outcome.• Uses at least three (3) of the major representational systems.• Uses the least number of steps to get the outcome.• At least three points in every loop.• Every loop includes an exit point.• Goes external after a certain number of steps or a certain amount of time.• Least number of steps to achieve the outcome• Logical sequence with no steps missing – does it make sense, would it work?• Has the necessary internal and external sensory modalities to get desired outcome.• Preserves positive by-products and eliminates negative consequences. This is the ecology check to minimise bad feelings.• Ability to future pace by going out into the future to an event where the strategy is applied and tested.

strategy design

Purpose: Strategy design is for the purpose of providing new behaviour choices to result in a particular outcome. If the current strategy isn’t working, either design a new one or re-design the existing one.In order to produce the most effective strategy design for the client, it is important to useall the appropriate sensory channels in your search for available resources. Utilisation ofall relevant variables, both environmental and decision, provides the desired outcome.

You will experience the client having different levels of strategies available. Sometimes they have absolutely no strategy and you can help them design one. Or they may have strategies that help them achieve the outcome, but not effectively. There are also cases where the client may have a completely ineffectual strategy in place.

There is a time and place where the client may want to still use the existing strategy. This is your opportunity to install a decision point for the client where they can decide which strategy will be most effective depending on the context of the situation. For example, ‘shouting at people’ is probably not the best strategy in many situations, but in some cases it may be useful.

There are several options from which to develop successful strategies. Find a model who is successfully accomplishing the outcome. Elicit and duplicate their strategy. Work in groups eliciting and swapping strategies with other professionals. Have the client suggest successful strategies that they know of from people who have accomplished the outcomes. Build upon that strategy. Cross reference strategies. Take a successful strategy from one thing the client does and install it for the new desired outcome.

DESIGN PRINCIPLES

DESIGN• Maintain the function. (“If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”)• Intervene before the strategy goes wrong.• Calibrate.• Reframe or use submodalities on unpleasant feelings or voices.• Delete unnecessary steps keeping a logical sequence.• Make sure that the criteria are accessed sequentially and not simultaneously. Assess them all with each possible purchase• Make the least amount of change to get the results you want.

REDESIGN• Ask the client or make up what you think could work.• Check your own strategy for applicability and well formedness.• Streamline an unuseful strategy by adding Ad to help with ecology.• Model someone else who has a good strategy.

methods for installing or changing strategies

• Rehearsing (create rapport & have client go through it & force eye movements).• Reframing (business situations).• Metaphor.• Anchoring (anchor current steps, anchor new steps, chain)• Dissociated State Rehearsal (the client sees themselves in situations).

INSTALLATION STEPS USING ANCHORS

• Establish rapport.• Client accesses representational systems in a sequence.• Install synaesthesia with anchoring.• Repeat three to five times firing the anchor as each representational system is accessed.• Test & future pace.

representational systems and strategies

CHARACTERISTICS1. Each representational system can best represent the aspect of the world that it responds to directly. Many people get into trouble by representing experience with the wrong representational system.2. Digital descriptions are always secondary experience so they contain less information than the primary experience which they describe.3. Auditory digital is valuable as a filing system: • To keep track of experience. • To categorise experience. • To plan and set direction. • To summarise. • To make a running commentary on raw data. • To draw conclusions. • To make sense of things.4. Auditory tonal can add emphasis and help flesh out raw data.5. Visual can represent an enormous amount of data simultaneously and instantaneously, and can make rapid comparisons6. Auditory processing is sequential and takes longer than visual processing which is simultaneous.7. The kinaesthetic system has more inertia and duration than the visual and auditory systems.8. When making decisions it is difficult to fully represent possibilities using only sounds, words or feelings. The visual system is helpful, because it enables one to simultaneously picture different options and make comparisons between them.9. Kinaesthetic tactile and proprioceptive sensations help provide raw data.10. Kinaesthetic Meta is the primary way people evaluate experience.11. Congruent feelings are perceptual feelings of events, involving direct tactile and proprioceptive sensations. They are purely perceptual or sensory experiences without evaluations.12. Meta-feelings are evaluative feelings about events in response to criteria, and usually have a positive or negative value.

TYPICAL PROBLEMS WITH DECISION STRATEGIES

1. Problems with generating options. a) No visual construct, not well defined in visual. b) Not enough options. • Only one choice. • Either/Or. c) Person keeps generating choices with no way to exit.2. Problems with representing options. a) Options are not represented in all representational systems, which makes it difficult to evaluate them. b) Person needs to go external to get necessary data. c) Options and criteria are not revised according to circumstances.

elements of an effective motivation

STRATEGY1. Voice (if present) has good tonality.2. Voice uses modal operators of possibility (eg could, can) instead of necessity (eg must, should).3. Includes a representation of what is desirable about the task (the completion or consequences) rather than a representation of the process of doing the task.4. The task is chunked appropriately. Too big – they may never start. Too small – they may experience overwhelm.5. Toward strategies are more enjoyable and result in less stress than away. If possible and appropriate, have a large toward element.6. Toward, away and mixed strategies work; mixed is the most general.7. If mixed, think of negative first and then positive.8. Try to replace away with toward strategy. Set frame that “if you do not learn a new strategy you will have to feel bad over and over again in the future” -this uses their current strategy of moving away.9. Association and dissociation may be critical elements.10. Good strategies generally work across contexts.11. Always check ecology before removing negative feelings or anxiety.12. It may be necessary to adjust the SubModalities of the representation of the task being done in order to get a strongly motivated response.13. If representing the task as completed does not produce strong motivation, then focus on the consequences of it not being completed.14. Procrastinators are often good planners.

Example of a Good Motivational Strategy:

Ad in a pleasant voice, It will be so good when it is done, leading to visual construct of a completed task of positive consequences, leading to a positive K, leading to beginning the task or future pacing appropriately.

TYPICAL PROBLEMS IN MOTIVATION STRATEGIES

1. Begins with Overwhelm: Person begins with feeling of overwhelm and needs to chunk down.2. The person only moves away. Either this is not enough to motivate them or the person experiences too much stress, anxiety and unpleasantness.3. Uses Modal Operators of Necessity: Person uses modal operators of necessity with harsh tonality resulting in bad feelings.

Caution: There are some things that one should move away from. Be careful about removing away strategies entirely. It is better to design a strategy with both elements.

learning strategies

WELL-FORMEDNESS CONDITIONS

FRAME: Confusion precedes learning. Remember times in the past when you couldn’tdo something but now you can. Also, remember the 4 steps of learning.

1. Begin in a positive state. Think of a time when you succeeded & felt good rather than failed & felt bad. Access & anchor appropriate resources.2. Chunk appropriately. Chunk the task down to avoid overwhelm. Recycle or go external until you can represent the smaller chunks so as to sequence and prioritise them.3. Get appropriate feedback relative to the task being learned.4. Make appropriate comparisons each time (at every step) that gives the client a feeling of accomplishment. Do not make comparisons to expert or to an ideal self but to your ability in the past.5. Exit. Avoid the dangers of exiting too soon or never exiting. Avoid premature closure. Exit when you have learned enough for right now, and when you have learned something well enough for your outcome. Avoid the trap of chasing clarity. All key decisions are made on the basis of insufficient information. (Heisenberg uncertainty principle).6. Expect to not understand some things. Set them aside and come back to them later. Do not get trapped in bad feelings about not understanding. Remember that understanding is a feeling.7. Know your Submodality equivalents of understanding and use them to get information in the necessary form.8. Future pace learning to the time and place that they will be needed.

ELICITATION QUESTIONS (Using TOTE model)

CONTEXT: Think of a time when you were able to learn something (relevant to what you’re seeking to learn) easily and rapidly.INITIAL TEST: How do you know it is time to begin learning?OPERATION: What do you do in order to learn?SECOND TEST: How do you know if you have learned something?EXIT: What lets you know that you have learned something fully?

eliciting a spelling strategy

• Start at the beginning. “When I give you the word ‘success’, please spell it internally for me.• Backtrack and re-trace. “What happens inside when you spell that word?”• Make sure that you get the steps from the strategy. If the strategy begins with a K - This is a negative spelling strategy. A more beneficial strategy would be a Vr strategy - remembering the pictures of the letters.

INSTALLING• “Do you have any objections to being a good speller?”• New strategy is only for the context of spelling.• New strategy will not result in instantly being an expert speller but will result in rapid improvement.• Check whether normal/reverse organised, by Eye Accessing Cues. “What does it feel like to be totally loved?”• Simplest method is rehearsing.• Reframe only if necessary.• “I am going to give you a word. As soon as I do, look up here (hold hand in their visual remembered, Vr), allow an image of the word to appear, and as soon as it does, look down here (hold hand in their K) to get a feeling of familiarity or not.”• Use simple words initially.• Spell first half of the word in one colour (eg red) and the other in another colour (eg blue).• Have them spell the red. Then have them spell the blue. Then the whole word.• Have them spell words in reverse. - repeat 8 to 10 times.