DETECTING LOW QUALITY TRAININGS

How can you tell if the training that you are considering is of high quality or low quality? How can you tell about the quality of coaching, books, websites, consulting, personal development programs, etc.? These decision-making questions are important especially since training, coaching, consulting, etc. is the primary way most adults engage in continuous learning and development.

Since Neuro-Semantics offers trainings, coaching, consulting, etc. world-wide—now in 71 countries, and since we have made quality the heart of our practices, here are some warning signs about trainings and the offerings that they may be of low quality.

Beware of the New and Different! If a trainer, coach, or write is enamored with novelty, be skeptical. Some trainings, coaching programs, books, etc. are so enamored with the new, they sell everything as “the latest, the newest, the never-before revealed secrets,” etc. What’s the problem with this? There’s hardly anything truly new. Nearly everything called ‘new’ is a re- working of an old idea. The package may be different, shinier, brighter, more colorful, but almost always, it is not new. It’s usually an “old” idea that is solid, reliable, and which people keep coming back to. Yet if the promotor doesn’t know that “the new idea” is actually an old idea, the funny thing is how that person actually thinks he has invented something new!

Now because many people associate old ideas with what’s boring, to sell something many think they have to dress the old idea as something new or people will not embrace it. Conversely, sticking with a solid idea and a proven practice is often an expression of wisdom. Jeffrey Pfeffer asks, “Isn’t bland old excellence a better fate than an exciting new failure?” He also notes that creativity is “mostly sparked by old ideas.” That’s certain been true of my work in NLP and the ongoing creative development of Neuro-Semantics. Nearly everything “new” which has arisen has come from going back to revisit Korzybski, Bateson, Perls, Satir, etc. for a solid “old” idea. And even today, I believe there’s still many more treasures to mine from their work, to mine ideas that have only minimally been developed.

How many times is a training or a book presented as “The Next Big Thing!”? The internet thrives on the next big thing. Magazines and newspapers, journalists and sales-people are always looking for the next big thing. Yet the most dependable sources for excellence in any field is more often than not—the basics. Companies tend to be suckers for the flavor of the month fad. And each one is presented as “the silver bullet,” the panacea that will solve all problems.

Today lots of the brand new stuff from the neuro-sciences are offered as “never before discovered insights that will revolution human development. But in the end, it is not brand new

stuff. It is old stuff repackaged. Over the years we have seen NLP re-discovered several times. Suddenly a trainer arises asserting that now “for the first time” the real heart of NLP has been discovered and what he has is “pure NLP,” “real NLP,” etc.

Beware of the Un-Sourced. A few times at an NLP Conference somewhere, someone has come up to me presenting what the person thinks is a “new pattern.” Later it turns out to be an old pattern. But the person didn’t know it. The person is often new to the field and simply has not had enough experience with the field as such and so just did not know that what he was working on had already been invented. It’s one of the reasons I put together the two volumes of Sourcebook of Magic. In that way, people can check to see what’s already been developed before claiming to have invented something brand new.

Whenever anyone say that they have developed something new, I ask, “Where did you get your ideas?” “Who have you studied and read?” When I pick up any book, I always check the bibliography to see who the author has read. Often, however, the book has no bibliography! Now that’s a big sign of low quality work. Anyone who has been to University knows that part of being professional and credible is to identify your sources. To not give credit to your sources sets one up for plagerism.

Everybody in the business of spreading ideas, whether a writer, a trainer, a coach, etc. needs to minimally acknowledge sources. That’s what all great thinkers do. Sir Isaac Newton said, “If I have seen farther, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.” In the past year, several times people have asked me about this or that “new” therapy approach. I asked them, “Who does this person quote?” Or “What psychological paradigm does she use?” They don’t know. Sometimes they go to see if they can look it up on the internet, but they can’t find anything about the person’s sources. It’s presented as if the person invented it out of nothing all by himself. That’s another big warning sign about low quality and non-professional work. When something comes “out of the blue” and has no historical foundation, suspect it!

Beware of “Fast and Easy.” If personal development, change, unleashing potentials, etc. were fast and easy, everyone would be experts, national champions, Olympic medalists, etc. But it doesn’t work that way. Development requires understanding, knowledge, discipline, intentionality, effort, patience, persistence, resilience—just to mention a few. Similarly, NLP is not fast and easy. Transformation isn’t effortless. And personal ‘breakthroughs” are rare. What’s more frequent is dedicated effort to one’s development and deliberate practice.