FORGING A NEW FUTURE FOR NLP

A truly historical event occurred January 8, 9 and 10 in the coastal city of Alicante Spain, on the Mediterranean Sea. It occurred when 33 top leaders in the field of NLP came together representing 13 countries and multiple languages for a conversation of a lifetime. Another ten were expected, but for family issues and other things at the last minute they were not able to come. These leaders typically were key leaders in various National Associations of NLP around the world— The Association of NLP of the UK, of Germany, of the Netherlands, Australia, Canada, etc. and we even had one of the original co-founders of NLP with us, Frank Pucelik from the Ukraine.

For three full days officially from 10 am to 7 pm, and many more hours at breakfast and in the pub, we had many of the conversations that the field has needed to have for the past 40 years. We actually began these four years ago when we began the half-day (4 hour) Summits in London prior to the NLP London Conference. We began those Summits to know each other and become acquainted with each other so that it began to build trust between us. And what we did there was taken to a much, much higher level in this three-day intensive. Several commented on the level of trust and sense of community that has emerged among us.

The Idea of a “Summit” In the world of politics, when an issue or a problem arises in a country and it is too big, too overwhelming, too global a problem for the leaders of one country to solve, often an invitation will go out to the leaders of half a dozen countries or a dozen or two dozen to come together to talk about it. They call that conversation, a Summit. The Summit has no power, no organization, no army, no budget, etc. It is just a meeting of leaders to put their heads together to talk about a shared problem or a shared challenge. Sometimes, however, out of such Summits, arise an Alliance that is empowered by all of the countries.

The NLP Leadership Summit is similar. The Summit, as such, has no “authority” to prescribe or control. It is a place, or perhaps more accurately an experience, wherein the top leaders come together to encounter a shared problem or challenge. That’s what we have done. And what has emerged, ever so slowly (well, for my tastes) is a growing sense of collaboration and willingness to take some effective actions to address the problems of “negative press,” misrepresentations, lack of an international unifying body, the “cowboys” giving NLP a bad name, etc.

One problem in the field of NLP has been the divisiveness—the separating into individualistic camps. This has led to the Elephant-in-the-room problem that every person new to NLP excitedly and surprisingly asks, “Do the leaders of NLP talk to each other?” “Do they get along?” “Why are there these divisions and camps?” “Why don’t the leaders apply NLP to themselves?” For years, many of

us talked this way primarily with regard to Richard Bandler and John Grinder. Then we spoke about it regarding those who have been carrying the mantle of leadership from them.

The good news is that today we can say, “The top leaders of NLP are talking and attempting to work together.” “And they are also forging ahead looking for how we can co-create the kind of future for NLP that we all want— a future wherein the model/s of NLP are recognized, found credible, and is progressing in the world as it enables people to change their lives for the better and become their best selves.”

Accomplishments to Date From the second Summit, we created a website, www.nlpleadershipsummit.org. We also discovered that we could agree upon a list of values, ethics, and a basic definition of NLP. In this fourth Summit, I think everyone realized what a few said repeatedly, “We have so much more in common than I ever thought.” I would guess that 80% or more of what we think of as NLP and what we do we have in common and agree upon. And regarding the ethics and professionalism, I think that we are nearly 100% in agreement.

From this summit we formed six Project Groups which will be working to produce different things and many of these will be on the website. We will also be producing a small book Powered by NLP: The 2016 NLP Leadership Summit. This will provide documentation of the Summit in a variety of ways— articles, poems, stories, pictures, even jokes.

What we did during the Summit was experience co-leadership. That’s not easy. I think it could be said that everyone of the leaders present is a person of strong opinions and a person who gets things done. They are not just talkers. They are there, in part, and self-funded themselves to come because they are successful in their own right in using NLP. Many (probably most) are or were trainers, entrepreneurs who run or had run Training Centers. Others are therapists, consultants, coaches, or researchers. And as the saying goes, leading a group of strong-willed people like that is “trying to herd cats.”

In facilitating the group, Heidi Heron and myself, set up the processes so that everyone had a opportunity to be in front of the group and present what one of the three (or more) smaller groups had deliberated on. We also facilitated conversations within the larger group— and many times it became very animated. Yet, amazingly, we truly kept applying the NLP Communication Model to ourselves so the conversations were respectful and considerate even when the conversations became intense. I felt proud of the group and everyone in the group.

On to the Future of the field of NLP The next NLP Leadership Summit will be Friday April 15 in London just prior to the NLP Conference. And the next 3-day Intensive Summit will be January 12, 13, 14, 2018 and we will return to the same hotel in Alicante Spain.

Open Invitation to the Field of NLP We now have over 100 top leaders in the field of NLP listed on the website: www.nlpleadershipsummit.org. Any “Leader” in this field is welcomed to join this “tribe of elders” if they meet the following criteria:

1) You have been in the field of NLP as a “leader” for 15 years or more.

2) You are committed to high standards for NLP which means you not engaged in things that lower the quality, like doing NLP Practitioner training as a 5-day workshop.

3) You are “good” with the definition of NLP we have on the website and able to “sign off” on it?

4) There is someone on the NLP Leadership Summit who will recommend you as an ethical and professional person.

5) You are a “leader” because you have been teaching, training, coaching, and/or influencing people to enter the field of NLP and they consider you a leader.

6) You are a part of a recognized NLP Association which has a Code of Ethics that you are held to.

Participants as of 2 January 2016

Netherlands Anneke Durlinger, Netherlands Anneke Meijer, Netherlands Jaap Hollander, Netherlands Lucas Derks, Netherlands France Brian van der Horst, France Gilles Roy, France UK Bruce Grimley, UK Joe Cheal, UK John McLachlan, UK Ireland Judith Lowe, UK Karen Meager, UK Lisa de Rijk, UK Melody Cheal, UK Reb Veale, UK Scottland John McWhirter, Scottland Chile Fabiola Escobar, Chile Ukraine Frank Pucelik, Ukraine Australia Heidi Heron, Australia Laureli Blyth, Australia Germany Karl Nielsen, Germany Nandana Nielsen, Germany Portugal Luzia Wittmann, Portugal USA Michael Hall, USA

Rachel Hott, USA Steven Leeds, USA

Canada Shelle Rose Charvet, Canada Switzerland Ueli Frischknecht, Switzerland Hedi Roulin, Switzerland Romania Catalin Zaharia, Romania

Those who were planning but could not make it at the last moment UK Michael Carroll, UK Norway Lene Fjellheim, Norway Austria Peter Schutz, Austria Australia Terry McClendon, Australia