Well, this is our first Blog! I guess all we’ll say is Welcome to Blue Bamboo’s amazing world of NLP, Coaching, Performance Improvement, People and Organisational Development, Personal Effectiveness, Fun, Challenge and Change!
All the people involved in the set-up phases – from website to marketing, vision to plan, phone calls and meetings (with and without biscuits), goodwill, challenging feedback et etc….a big thank you! It’s been a pleasure and your personal and professional insights have been a huge help.
It’s an interesting experience setting up a new business venture. I’m curious to know what others have done and how their journeys are still unfolding. In the current climate of variable degrees of positivity (given recession, cuts and ash clouds), it’s nice to know that in the world of NLP and Coaching we find plenty of opportunities to find value in everyday experiences. News is News; how we deal with it is often what really counts. And finding ways of seeing things differently – finding the learning and the love in the chaos – is something that we find ourselves increasingly needing to do, for ourselves and out clients.
So what, I wonder, are the personal attitudes, beliefs, values and behaviours that encourage people to look for the positive, rather than focus on the negative? What makes some people able to behave as if their cup was always ‘half full’ not ‘half empty’?
Whilst the answers to these questions are many, our experience in Blue Bamboo has seen a number of fairly consistent themes emerge: one such is that when people are really, really clear about what they want, whay they want it and what would be different for them on a daily basis when they achieve their goal, problems become challenges, dilemmas become opportunities for alternative strategies, criticism becomes valuable feedback and market forces beyond our control become spurs to increased effort and determination.
Another theme is about really, really knowing where you are NOW. The present moment is a useful place to be; it’s full of information to utilise in the next steps towards your goal. NOW allows for a review of the past, without actually being in the past. NOW creates space to plan for the future, without actually getting caught up in doubts and uncertainties of what could be waiting. And NOW allows you to really assess the skills, knowledge, capabilities, attitudes, beleifs and values that are present that have brought you to this point in the first place!
NLP helps too. There’s a useful assumption (or helpful belief) that sits somewhere in the middle of NLP’s philosophy: inside every behaviour is a positive intention. When dealing with other people’s unhelpful behaviours, this prinicple has proved to be valuable: when se spot the drivers behind other people’s behaviours (maybe they just want to do a really good job for you; maybe they’re anxious about being exposed as not so knowledgable; maybe they simply don’t want to make a decision that upsets you..) we begin to deeal with them more compassionately. We enagage with the ‘real meaning’ of the behaviour, rather than the ‘surface level’ behaviour itself. Extending this theme to an team, organisational, national or even global level is fascinating. When we go looking for the positive drivers behind what’s going on around us, a surprising thing occurs. We notice positivity! And then the real magic happens – we grow, we ‘re-frame’ what on the surface may appear to be confusion, hopelessness and chaos into self-awareness, positive beliefs and next steps.
So, in all our journeys through the challenges of the current climate, our personal aspirations, goals, hopes and dreams, let’s take comfort in human beings’ ability to choose how we respond.
