80:20 Performance Solutions Ltd

New Code NLP

In little more than a decade Grinder and Bandler created the new and different field of NLP. With their irreverent attitude to the limitations posed by conventional thinking they were able to quickly develop new paradigms for change and understanding behaviour. Their work was widely and rapidly adopted by a diverse community ranging from therapy to business. NLP flourished and, like any successful field, continued to evolve.

The ability of Grinder and Bandler to work as a team was essential to the early development of NLP. By the mid 1980's both men were collaborating with different people allowing them to continue their NLP Developments and at the same time pursue personal preferences.

In surveying what he had co-created several issues became apparent to Grinder:

• Many NLP'ers, capable of excellent NLP Application, were not congruent in their use of NLP. That is, they were capable of applying NLP in working with others but did not practice self application.
• The core activity of NLP, NLP Modelling, was in danger of being forgotten. New patterning was thin on the ground and often little more than a cosmetic rehash of current formats.
• There was definite scope to optimise the Classic Code NLP formats in a very important way.

Grinder worked with Judith DeLozier in developing New Code NLP until 1988. In 1989 he began a collaboration with Carmen Bostic St. Clair with whom he continues to work.

New Code NLP is an evolution in NLP, the following is a very brief description, from an NLP perspective, of some of the key differences.

The breakthough came in the form of an NLP Pattern coded by Grinder during a seminar to a group of psychiatrists. This pattern is the 6 step reframe. Below we have adapted a comparison of Classic and New Code formats presented in Whispering in The Wind, Carmen Bostic St.Clair & John Grinder 2004.

 An Outline of the 6 Step Reframe :

1. identify the behaviour to be changed
2. establish a reliable involuntary signal system with the unconscious
3. confirm that there is a positive intention(s) behind the behaviour(s) to be changed
4. generate a set of alternatives as good as or better than the original behaviour(s) in satisfying the positive intention(s)
5. get the unconscious to accept resp[onsibility for implementation
6. ecological check

 An Outline of a Classic Code Anchoring Format :

1. indentification consciously by the client of the behavioural change to be made (present state)
2. identification (consciously) of the difference or resource the client requires
3. anchoring of both the problem state and the resource state
4. manipulation of anchors to replace undesired behaviour with desired resource
5. test work for effectiveness

(the above descriptions provide an overview of each pattern only and serve as basis on which to make distinctions, not to produce effective NLP Application. Operating either pattern effectively requires skills in, and a detailed understanding of, the principles of NLP Application) 

The two fundamental differences, from an NLP perspective, between Classic Code formats and New Code formats, as can be seen from the examples above are:

• In Classic Code formats the client consciously chooses what is changing and what resources to use. In the New Code formats the unconscious resources of the client are involved in change. As highly complex organisms, humans are not equipped to necessarily consciously understand the origins or purpose of our behaviour. Not only that but neither do we have the facility to consciously access all of the resources available to us. Utilisation of the unconscious is therefore, a radical leap forward.
• The Classic Code formats operate at the level of behaviour, by engaging the unconscious the New Code formats are able to operate at a higher level, the level of Intention. This is a significant development in that changes at the level of intention are more systemic than changes at the level of behaviour.

The New Code NLP format is an evolution of the Classic Code and as such many of the tenets of Classic Code NLP hold true in New Code, notably these include:

• use of calibration to verify ongoing change
• consistent use of resources from the past
• the principle of process over content
• the use of future pacing (achieved in New Code through anchoring the resource state to the context requiring change)

The New Code Change Format is a sequence of four steps where the coach assists the client to:

1. select from 3rd position the context in which she experiences a behaviour she wishes to change
2. localize a visual and auditory representation of herself in that specific context, associate into the representation of herself and self calibrate (coach calibrates state)

APPLY SEPARATOR STATE

 3.   play a New Code Game (in 1st position). Coach calibrates to ensure full activation of state

 4.   immediately re-enter the localized context requiring change   importantly - without any attempt to consciously influence the experience

Step 3 of the change format entails 'playing' a New Code game. There are numerous games available and the use of the terms 'game' and 'play' is literal. If a player exerts effort during play the quality of the state will not be as high as if he adopts a playful carefree approach to the game. The quality of the state activated during play determines the quality of the changes experienced.

Below is a video of John Grinder talking about New Code NLP.