Business Intelligence Middle East

Neuro linguistic programming (NLP) has experienced increased exposure in the last few years, much of which has been attributed to the recognition that it has gained from managers as well as life and business coaches. The technique is considered to be effective in de-limiting personal boundaries, allowing people to reach their full potential. While the function of NLP is not limited to companies training their employees, the effectiveness of this coupled with the clear financial benefits has lead to rapid growth in this specific aspect of utilising NLP.

Within companies, large and small, ensuring that they manage to attain the most from their staff is a key aspect in strategic development, reducing labour-associated overheads, and increasing sales. Despite that, less than 10% of businesses globally train their staff in anything beyond the operations which they will undertake.

Through choosing to invest in NLP training, businesses can experience a tangible difference according to Dave Crane of the Dubai-based company The Life Designers.

In a service based company, for example, when someone manages to work 20% more effectively then you have gained a competitive advantage which you can use to deliver value to your clients or increase margins. In a sales department, the results are also just as tangible when you see employees increasing conversion rates and their total sales tally for the end of the week going up. Although these are all goals which NLP can help achieve, it is also important to understand that the value that it offers goes beyond that: it can make employees happier, more motivated and more loyal towards serving your goals and their targets.

“My company is about life design and my techniques are about motivation and self development in the business world”  says Crane.

“This is not a fixed model. I come in like a fashion designer would do and create a product for my client’s needs. In that sense I don’t sign a client for 20 sessions. What I want is that after one or two sessions, they will have the tools to go on and be successful.

The techniques that Crane’s company employs are treated with such high regard, that they also offer certification programs where by they teach others to be able to train in neuro linguistic programming. While certain providers have slightly different approaches to how they use NLP and implement it, Crane explains the fundamentals that help to define what it means: NLP involves firstly evaluating someone who has achieved excellence, as the client perceives it, in a field in which they would like to improve. NLP is then the process of using that person’s success, to improve the clients success by a process called modelling. In this interview he explains the techniques in detail and applications for the multi-cultural environment of Dubai and the rest of the Gulf.

BI-ME: Your website lists your different businesses such your company’s role in corporate entertainment and your successful Hypnosis Show that was a sell-out at the Madinat Jumeriah Theatre recently. What is your background and how did you come to the conclusion that such NLP techniques could have an application in the business world?

DC: When I first came to Dubai I was involved in the setting up the first commercial radio station Channel 4FM on 104.8 that was based on the Capital Radio model from London. I put a lot of input into the growth of commercial radio and we revolutionised the way that advertisers and programme producers operated on radio.

Since then radio has stagnated and it is not holding up so well against other media such as Internet. The basic problem is that there is no way of gauging what is growing. You can’t grow an industry without facts and figures. Because of that, radio stations have begun to believe that the accounts departments are right, without considering the quality of the reaction or the reach.

From that I learnt that you have to sometimes look deeper for solutions. At that time I had an interest in stage hypnosis. I wanted to know, is it real? I became qualified as master practitioner in NLP and I went on to perform around the world, in Las Vegas, Malaysia, Spain, the Maldives and of course in Dubai.

BI-ME: To a businessman in a suit and tie, the idea that hypnosis-type techniques can be used to have an effect on his own performance, or that of his staff, might seem surprising or even scary. How do the techniques work in the business environment ?

DC: What I have found is that the techniques are accepted here in the Middle East. I present the techniques in a scientific way as something that anyone can do and I found a market in the corporate world.

Most of it is based on NLP techniques. The first thing I will do with a client is to teach them that everything they do, they are responsible for. These days time is the one currency that we can’t get back. I talk about this a lot on my website. I show clients that ‘your life is your fault’ and the personal mindset is something that can get lost in the corporate world. In fact as children, we learn from a young age not to raise difficult questions in the classroom.

Similarly they way I explain about hypnosis techniques, is that is not me hypnotising the subject. They are hypnotising themselves.

BI-ME: Are there any specific legal, religious or other issues about doing business in the Middle East, where you can or cannot apply NLP?

DC: If you ask permission and you are refused you cant do it. Revolutionaries never ask for permission.

What I can say is that the whole interest in using the mindset is growing worldwide. My techniques create a ‘wow’ factor in corporate training that would otherwise be very costly to achieve. In what has traditionally been a learning-based industry – what we can loosely call training – I found a market for high-impact type corporate events.

One of the issues of the Middle East is that you cant motivate people by fear anymore, by using the threat of a visa ban or by withholding a bonus. You have to use training and you have to be self-sufficient. Dubai is growing so fast that it is running out of solutions to bring in the new workforce. You now have to keep the staff you’ve got and you have to keep them happy.

BI-ME: Can we refer to any other experts that are using the same techniques or are you unique?

DC: Tom Peters talks about the brand called you and this is very much in line with what I teach. From now on, you can be the CEO of your own company, called you. It is accepted that you should do this with your own organisation and the rules of life are very similar to the rules of work.

BI-ME: What are the specific programmes or products that you offer clients?

DC: I always emphasise that the support has to come from the CEO of the company; it has to be top down. One of the products is a CEO training programme, which has different elements from a group of specialist trainers that I have put together. The elements include how to maximise personal presentation and use of new technology, pod casting and so on. Another element is about personal development, another is about fitness and wellness and I have also brought in a leading image consultant.

CEOs are busy running the company and they dont get the chance to concentrate on the business of themselves. The Middle East and Dubai is a glamorous market based on who is doing what, and how they are perceived. In regard to this we can refer to the pioneers like Richard Branson or Donald Trump or Dubai’s Thomas Lundgren at [the furniture chain store] The One who is personally identified with his company.

Everybody aspires and wants to be like the big players but when you get to the top level you spend more time asking questions and less time talking.

But this is not a fixed model. I come in like a fashion designer would do and create a product for my clients needs. In that sense I dont sign a client for 20 sessions. What I want is that after one or two sessions, they will have the tools to go on and be successful.

BI-ME: When you customise a project or an event for a client how does it take shape?

DC:I would tailor-make a programme that would have self-improvement elements. This could focus on sales, creativity or stress management for example. They would take the form of separate workshops using NLP.

There are other techniques where hypnosis has an edge and you can quickly allow people to see themselves at their best. I use a technique called Dream Experience which involves hypnotising a whole room of up to 500 people. I have done this with insurance sales teams and it is about getting your senses to be part of your success.

BI-ME: Going back to the question of hypnosis, how do you get people to accept it and go with it?

DC: Rather than call it hypnosis, I would call it mind software. For example I recently  travelled to  Marbella, Spain, to  hold an event with 50 regional managers for Toshiba. I realise  it  is difficult initially for people to use intangibles, but sure, there are real effects even if they take time to work through the organisation.

In a recent Gallup study it was shown that on average 20% to 25% of the workforce is engaged with their career and the company. These big hitters bring in most of the revenues, up to 80% in some cases. Then there are 55% of people who are not engaged. They want to know where they are positioned in the organisation and they can become engaged, but they are not the real deadwood or the toxic ones. Those are the 19% to 20% of the actively disengaged who steal from the company or who take sick days. These are the ones that get up and leave when you use these techniques in a company, leaving you with a healthy organisation.

The actively disengaged people account for an estimated US$300 billion in revenues in the US. These are people in the wrong jobs that don’t want to be there. So if we translate this to the Dubai, we can see massive positive effects are possible. Add the issue of the visa ban [for employees seeking to move from one to another company] and how many people are in the wrong job and afraid to change?

BI-ME: You mentioned Dubai and the city is constantly changing. There are said to be 280 families arriving every day to set up home, buying or renting properties. With the multicultural mix and the 200 nationalities that are working here, is there an application for NLP in improving workforce relations?

DC: Dubai specifically is going to suffer from a brain drain because of the rising inflation and the executives that cant afford to live here. This might sound controversial but consider the Indian manager that can now go and earn 40% more back home. China and India are the new empires and the Middle East has to embrace its staff.

I train people to use communication techniques using NLP. Communication between different nationalities is about what is received and not what you say. Trust is gained by convincing other people that you are the same as them. There are dynamic ways to create the necessary rapport.

BI-ME: Can you give any specific examples of multicultural communication and the techniques you use?

DC: In the West we tend to use visual cues and use visual terms such as  do you see what I mean  or  do you see where I am coming from. In the Middle East the understanding is more auditory and you will hear terms such as ‘does that sound good or  does what I am saying click with you’. Conversely in Asia and the Subcontinent the senses are more kinaesthetic or tactile, so that what will make sense to them is how they feel. You will notice that frequently they will not make eye contact when conversing, but they will look away, contemplating the feeling of the interaction.

Using this representational system, very little can be blamed on misinterpretations. You can start to enjoy the differences within your workforce. When you are aware that everyone is coming from a different point of view, you start to enjoy them more.

BI-ME: Does NLP have a particular application in sales and personal motivation?

DC: Teaching sales people involves some of the cutting edge techniques. It s like the old saying  you buy the person first and the product second  and that is especially true in the Middle East. It is like what I call martial arts for motivation.

I am introducing the Dream Experience for a major airline that I cant name. In this workshop they will take all their travel agents on a dream travel experience to show all their exotic locations. It will be organised like a TV game show and the travel agents have the chance to win major prizes. This is just one example of the things we can do.

Most companies spend too much time on systems or IT products and not enough on their people. When people are effective, is to allow them to play into imagination. This may be the reason that I have many clients from the IT world, such as Cisco, Samsung, TechData (APC) and Toshiba. There is no doubt that the IT industry gets what I am doing, they appreciate the benefits. For example TechData saw a 49% increase in sales as result of the techniques and they are publicly-quoted on that.

BI-ME: You mentioned that NLP initiatives need to come top down from the CEO of the organisation. Are there any other particular barriers to getting acceptance?

DC: The HR managers and HR groups may feel threatened. But what I provide is not the training that usually comes under their area; it is high-impact motivational techniques. As in any industry there are those that get it and those that don’t. A lot of companies say they want staff to start thinking out of the box, but they very quickly discourage it. That is the mindset I want to change and to work with.

BI-ME: Finally, is there anything you would like to add about your company Life Designers or future projects?

DC: We have  major plans for the CEO training programme I mentioned. My aim is to allow people to be the best that they can be. CEOs should ask themselves  what is the worst that can happen. If anything the experience of the Middle East shows that you have to buy into these types of techniques.

More information about Dave Crane and NLP is available at http://www.thelifedesigners.com/