Reply To: No NLP in NLP Research and Recognition Project

[Heidi Heron]

(reply from Bruce Grimley)

Hi Lisa,

Thank you for your email. I think the challenges the R&R program have had in this respect are really significant for the NLP community. It is something I found emerging in my research, that is the tendency for Gatekeepers to pay attention to the letters NLP and not the quality of work being presented and in doing so don a set of negative filters and reject much work associated with “NLP” preventing the credibility we would like in tertiary education and beyond. It seems to me it could be argued the work the R&R is doing and the strict adherence to research protocols could be deemed to have more in common with excellent clinical psychology practice than what has traditionally passed for NLP.

I personally think being able to standardise a set of procedures, (Pattern), within a context and produce material to support the operationalisation and implementation….and finally to demonstrate the way forward supported by the research findings which emerge in appropriate peer reviewed journals would be a good way to go. However I fully appreciate many would say this is not NLP…..but Psychology.

I personally think this situation raises a really interesting set of challenges which we need to address. I am waiting for a peer reviewed paper to be processed, however this really does take an age ( sometimes over a year in my experience) and I can appreciate the frustration this must cause when NLP practitioners see the evidence and experience it first hand on a regular basis……but I would suggest the two ideas; immediate experience and peer reviewed research are not mutually exclusive.

With very best wishes for continued success,

Bruce 

Dr Bruce Grimley. B.Sc (Hons). M.Sc. Ph.D. Chartered Psychologist.
Accredited Master Executive Coach.
Master trainer in NLP.
C.Psychol. AFBPsS. HCPC registered.