NLP Communication Skills: Neuro-Linguistic Programming for Managers – Paris, 16–20 Nov 2026

Programme overview

Introduction:

Managers who present, coach and influence often lose agreement through vague goals, loose questions and language that misses how listeners process information. NLP communication skills, drawn from neuro-linguistic programming, offer a set of tools for sharper outcomes, calibrated rapport and precise questioning, although the research base of the method is debated and the course treats them as practical technique, not therapy. This Core Concept course trains managers to apply the meta-model, reframing, perceptual positions and anchoring in presenting and coaching conversations. Participants build a Personal NLP Communication Plan and rehearse an influencing conversation.

Course Objectives:

• Define well-formed outcomes for meetings, presentations and coaching sessions using sensory-based evidence criteria
• Calibrate a listener's responses through sensory acuity and build rapport with pacing and leading before proposing change
• Apply meta-model questions to recover deleted, distorted and generalised information in requests, objections and status reports
• Reframe objections and setbacks using context and content reframes and review a situation from first, second and third perceptual positions
• Prepare a resourceful state before presenting using anchoring and align influencing messages to logical levels of identity, values and behaviour
• Produce a Personal NLP Communication Plan and deliver a practised influencing conversation with observer calibration notes

Target Audience:

• People managers who set direction, delegate work and run one-to-one coaching conversations with their teams
• Team leaders and supervisors who influence peers and stakeholders without formal authority
• Internal coaches and mentors who question, challenge assumptions and help colleagues reach their own decisions
• Project and change leads who present proposals and handle objections from sponsors and affected groups
• Client-facing managers who explain recommendations and gain agreement in advisory and account conversations

Course Outline:

Day 1: NLP Presuppositions, Evidence Debate and Outcome Framing

• NLP Origins, Modelling Approach and Communication Presuppositions
• Research Evidence Review: Contested Claims Versus Usable Technique
• Well-Formed Outcome Criteria: Positive, Sensory-Based and Ecological
• Outcome Frame Versus Problem Frame Question Sets
• Personal Communication Baseline Using a Self-Rated NLP Skills Wheel

Day 2: Sensory Acuity, Rapport and Representational Systems

• Sensory Acuity Drills: Calibrating Yes, No and Uncertain Responses
• Pacing and Leading Sequence for Building and Testing Rapport
• Representational Systems: Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic Predicates
• Predicate Matching Scripts for Emails, Briefings and Slide Headlines
• Preferred Representational System Claim and Eye-Accessing Cue Limits

Day 3: Meta-Model Questioning and Language Precision

• Meta-Model Deletions: Unspecified Nouns, Verbs and Comparatives
• Meta-Model Generalisations: Universal Quantifiers and Modal Operators
• Meta-Model Distortions: Mind Reading, Cause-Effect and Nominalisations
• Precision Question Ladder for Status Reports and Vague Requests
• Milton Model Permissive Language for Inviting Rather Than Directing

Day 4: Reframing, Perceptual Positions, Anchoring and Logical Levels

• Context Reframe and Content Reframe Patterns for Objections
• Perceptual Positions Walk: Self, Other and Observer Viewpoints
• Resource Anchoring Routine for Pre-Presentation Confidence States
• Logical Levels Alignment: Environment, Behaviour, Capability, Values and Identity
• Future Pacing and Ecology Checks to Avoid Manipulative Influence

Day 5: Applied Role-Play and the Personal NLP Communication Plan

• Role-Play: Proposal Presentation with Anchored State and Predicate-Matched Openings
• Role-Play: Coaching Conversation Using Outcome Frame and Meta-Model Questions
• Role-Play: Tense Exchange Handled Through Reframes and Perceptual Positions
• Influencing Conversation Rehearsal with Observer Calibration Notes
• Personal NLP Communication Plan Drafting and Peer Review

Skills You Will Gain:

• Outcome Specification
• Sensory Calibration
• Rapport Pacing and Leading
• Precision Questioning
• Linguistic Reframing
• Perspective Taking
• State Management for Presenting
• Values-Level Influencing

Why Attend This Course:

• Leave with a Personal NLP Communication Plan and a rehearsed influencing conversation reviewed by trained observers
• Separate NLP techniques that help everyday workplace talk from the claims research has not supported
• Turn vague requests and sweeping objections into specific, answerable statements with a short set of meta-model questions
• Walk into presentations and coaching sessions with a tested routine for a steady, resourceful state

Conclusion:

NLP is most useful at work when it is treated as a toolkit for clearer outcomes, closer listening and more precise language rather than a set of proven psychological laws. The week moves from presuppositions, evidence and outcome framing through calibration, rapport and representational systems to meta-model questioning, reframing, perceptual positions, anchoring and logical levels. The final day applies these tools in recorded role-plays, and each participant completes a Personal NLP Communication Plan for the presentations, coaching and influencing conversations ahead.