In all of our programmes we are able to draw on a mass of knowledge and resources including various on-line assessment and feedback instruments using a systems thinking approach:
The Integrated Development Model is the process by which this is brought together to meet the specific needs of every project.
These resources include an international meshwork of experts in similar and related fields. No problem is too complex or too small.
We compliment this with a combined total of over 35 years in leadership and management positions in Corporate and Small and Medium sized Enterprises and over 15 years experience of developing people.
Each project we deal with is different and unique, so each solution is uniquely designed to fit each specific case.
The Integrated Development Model is best imagined as an empy space into which we first put the situation to be addressed and then draw in the necessary and relevant resources, knowledge and know-how appropriate to those particular circumstances and life conditions. It is not simply an eclectic mix of the best parts of other models, instead it has available all parts of other models which are utilised depending on need, and it is therefore in constant flux
We currently have access to:
Science and Philosophy
Everything used by Jackson Solutions has to pass their own high standards of integrity. A background in scientific research and a Doctorate in Philosophy based around studies into the nature of the interaction of matter by observing chemical species gives them depth in principles of analytical thinking and intellectual strength. Any technologies they use are subjected to thorough scrutiny and evaluation and the basis of the research and development behind them are thoroughly explored before any approach is adopted and applied.
Management Theory and Accountancy
With academic graduate qualifications in management and professional accountancy accreditations, Jackson Solutions are able to offer progrmmes underpinned with commercial expertise and a sound business mindset as required. A comprehensive understanding of most traditional management models and theory can be accessed as necessary and applied to current world events and systems.
NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming)
Neuro Linguistic Programming is a powerful technology for use in self development, business development, teaching, sport, therapy and many other applications. It makes use of the connection that naturally exists between information received and the development of the thought patterns that lead to many of our behaviours.
Linguistic – the communication/information received through our senses
Neuro – the way our brain responds to information received to codify, process and make meaning of it
Programming – the patterns of behaviour we develop as a result of our brains response to information received
For example, we might have an embarrassing experience as a child or young adult when standing up in front of an audience to speak for the first time that we find really unpleasant. We see the response on people’s faces, we may even hear them laughing and imagine it's at us. This might be reinforced by hearing people afterwards give ‘constructive criticism’ or overhear people talking and again imagine the worst. The end result is the combination of information received leads to a neural connection between the thought of speaking in public and the feeling of being embarrassed, ashamed and unloved. If the event is emotionally strong enough, one experience can be enough for us to react this way for the rest of our lives unless addressed. But even if no single event occurred, often repeated instances of a less emotional nature can lead to the same result. We don't really notice it's happening, but one day we just notice that we don't like speaking in public.
What happens as a result is a self generated auto-response thought pattern (a program to respond this way), a limiting belief that you’re no good at public speaking and the expectation that you’ll get a lousy reception and feel embarrassed and ashamed about the whole process. So much so that eventually even the suggestion that you might have to stand up in front of an audience gives you the same feeling.
So we can reach the point where the whole process happens in the mind – we imagine speaking in public and feel the emotional and physiological response similar to if we where actually doing it. NLP calls this imaginative domain the ‘subjective experience’ and it has a structure made up of images, sounds, feelings and other representations that are unique to each human being. NLP is a methodology that enables you to change the structure of your subjective experience to change the thought programs and auto-response patterns and so help you change your behaviour to that more likely to achieve your outcome.
The advantage of working this way is that you only need to change the structure once – provided you have made the right change, and you experience the evidence you need to convince you that the change has had the desired effect, then you will find your behaviours will have changed without the need for constant conscious remembering.
NLP can be used very effectively for overcoming undesirable behaviours – nervousness in front of an audience, compulsive shopping, over-eating, smoking, nail biting, phobia and fears, broken sleep patterns and so on.
NLP is extremely successful at creating new positive resources whenever you need them. New structures can be built within the subjective experience that allow us to get into the right state of mind for the circumstances. You can create your own programmes and your own triggers to set them off whenever you want and achieve your resourceful state – relaxation, energy, confidence, passion, listening, even getting in the right state ready for learning.
Early Development of NLP
Up to the 1970’s therapists and confidence coaches had tried various forms of applied psychology to deal with many of the issues faced by people every day. Success was variable with therapy programmes running for several months or years.
The two founders of NLP, Richard Bandler and John Grinder took a different approach. They studied several of the most successful therapists of the time (such as Milton Erickson, Virginia Satir and such like) to determine what it was that they did differently that made their work so much more effective. They found something different to the applied psychological approach, they found that these highly successful therapists worked not from theory, but with the very nature of the subjective experience as perceived by the patient. They did not generalise the patients experience to fit current psychological models. They were simply, in their words, working with the client’s experience and doing what worked.
Milton Erickson had developed his techniques intuitively and instinctively over many years and had evolved some incredible communication strategies that today form the basis of modern hypnotherapy. Yet it wasn’t until he was studied by Bandler and Grinder, he is recorded as saying, that he realised just exactly how he did what he did so well.
So Bandler and Grinder were then joined by deLozier, Dilts and Cameron who investigated further the approach that ‘simply just worked’ in something that became known as NLP - the study of the structure of subjective experience.
Current Developments and Training
The field of NLP continues to develop and continues to expand and much research has gone into explaining the psychological principles behind it.
There are a few key points to note regarding the current status and training of NLP…
NLP is a powerful technology and ethical and effective training lies at the heart of its longevity.
NLP is taught as a series of techniques, but NLP is not the techniques. A little like learning to drive a car through a series of instructions and processes that follow in order, but everyday driving requires much greater flexibility to handle the prevailing traffic conditions.
NLP is the study of the structure of subjective experience that creates an attitude and a methodology that leaves behind it a trail of techniques. The techniques are used to teach NLP but NLP is not the techniques, it is the attitude and the methodology.
This is very important to note, because many NLP training courses simply teach the techniques and are therefore often delivered quickly with relatively little study time – in as little as 5 to 7 days to become an NLP Practitioner. In our opinion, (and the opinion of many other ANLP and INLPTA trainers (see http://www.anlp.org/index.asp?PageID=331) these courses are ok to a point, but you need to make sure you understand what you’re getting when you go on one.
The NLP profession is not currently controlled although there are several moves to make it so and bodies such as INLPTA (www.inlpta.co.uk) and ANLP (www.anlp.org) are striving to maintain standards.
NLP is experientially learned and it is not a subject where theoretical understanding is a substitute. It is therefore very difficult to learn NLP through distance learning or reading books. These resources are a useful support mechanism. Understanding and working with the subjective experience can only be learned through experience and practice. Sometimes words do not exist to describe the experience, but then since the experience is what matters words are not always necessary.
In our opinion, short courses do not equip you with the ability to use NLP with anyone other than yourself. They are a useful introduction to NLP and personal growth and if you want to apply NLP in any situation where it might have an impact on other people this should be followed by a more rigorous 16 day practitioner training giving a total 120 hours minimum class time .
NLP is not a quick fix nor a simple case of learning the models and applying them, there is a skill to becoming an NLP practitioner that takes time to master. To learn it to any degree of respectable competence takes, in our opinion, at least the 250 hours of practitioner and master practitioner classroom training spread over 1-2 years supported with background reading and practical experience. Ideally, we also recommend people attend the INLPTA Trainer Training delivered by Wyatt Woodsmall - one of the finest trainer trainings in the world - to become truly competent. Even then, the learning never stops.
Of course every great learning journey begins with but a single step, so why not get in touch and find out what single steps are available. You might, for example, be interested in coming to our Chester NLP Network, contact us to find out more about it.
NLP is a powerful technology and ethical and effective training lies at the heart of its longevity.
Spiral Dynamics
Spiral Dynamics is a model that captures and represents the never ending upward quest of human development and evolution. It is derived from one of the most groundbreaking pieces of psychological research of the last century conducted by Prof. Clare W Graves in his theory of ‘Levels of Human Existence’. Clare Graves stood on the shoulders of giants such as Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, Brian Skinner and many others in conducting his research between 1950 and 1980. It became his life's work and it is significant in many ways, in particular in that it is one of the few pieces of psychological research based on primary behavioural data gathered from real situations. As the Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Union College, New York University, Clare Graves meticulously cross checked his findings over three decades before announcing his work to the world in 1978.
Subsequently his theories have been developed and substantiated by many leading psychologists and thinkers, including Ken Wilbur. In particular two of Clare Graves collaborators, Don Beck and Chris Cowan, assessed the application of the model to large social systems and, after using it successfully to support the abolition of apartheid in South Africa, wrote the landmark book Spiral Dynamics, Don Beck and Chris Cowan, Blackwell (1996).
"The psychology of the mature human being is an unfolding, emergent, oscillating, spiraling process marked by progressive subordination of older, lower order behaviour systems to newer, higher-order systems as man's existential problems change" Professor Clare W Graves
Spiral Dynamics represents the all encompassing bio-psycho-social-systems adult human development processes that are happening all around us. We are an evolving natural system and developing as a species in a way that is comprehensible and capable of prediction through this model. Although the timescales of natural species evolution may not at first seem to have implications personally to each of us in our lifetime, nothing could be further from the truth. The model applies to the development of any social system and is relevant to the changes taking place in an individual human being during their life and throughout their career and applies to the team, the department, the organisation, the society and the human race.
Spiral Dynamics integrates with other natural systems based models such as that of Arthur M Young's 'Reflexive Universe' and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's classic work on 'Flow', and fits within the emerging integral psychological models and theories of Ken Wilbur and the Integral Institue.
We develop as individual human beings throughout our life and that development is comprehensible and predictable using this model. It is happens whether you like it or not, so if you can understand where you are, what system you are in and what's happening to it, you stand a far better chance of developing with the grain rather than getting carpet burn by running across it.
If you are interested in finding out where you are personally in terms of your own stage of human development and getting an insight and understanding of any change dynamics you are involved in there is an on-line assessment instrument that can help you find out with our help. The cost is relatively modest compared to the insights and understanding you will gain from the feedback. The assessment is purchased on-line and there is an option to select a 30 minute telephone mentor session (that will be directed to us) to discuss and hear further explanation of the feedback. If would you would like to follow up this option then click the following link: http://www.onlinepeoplescan.net/deeperdynamics.asp?affiliate=106&mentorcode=PJ01
When this model is drawn into our Integrated Development Model, powerful insights and realisations of the self happen that will provide solutions to many of your unanswered questions.
Time Lines
Taught fully as part of an NLP Master Practitioner syllabus TimeLine processes are so powerful they are worthy of individual mention. Essentially they are a way of visually representing a series of events, and in personal development the timeline represents your life. Different people conceptualise time very differently so timelines have different shapes, different colours and move in different directions. They are hugely valuable to explore and understand and give great insights to self awareness, personal development and personal direction.
Myers Briggs Typology and Jungian personality theory
One of the most widely used and certainly most widely researched of the horizontal typological models is the Myers Briggs adaptation of Carl Jungs research into personality Type.
The model, through a series of questions and self assessment, enables you to identify yourself against 4 dichotomies: Extravert – Introvert; Sensing – Intuition; Thinking – Feeling; Judging – Perceiving. Each of us has a natural preference for one or the other of each dimension and so the model is valuable on two broad counts – discovering who you are according to natural preference, and discovering what you are not, yet, and therefore what you can do to attain balance in your personality.
It is generally accepted that each extreme of each dimension has both plus points and minus points according to context and so learning how to attain balance gives you flexibility in your response and behaviour towards different situations.
Coaching Conversations
There are many books and many schools of thought on what coaching is and all of them are right in their own way. We class everything we do as coaching and use the term 'coaching conversation' to distinguish the specific communication process that stimulates self awareness and development in one to one or group situations.
Coaching conversations, amongst other things, give you the ability to do something that is very difficult to do yourself; they help you dissociate from yourself and help you see yourself and your circumstances from a different point of view. Wisdom, in the words of philosopher Gregory Bateson, comes from multiple perspectives.
Dissociating yourself from an event or set of circumstances that really matters to you is particularly difficult on your own because the emotional aspect of what matters will tend to draw you back into association with the event. You can’t plan your route through the forest when you’re stuck in the undergrowth.
A coaching conversation for us is a one to one relationship where the coach helps the client to see the light and work out what to do next to get there. It usually involves defining an outcome, or at least a working outcome to begin with, and it usually involves exploring options to get there. It may then be about finding the preferred option, and what makes other options less favourable. It may be about recognising limiting beliefs and changing them, and it may be about dealing with all sorts of other issues along the way such as work-life balance challenges or work-based relationship challenges and so on.
Whatever the issues, a talented and experienced coach who understands the principles of personal development and personal performance and achievment can bring so much insight to your situation that you will develop and learn to move forward in ways that you previously believed were unachievable.
A coaching conversation is not counselling, therapy, consulting, advising or mentoring. It is the supported learning and development of another human being through the process of asking the right questions and introducing the right knowledge to help the client find their best way forward.
Coaching conversations in the Integrated Development Model benefit from all of the other rich resources, knowledge and know-how that can be directed at your own personal progress.
This cyclical integration of coaching as a resource to the Integrated Development Model such that it is also supported by all the other resources is an example of the total integration that exists within this model and gives it great strength and depth and ensures you a great coaching experience.
Hypnotherapy
Hypnosis is a deep relaxation process in which you allow yourself to change your mindset towards certain aspects of your life.
All hypnosis is self-hypnosis in which the hypnotist is a skilled facilitator. Therefore there is no question of whether you will be able to be hypnotised – you will if you want to be. No hypnotist can make you do anything you don’t want to do, or anything that is against your own values and beliefs. Stage 'hypnotism' is not hypnotherapy - what you see on stage is a totally different state of mind.
You will therefore also not achieve anything you don’t want to achieve and this is important to realise before you decide to try hypnotherapy.
The hypnotherapist will discuss with you the change you wish to make and determine some of the key obstacles. The hypnotherapist will determine your responsiveness to direct suggestion and then develop a hypnotic script to use during hypnosis.
Hypnosis itself is a state of deep relaxation similar to sleep but different. Many people remain consciously aware during hypnosis and have the opportunity at any time to end the process if they wish.
The skill of the hypnotist is in being able to induce a state of deep relaxation and in being able to produce a hypnotic script using specific hypnotic language patterns that address the obstacles preventing change and create new empowering thought patterns for new behaviours in future.
More information in Hypnotherapy is available on the General Hypnotherapy Register (GHR) website on www.general-hypnotherapy-register.com and both Philip and Alex Jackson are members of the GHR.
