Sun Aug 30 09:37:33 PDT 2015
How to Influence Others at Work by Dick McCann
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How to Influence Others at Work explores NLP techniques in the context of work. It was originally published in 1988. McCann was clearly influence by Bandler and by Milton Erickson (Erickson also influenced Bandler). The result is a short and engaging book, which certainly helps you remember that to be empathetic in your communications you need to match the communication style of your colleagues. Determining preferred means of communication - even if one does not necessarily completely believe in the psycho-verbal communication model - is undoubtedly a good idea. One concept that I found fascinating is the fact that the direction of eye movement reveals the type of remembering or thought construction that an individual is engaged in. When you are remembering - for most people - the eyes tend to drift to the person's left. When you are constructing thoughts - the eyes tend to drift to the person's right. Not everyone is the same in this - it depends on your handedness, for example. However, as Greg Hartley has described - you can use this basic observation to be more closely in synchronization with the person you are talking to. In addition to the information about communication models and the cues to people's recall and thinking processes the book talks extensively about pacing and provides specific instructions on improving your ability to empathetically pace colleagues. The book is now quite expensive at around 30 dollars - but I recommend it if you are interested in a practical, short book about improved communication at work.