Selecting an NLP Trainer

By Roger Ellerton Phd, ISP, CMC, Renewal Technologies Inc. www.renewal.ca

I was wondering what to write for this month’s article when I received an e-mail from Peter in Australia asking for advice in choosing an NLP trainer. Once I had replied to him, I thought, “What a great idea for an article.” So here are my thoughts, based on my experiences as a student of NLP and as someone who earns part of his living as an NLP trainer. In no particular order, this is what I would look for:

• Make sure your trainer is a certified NLP trainer and not just a Master Practitioner.
• Ensure that the trainer’s values are in alignment with your own – interview him/her in person, by phone or e-mail.
• Ask for references. Realize your potential NLP trainer will only give you names of people who enjoyed his/her training. However if you ask enough questions and listen for what is not said, you can discover a great deal about the trainer and his/her training.
• Determine who will actually be delivering the training. Some organizations have big names attend their NLP training for a morning or afternoon to speak on a particular subject. Sometimes this module is not fully integrated into the training and you may be better off attending a presentation by this big name at a later date when you have a better understanding of NLP and can ask specific questions of him/her.
• Address your own personal growth. For me, NLP training must include my own personal growth, therefore I would ask, “Do I feel safe with this trainer?”
• Determine the size of the class. Some NLP trainers have small intimate trainings (10 - 25 students), others put as many in the room as possible and use untested Master Practitioners as coaches during the exercises and breakout sessions. Yes, you get a well known signature on your certificate and how much value did you really receive from the training?
• Ask for an outline of the course and if the training has a particular focus - hypnosis, NLP New Code, NLP in business, coaching, personal growth, and so on. Pick a training that is in alignment with your interests.
• Establish what support is available after your training - telephone assistance, one-on-one coaching, etc. Some NLP trainers provide on-going support at little or no cost; other trainers, particularly those with large classes, can’t even remember that you were in their course.
• Ascertain the training team’s credibility - written NLP articles, books, given public presentations - or are they ‘wanta be’s’ operating out of their basement? Will your potential NLP trainer will be in business over the long-term? I have seen too many well-intentioned NLP trainers get into the business and then disappear within a year.
• Assess if you are getting value for your money. Paying a high price does not mean the training is better.
• Ensure the certificate that you receive is recognized by at least one major NLP body. There is no one certifying body in NLP.
• Determine the length of the training and what it involves. NLP practitioner training should involve at least 120 hours of study. This can include pre-study, homework, special coaching sessions and classroom time. Make sure there is sufficient classroom time for you to interact with the trainers and to practice the NLP techniques.
• Verify the ratio of certified NLP trainers to participants and ratio of coaches to participants.
• Make sure the training organization you select stands behind their program.

Enjoy your NLP training. It is well-worth your investment.