With regard to a goal…

1) Ask "What are the benefits of NOT achieving this?" to identify hidden benefits of the current situation.

2) Ask "What is the need or want that this benefit is satisfying?"

3) Ask "How can I get this benefit while I’m achieving my goal?" to identify better ways of satisfying the wants & needs.

I was once working with a team who had been without a leader for some time, and were continually ‘fighting fires’. Their newly appointed leader wanted help bringing the team together around a shared goal, with a more proactive approach. We spent some time exploring the ‘What do you want? / How will you know?’ questions, and established a goal for the team that they seemed genuinely excited about. Then I asked them an unusual question,

"What are the benefits of NOT achieving this?"

Of course, they protested that there was no good reason not to achieve their goal, and that there were no benefits of things staying as they were. But I pressed the point, & they started to find benefits:

These were all ‘hidden benefits’ that they would have to find other ways to get if they were to achieve their goal.

In almost any situation, there will be hidden benefits. If these benefits are uncovered, you can find other ways to satisfy them and achieve your goals more easily. However, if you are not aware of the hidden benefits of a situation, it can make it more of a struggle to change. So, with regard to a current goal you wish to achieve or change you wish to make…

1) Ask yourself "What are the benefits of NOT achieving this?" & pay attention to your answers.

You can look for other hidden benefits by asking "What are the benefits of the current situation?" The answers to these questions may seem strange or even a bit embarrassing, but once you’ve identified them, you can begin to find new ways to deliver the benefits as you achieve your goal.

A benefit is only a benefit if it addresses a need or want, so the next step is to identify the needs or wants that the hidden benefit is addressing.

2) Ask "What is the need or want that this benefit is satisfying?"

Anthony Robbins talks about six basic human needs, so if you’re having trouble identifying the need or want, check this list for inspiration. Robbins’ six are paraphrased as follows:

One of the basic presuppositions of NLP is that every behaviour has a positive intention (nb. The presuppositions of NLP are not true, but if you act as though they’re true in certain situations, you can get fantastic results.) It can be liberating to realise that there has been a positive intention behind something you have been coding as ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’. Once you know which needs or wants you’ve been satisfying, you can dream up some alternatives to find even better ways to feel satisfied in the future.

3) Ask "How can I get this benefit while I’m achieving my goal?"

Use your imagination – there’s always another way of meeting your wants and needs. The great news is, you’ll often come up with ways of getting far bigger benefits than the ones you currently have.

Sometimes people will be adamant that there is no benefit in the current situation. If this happens, check how long things have been as they are. If it’s more than a few weeks, then it will have been familiar. If things have been like this for years, it will have been VERY familiar! Human beings have a deeply coded need for familiarity, so track down a new way of providing consistency & familiarity (eg. a daily practice like meditating, exercise, reading etc.) This can provide a base of stability in a changing situation.

For more advanced students of NLP: hidden benefits are often referred to as ‘secondary gain’. Secondary gain often operates outside of conscious awareness, ie. in the domain of the unconscious mind. The unconscious mind is responsible for body language, voice analogues etc. When there secondary gain is present, you will often notice incongruence, such as…

Ask the person what the effect of getting what they want will be. Secondary gain incongruities will often show up as they describe the effect.

best wishes,

jamie

jamie smart

director

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