More and more I read posts (in non-nlpweekly forums) on a relatively popular subject – the quality of NLP trainings, and the lack of professionalism that spreads through many of those. 

Almost always, I read a question from a new comer to the field, asking why nobody is regulating the quality of trainees, especially since they are being trained to be a sort of therapists. Now, therapy would be a bad word to use, because in many countries you are not a therapist unless a licensed school has certified you as such. 

NLP is not licensed nor authorized to certify therapists. Therefore, the certification any trainee get in an NLP training, is only a certificate stating he has participated in NLP training… it is NOT a license to do therapy of any sort.

In other countries, however, you can use the word Therapy and Therapist for everything and anything. You could form your own therapeutic method if you wanted… and if you research a little you’ll find out that many people have done just this. They formed their own “therapy” methodologies. 

Let’s see… NLP; DHE (Design Human Engineering); Silva method; EMT; TA; Reiki; NHA (by Anthony Robbins); Biofeedback; and so on. Many of those “models” rely on the same works and previous discoveries of Milton Erickson, Frits Perls (creator of the Gestalt Therapy – that’s when you smash a sofa by pretending it’s your abusive parent), Virginia Satir (a world famous family therapist), and other great names. 

On one side, NLP is not regulated in any way. Nobody can tell anybody or somebody else what to do, how to do it and if he/she is qualified to say NLP to clients. You can be a complete novice, without going to any training at all, and still practice NLP on yourself and on others, and charge money for it! Now, as long as you don’t charge yourself, there’s another side to this equation…

There are more than a few things that you simply cannot earn through reading a book or listening to a recorded seminar you’ve just downloaded online. There are some skills which you gain in a really good NLP training, which you have no chance of gaining in any other way. 

One of those skills is, in my opinion, a crucial one to any person who would want to succeed with his/her own NLP business. That skill is the title of this short article – Satisfaction Guaranteed. 

What I mean by it is simply that you would be able to guarantee your client’s success and satisfaction, years after they have left your office. That cannot be achieved by reading how to Swish or by downloading our audiobooks. If you’re only counting on learning passively and on your own, that Satisfaction Guaranteed is simply impossible to obtain. 

This is not only about money. It’s not about you promising your client a permanent result, no matter what, or they get their money back from you (or even better, pay them 100% more). It’s not only that. 

It’s your own confidence in your set of skills, which are not accumulated in a linear way, through reading and “trying out”. I can spend hundred of megabytes on the subject, because there are so many sides and angles to this. You see, if you try a pattern on someone, it may or may not work.. So, trusting the ultimate flexibility principle, you try another one… but that’s where your problem begins. 

In really good NLP trainings, you would not only learn how stuff work and break them down to specifics. You’ll spend a whole lot of time on synchronizing, while supervised by trainers who actually know what they’re doing. 

Synchronizing of models, knowledge, patterns and techniques – that is one global skill, which is crucial for your success, and yet you cannot gain it through reading or trying out alone. 

Where have you experienced that forced supervision to obtain synchronicity, regardless of NLP? Can you come up with an example? 

I’ll give you one (at least), and it should have jumped into your thoughts by now – DRIVING. You cannot initially learn how to drive in less than an hour, on a freeway, by reading it in a book or a website! It cannot happen, no matter how smart you are. There’s a guy or gal sitting next to you, who know what they’re doing and they force your head, your hands, your thoughts and your attention to the details you need to master, in order to drive on the freeway. 

In less than 40 minutes of my first driving lesson, the teacher directed me up to the freeway, driving 90km/h. that’s a huge advance from never sitting in front of a steering wheel and actually guiding those delicate wheel movements to keep the car on the right lane (left, if you’re British by mistake). 

Another example, maybe? Yes, I know you thought about it right now – SWIMMING. Be a hero, jump into the 3 meter deep water without having someone supervising your first encounter with the deep water… 

What about flying? No, come on… I don’t mean waiving your hands in the air. I mean learning how to fly an airplane. 

Hmmm… you know what… even Medicine is quite hard to learn properly unless you’re guided practically. In my school, I wouldn’t think of messing around with tubes and medicine, trying them out on clients to see what works better… I’d prefer somebody leaning behind my neck making sure I don’t kill the cat. 

So why do I still read posts from people asking why NLP is not regulated? Why do I keep reading questions about trainers and their lack of morality… while some other trainees find the perfect training, the most experienced and skillful trainers, and actually gain their NLP certification by proving they have mastered the material, and not just because they paid in cash… I’m just wondering.