12:46pm Monday 8th September 2008
By Deborah Johnson
COMPANY bosses are being urged by a lifestyle coach to use the tactics behind Team GB’s Beijing Olympic success to help steer the economy away from recession.
For a number of years, imagineering – a form of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) – has been used to inspire success in the US and Russia.
Britain – where imagineering has only recently taken root – secured a record medal haul at the Beijing Olympics, producing the country’s best performance for 100 years, because competitors learned how to imagine what winning was like to enhance their performances.
One member of Team GB who subscribes to the psychology is triple gold medalwinning cyclist Chris Hoy.
Harrogate-based international NLP expert Sonia Saxton – who has worked with some of Europe’s leading companies including LG Philips, Pfizer and Parker Hannifin – said UK businesses are lagging behind competitors in using NLP techniques to improve performance and drive results, and urged them to look to Team GB for inspiration.
She set up her NLP business, Saxton Partners, after using its techniques to help a sales team at Royal Sun Alliance beat its sales target by more than 100 per cent.
“Our athletes have always had the ability, but they did not truly believe they could win. The Americans and the Russians have always been better at dreaming and fulfilling those dreams. Now we have caught up,” said Ms Saxton.
“If an athlete can imagine winning and what it is like to have heard the crowd as they cross the winning line, they get the feeling of what it is like to win. It becomes a reality to them, and their mind shifts its perception of what is possible and enhances their performance.
“If you applied the same winning formula to a business or sales team, for example visualising having gained a sale or winning a contract, you can see how beneficial it would be to your company.
“Some companies already use NLP to boost performances of both teams and individuals, particularly at more senior levels in the business.
“However, there is definitely an opportunity for more businesses to use it, and across different levels of the organisation.
It can have quite remarkable, long-lasting results, as well as improving morale and communications.”
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