Experience first, understanding to follow…

I just returned from a great three days PCW 4.0 in Osaka with a smart group. The live training in person allowed us to do many things we can’t do on Zoom.

Often when people come across PCW they think that understanding and using the stances are the main element for learning the model and they become too fixed on information. The real skill is to have the ability to connect with other people and to step beyond the ‘digital, logical sequential” sequences.

Continual professional development

When I learned from Frank Farrelly, he used to roll his eyes when some workshop attendees seemed to imagine they ‘full understood” his Provocative Therapy work. Often these individuals would have “mechanical awareness” but didn’t have the ability to work in a dynamic and creative manner. This is a challenge especially for NLP folks who often have a magpie like orientation to gather lots of information, but can’t work in a really precise manner. That precision is central to PCW and it always makes me laugh when people think that gathering a mountain of information is the best strategy to learn the model. Starting this month I am running an application only PCW CPD/Development training for the first time for those wanting to improved skills.

The business background that informed creating PCW

From 1986 to the late 1990s I worked in the corporate sector which involved setting up and running a number of substantial concerns and negotiating a series of million pound contracts. My work in sales and recruitment taught me about problem solving and I used those skills in subsequent years in my business trainings across the globe. The key principals in business formed part of “The Art of Good Fortune” events, which I ran from 2004 – 2006 and which I will be running again later this year.

When I started teaching NLP in 2001 I was amazed at how many therapists, coaches and trainers didn’t have key business skills. Often they would in my view miss the obvious in marketing and in corporate negotiations. I’m too busy developing PCW to seek out corporate work, but have agreed to some consultancy in recent times, which is very well paid and allows me to help build the intrastructure for Provocative Change Works across the globe.