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Modeling is a technique used in Neuro-Linguistic Programming to discover, communicate, and duplicate the strategies people use to effectively perform certain tasks. The metamodel, which forms part of the foundations of NLP, was in large part the result of modeling the therapeutic techniques of gestalt therapist Fritz Perls.
While, as in the case of Perls, modeling can be done from second-hand sources, it most often involves spending time around the person being modeled while they're engaging in the behavior being studied. The modeler tries to discover what attitudes the individual holds about the activity, what representational systems they use to process information during the task, observes their physiology and cognitive strategies or patterns, as well as the more mundane practical skills they use. The modeler then systematically removes features of the rough model to locate the essential features of the strategy.
There are two basic strategies used to model, one is to model directly an individual, the other to perform a comparative modeling of two individuals (with the aim of identifying critical differences).
Modeling can be done at any level - a microscopic part of a behaviour or problem, through to a complete skillset or an organization. In each case, it simplifies the complexities of human behaviour, interaction and processing, without losing any of the key steps. Steps in an NLP model may be micro behaviours, microscopic decisions, response patterns, sequences, modes of processing, cognitive steps, body use, etc.
In the same way as mathematical models are simplifications of reality which allow quite accurate prediction and testing and a good working guide, so NLP models provide a good guide to how a human based "system" is operating, which can be used for teaching or for examining and identifying potential levers for change.
There are 3 principal uses of modeling:
- To identify from outstanding performers (such as top athletes or salesmen) what exactly they do which makes them outstanding. The skills can then be taught to others, and will often help improve their performance at the skill.
- To understand in functional detail, the nature of a dysfunction - a personal problem, or an organizational interpersonal or family problem, with the intent of finding how it "works", and therefore how it can be effectively helped to change.
- To generate models of how human beings work and process, and aid our understanding of the human mind and body. Many useful understandings started out as modeling projects to simply study another being and see what could be learned from how they worked.
In addition there is one other use, or perhaps important byproduct of a philosophical and humanistic nature:
The success and scope of modeling makes tangible, that people are not just "mysterious objects" or victims of environment and birth. The patterns they follow, whether positive or highly dysfunctional, the skills they have or lack, are at one level, simply established patterns in the mind-body, and these patterns can be unpackaged, studied, systematised, transferred and exchanged for better ones. Human beings' habitual talents and patterns can be understood and worked withon this level, and treated as variables capable of change or self-reflection, rather than being unchangeable forever.
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