The basic phases of the typical NLP modeling process reflect the movement from implicit to explicit modeling encapsulated by Grinder's initial proposition to Bandler.
These phases include:
Preparation
Preparation for modeling involves selecting a person who has the capability you wish to model, and determining:
a) the context in which you will do the modeling
b) where and when you will have access to the person to be modeled
c) what relationship you want with the person to be modeled
d) what state you will be in while doing the modeling
It also includes establishing the appropriate conditions, anchors, and 'life lines', that will allow you to fully commit to the project.
Phase 1- Unconscious Uptake
The first phase of the modeling process involves engaging the person to be modeled in an example of the desired performance or capability within the appropriate context.
You begin "modeling" by going to 'second position' in order to build intuitions about the skills that the person is demon
strating. This is done without observing for any specific patterns. Instead, simply take on the posture and physiology of the model and attempt to identify yourself with him or her internally. It is sometimes best to take on the micro muscle movements of the individual rather than mirror the obvious
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actions of the person. The overt behavior of the model is the 'surface structure'. Micro muscle movements and second position shifts will enable you to get to more of the deep structure behind it. (Also, sometimes overt mirroring can be distracting to the individual you are modeling.)
This is the phase of "unconscious uptake." Do not try to and assumptions are put aside with reference to one's ongo
ing experience. (This is sometimes humorously referred to as a "Nerk-Nerk" state, named after a fictitious space alien invented by NLP trainer and developer Todd Epstein. "Nerk
Nerk" can see, hear and feel everything that we can, but does not have any of our assumptions or interpretations about intuitions from being in 'second position' with the person you are modeling, arrange for a context where you can use the skill that you have been exploring. Begin to try out the skill within that context "as if' you were the person you have been modeling. Then, attempt to achieve the same result just being "yourself." This will give you what is known as a
"double description" of the particular skill you are modeling.
When the responses you get are roughly the same as those that the model gets, then the first phase of modeling is complete.
Phase 2 -The Subtraction Process
The next step in the modeling process is to sort out what is essential in the model's behavior from what is extraneous. (A person does not need to sit in a wheelchair and wear purple paj amas, like Milton Erickson did, for example, in order to be able achieve similar therapeutic results using hypnosis.) At this stage, you start to be explicit about the strategies and behaviors you have modeled. Since you are able to get similar responses to the person you have modeled, you will want to use your own 'first position' behavior as a reference as well.
(That is, enacting the skill "as yourself' rather than "as if' you were the individual you have been modeling.)
Your objective is to clarify and define the specific cognitive and behavioral steps that are required to produce the desired results in the chosen context(s). At this stage, you will also want to begin to systematically leave out pieces of any of the behaviors or strategies you have identified, in order to see what makes a difference. Anything you leave out that makes no difference to the responses you get is not essential to the will also have your 'second position' intuitions of the model's capabilities that you have developed from placing yourself in his or her "shoes." In addition, you will have a 'third position', perspective from which you can notice the differ
ence between the way you replicate the model's capability and how that person manifested the capability in his or her original way. This is known in NLP as a "triple description."
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Phase 3 -Design
The final phase of modeling involves designing a context and procedure which enables others to learn the skills you have modeled, and thus be able to get the results that the person who served as the model has been able to achieve. To produce the design, you will want to synthesize the informa
tion that you have gained from all three perceptual positions.
Rather than simply mimic or imitate the specific steps followed by the person you have modeled, for instance, it is generally most effective to create the appropriate reference experiences for the learners that will help them to discover and develop the particular "circuits" that they will need to perform the skill effectively. It is not necessary to force them to go through the same modeling process that you went through to gain the skill .
Different students will have differing conscious and uncon
scious competences as their "starting states." This is impor
tant to factor into your design. If a particular procedure that you have modeled requires visualization, for instance, some students may already be able to do this quite effectively, while for others, it may be a completely novel idea. Thus, some students may be able to combine multiple steps in the procedure together into a single step, while others will have to break a particular step into smaller sub-skills.
Again, the guiding principle is the "usefulness" of your design for the students for which the model is intended.