NLP coach helps clients realise their true potential
Anneme Coetzee is CEO of Accelerated Business Excellence and a neuro-linguistic programming trainer
What is neuro-linguistic programming (NLP)?
NLP describes the fundamental dynamics between the mind (neuro) and language (linguistic) and how their interplay affects our body and behaviour (programming). NLP is the psychology of thinking.
Tell me about your work as an NLP coach.
As an NLP coach, I ask specific questions to gather information about how my clients think. The more I understand how and what they believe, the more I know about the rules that govern their behaviours and, ultimately, their results. I work with my clients to challenge the beliefs/assumptions that negatively affect their goals.
For example, if I am working with a business owner who cannot trust people to do the job properly and finds it difficult to hand tasks over to staff — this affects the growth of the business. We don’t know how much is being run unconsciously and how the smallest beliefs can influence our lives. I bring into my clients’ awareness what they were unaware of before, so adjustments can be made. I also work with management teams, assisting in aligning their strategic objectives and values to achieve success.
What do you find most meaningful about the work you do?
I believe that our “voids” (challenges, or the biggest sources of pain in our lives) create our values and become our biggest gifts. As a child, I experienced abuse, major insecurities, anxiety and feeling disempowered. These challenges inspired me to build my businesses on the foundation of empowering others to reach their true potential.
Helping a client to realise and recognise their immense value and the gifts they have to offer is a modern-day miracle.
What did you want to be when you were a child?
I always wanted to study psychology. I was fascinated by human behaviour and wanted to understand it. Even though I ended up working in the corporate environment for several years, my successes were because of my love and understanding of people.
What is the best career advice you have ever received, and who gave it to you? Two things stand out for me:
“You only have one name/reputation, and all the money in the world can’t buy it back for you.” Look after your brand and your name and the rest will take care of itself.
“If you lose a staff member, you as the leader have failed them.” This was difficult to accept at first, as I was a new sales manager and it was before my NLP training. Today I understand how powerful it is, of course. I know I can’t control what others do and say, but how I communicate can have a massive influence on how they respond to me. Leading people also means making sure they are in the best position for who they are. As Einstein said: “If you were to judge a fish for its ability to climb a tree, it would believe that for its whole life it was just stupid.”
This advice I got from my father, Hardus Coetzee.