Tools to be a better coach: discover representational systems

Really active listening, knowing how to ask the right questions or giving good feedback are three skills that a coach must master in order to carry out their accompaniment process in an effective. But there are many other skills and tools that the coach can learn and develop to do her job even better.

In this way, there are more and more coaches who are committed to training in NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming), a system that allows us to understand how we configure our thoughts, emotions and ways of communicating, which is, without a doubt, a plus to increase the understanding of the mental map and the behavior of the coachee.

Within the different tools or knowledge that NLP provides and that substantially multiplies the success of the coach's work, they are the so-called representational systems, which help to understand how the coachee perceives reality and, therefore, will make it easier for the coach to carry out a better accompaniment.

Related article: "What is Coaching and what is it for?"

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What are the representational systems of NLP

We perceive the world around us through our senses. These They are responsible for capturing information and transmitting it by nerve impulses to our brain., which parses it and generates a response.

Therefore, the senses are what provide us with the information to relate to the environment: reality is an interpretation of the information that we experience with our senses.

The important thing here is that everyone has their own specific way of capturing that information.. Although we use the 5 senses continuously, in each person one of them unconsciously dominates in that data collection. That is to say, each person, faced with the same reality, depending on the sense that he uses in a prominent way over the others, will make a different representation of it. This is what NLP calls representational systems, which it classifies as visual, kinesthetic, auditory and digital.

You may be interested: "17 curiosities about human perception"

Characteristics of the different representational systems

Some of the general characteristics of the pure forms of each representational system (remember that we do not present only one, but one stands out above the others), they would be the following.

1. Visual

A visual person:

Remember more what you see: For example, he remembers faces, but not names.
Speak in visual terms: 'to the naked eye', 'it looks good', etc.
When he talks about concepts such as freedom or love, he does so taking into account an image of it, not a sensation.
She is energetic, tidy and takes care of her appearance.
He speaks loud, clear and fast and uses a lot of gestures to 'draw' what he says.
He thinks and learns fast, but he also forgets just as fast.
His body posture is straight, with his eyes raised and his head erect.
Related article: "Visual Cortex of the Brain: Structure, Parts, and Pathways"

2. Kinesthetic

A kinesthetic person:

He records his experiences with his body, with his feelings, so he remembers and produces it.
use sensory expressions: “heated discussion”, “balm for the soul”, etc.
She is relaxed, moves more slowly and seeks comfort, even in her appearance.
His voice is slow, soft in volume, and he sighs a lot.
He learns slowly, but when he does, it's forever.
She wants the closeness of people: she touches you when she greets you.
His body posture is somewhat submissive, with shoulders and head forward.

3. Digital

A digital person:

It is logical, it hardly shows emotions and what matters most are the words.
She moves by objectives and the truth is her motto.
He keeps his distance from others because he doesn't like to be touched.
His tone of voice is monotonous and repetitive and he prefers not to look into her eyes when she talks or listens.
His posture is with shoulders up and head forward and he tends to look forward.

4. Auditory

An auditory person:

The most important thing for her is the sound: he uses it to create the experiences.
He notices what they hear others say and remembers it that way. That is why he uses expressions such as: "this is unheard of", "let's turn a deaf ear", etc.
She is quiet, has a very pretty voice, doesn't like loud noises, and her appearance is informal.
His posture is similar to that of the digital and he doesn't look to listen: he listens to you.

The implications of this for coaching

If a coach knows in depth these characteristics and other details of the representational systems, detecting the system that predominates in his coachee, can better understand how that person perceives reality and, therefore, you will be able to establish a better harmony with your coachee, which paves the way for the coaching process to be a success.

Related article: "What attitudes and skills are desirable in a coach?"

Do you want to be a coach with training in NLP?

At D'Arte Human & Business School we take care that the coaches who train with us leave our school with the skills in NLP that will give them a plus of quality in their professional work.

For this reason, in our Master's Degree in Professional Coaching, students not only study the theoretical bases of coaching and its methodology, but also train as Practitioners in NLP, which allows them to approach and delve into the fundamentals of Linguistic Programming, including systems representational.