Meta Model for Coaching

Meta model is a linguistic tool which was developed in 1975 by the founders of Neuro Linguistic Programming. The Meta Model formalized developments into a richly defined set of linguistic patterns that can either facilitate change or create obstacles in a person’s mental maps of himself and the world. They are designed for the express purpose of challenging the limitations in the mental maps carried by clients who seek professional assistance in changing themselves.

The function of the Meta Model is to help us identify and transform problematic deletions, distortions and generalizations in our thinking and communication with others. Meta Model violations are obstacles on the path to success. Different individuals have different numbers and kinds of Meta Model violations in their thinking and speech. The meta model, questions the vocabulary which people use to improve the quality of the conversation. It can also be used to analyse how someone thinks and deliver information back to them in the form of linguistic structures as a reason to influence them to a desired outcome.

Deletion

It’s a process of paying selective attention and it can be a conscious decision or an unconscious one. Deletion may be useful in some contexts but pain for majority of it. Deletion helps us to break down things into smaller chunks which we can handle. While the deletion proves to be useful in some cases, yet it is the major cause of pain in lot many things. For example, a person can delete rest of the information while choosing only what he/she needs, it might benefit for them. But, if the same person deleted information while communicating with another person, it’s a pain. Meta model violations for the Deletion are:
a. Simple Deletion
b. Comparative Deletion
c. Unspecified Verb
d. Nominalisations

Distortion

It’s the process which allows us to make interpretations based on the earlier experience. This process of bringing in information through your senses and then playing with that information in your mind to create new concepts, ideas and understandings. This process made all the artistic creations possible as it involves the ability to distort and mispresent the reality. Meta model violations for Distortion are:
a. Mind Reading
b. Lost performative
c. Cause and Effect
d. Complex Equivalence
e. Presuppositions

Generalization

It’s a process by which you take an element from the model of your world and use it to experience an entire category of experience. This process can work for or against you. For example, having one terrible experience with a member who represents a cause does not mean that all the people who share that cause are the same. When people create these generalizations, it will limit their lives rather than improving it. Meta model violations for Generalization are:

a. Universal Quantifiers
b. Modal Operators