A GUIDE TO CHOOSING A CHANGE AGENT

1. 1. Does your change agent spend lots of time gathering information about what has gone wrong in the past? While some of this can be useful, devoting a lot of time to gathering information about what went wrong will seldom lead to solutions.
   What leads to solutions is finding out how you or other people solve similar difficulties. Effective NLP practitioners will spend much more time gathering information about your positive goals and your personal abilities and resources.
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   2. Are you moving toward your goal or outcome? Some goals are typically achieved in one session by NLP practitioners, while others take more time. Even with goals that take more time, clients typically experience some movement in the desired direction within the first two or three sessions. If you don't, it may be time to work with someone else. Even if you are working with a skilled person, they may be missing something, or your goal may lie outside their area of expertise.
   Noticing movement towards your goal is the single most important criterion to use.
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   3. Does your change agent give you labels telling you what is wrong with you rather than spending time helping you to get what you want? This is a sign that another person may be a better investment for you. Diagnostic labels are not solutions; they usually provide little or no direction for you or the change agent to know what to do to help you get what you want.
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   4. Make a distinction between feeling good or feeling understood by the change agent, and whether you are getting the changes you want in your life. Ideally you can have both. However, some warm and wonderful people do not have the skills to help you get the results you want. If you have a wonderful change agent and you are not getting your desired changes, then you may want to try someone else.