Metaprograms

This has nothing to do with software development (where “metaprogram” is a valid term).

Metaprograms are ways in which people choose to approach life and their relationships with other people. You could say that they are useful way of characterising their attitude.  They usually characterise (and even explain) someone’s behaviour.

Metaprograms, as a concept, appear to have been developed by practitioners of NLP (neuro-linguistic programming).

They are usually expressed as dyads, for example:

• proactive / reactive
• positive / negative
• introverted / extraverted
• motivated towards something positive / motivated away from something negative.

There are some fifty metaprograms, and the simplest, like those above, are powerful ways of helping one know the best ways of communicating with someone else.

Examples

For example, suppose you determine that someone who runs a small business a is motivated to move away from negative situations.  This might be because he or she sees their problems as being around avoiding having too few clients, avoiding running into debt , avoiding being sued and so on.  Another person in a similar job may be motivated towards acquiring more clients, acquiring money and delivering a good service.

Although these two groups of drivers (away from debt / towards money) are, of course, the same things, the way that the individual approaches the situations in which they happen is key to how they run their business.  An obvious area where knowing whether someone is motivated towards or away, is in marketing and selling.  If you want a prospect to become a client, you will deliver a much more powerful message if you use words which are aligned with how they approach acquiring services like yours than if you get it the “wrong way around.

Another example.  In one small business of around ten people, it turned out that every single one of directors and staff was reactive.  Now, although successful, this business’s growth had stalled for some time.  It was impossible for me, as their coach at the time, not to see why.  Everyone was sitting on their hands waiting for someone else to be proactive in addressing the problem.

(You could say that, actually, they had addressed the problem, even though they didn’t know that this was what the problem was, by hiring me.  But it was only by doing a simple exercise around metaprograms that the obviousness of the situation was brought home and they were able to see how they could usefully change.)

Related material:
> Article on metaprograms  [external link]
> Article on metaprograms  [external link]

© 2015 Jeremy Marchant Limited . by Jeremy Marchant . date added 1 may 2015 . image:  Free images