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The Renewal Times

July, 2006.
ISSN 1705-3773 The Renewal Times

The Renewal Times is a publication of Renewal Technologies Inc. and is edited by Roger Ellerton.

This newsletter may be republished without permission, provided it is reproduced in its entirety and provided copyright is acknowledged. To reproduce sections of the newsletter, please contact Renewal Technologies Inc. at info@renewal.ca.

Please forward this newsletter to friends and colleagues. To become a subscriber or to view previous editions of this newsletter, please visit www.renewal.ca/newsletter.htm.

Please note: The material in this newsletter is presented for information only. It is not a substitute for medical, psychological or professional advice. Please consult a qualified professional.

Included in this newsletter:

Thought for the day
Health Notes
Upcoming Seminars
Feature Article
Humour
More Information

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Thought for the Day
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Never give in. Never give in. Never give in.

Sir Winston Churchill

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Your Assistance
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** Attention Meeting Planners: If you're booking speakers for winter, spring or summer conferences or events, keep me in mind--even if you have a last-minute cancellation. I deliver high-content, interactive programs that are well-received and lots of fun.

** Many of you have purchased a copy of my book, Live Your Dreams Let Reality Catch Up. If you enjoyed this book and found it useful, please let your friends and colleagues know about it. Also, if you are a member of your local public library, please suggest to them that they purchase a copy so that as many people as possible can get benefit from this material.

Thank you, Roger Ellerton

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Health Notes
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Workouts are a Good Way to Beat the Blues

In a study of adults with mild to moderate depression, researchers noted that burning a certain number of calories each week through aerobic exercise resulted in significantly lower depression scores over time. The workouts in the study were equivalent to a 150-pound person burning about 1,200 calories per week.

Exercise treatment for depression: efficacy and dose response. Dunn, A. L., Trivedi, M. H., Kampert, J. B., Clark, C. G., Chambliss, H. O., American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2005 Jan;28(1):1-8

Bananas May Help Keep Your Kidneys Healthy

New evidence suggests that eating bananas regularly may help reduce the risk of kidney cancer. Women in the study who ate the most bananas had the lowest risk of kidney cancer. Root vegetables, such as carrots and beets, and leafy green vegetables also appeared to have a protective effect.

Fruits, vegetables and risk of renal cell carcinoma: A prospective study of Swedish women. Rashidkhani, B., Lindblad, P., Wolk, A., International Journal of Cancer 2005 Jan 20;113(3):451-455.

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Upcoming Seminars / Workshops
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We are pleased to offer the following public workshops/seminars:

Going Beyond the Limits of Traditional Coaching

Discover why goals don't work and experience what does! Learn the nuances in the NLP coaching model for resolving the most common, challenging coaching issues such as procrastination, values conflicts and life transition issues. Presented by John Overdurf.

August 25 - 27, 2006

Introductory NLP Evening

September 6, 7:00pm – 9:00pm

Please come as our guest. Invite a friend to come with you. Registration is required so that we can reserve a seat for you. E-mail your name and the number of people attending to info@renewal.ca. For more information, please see www.renewal.ca/freeseminar.htm.

During this event, we will have a book signing for Live Your Dreams – Let Reality Catch Up: NLP and Common Sense for Coaches, Managers and You and offer you a special discounted price.

Getting More Out of Life

A series of three programs designed to help you get more out of life through discovering who you are at many levels -- your place in the world, your mission in life and to inspire you to take action to pursue your mission with passion and joy in a way that is respectful of others.

September 15 - 17, 2006 Program 1: Discover Yourself-- Find Out What is Holding You Back

NLP Practitioner Training

Three week-ends: October 20 – 22, November 3 – 5, 10 - 12, 2006

Three week-ends: February 2 - 4, 16 - 18, 23 - 25, 2007.

For our most recent schedule and a description of these workshops/seminars, please visit www.renewal.ca/neurolinguistic.htm

Click on the following link for the location of our NLP Training Centre in Ottawa (Stittsville), Ontario

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Feature Article
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This article may be reproduced, provided it is reproduced in full, including author bio and a link to renewal.ca. If you republish this or any of our other articles without including the author's name, bio and a link to renewal.ca, you will be in violation of copyright law and sent an invoice.

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Getting to the Root of the Problem

By Roger Ellerton Phd, ISP, CMC, Renewal Technologies Inc. www.renewal.ca

When addressing a problem or issue, coaches, counselors, consultants, managers, parents and even ourselves often focus on the symptom; using a 'bandaid' to cover it up and then wondering why the problem or issue is not resolved.

To fully address a problem or issue, the root cause must be identified and resolved. A process developed by Toyota in the 1970's and regularly referred to as the 'Five Whys' is effective in uncovering the root cause of the problem or issue and the process that gave rise to it. Basically the process involves asking 'Why' about five times as you look for more specific answers.

This very useful technique can be improved using the following NLP concepts:

There are more effective questions than those that begin with why.
The process developed by Toyota is based on becoming more specific.
In order to get truthful answers, those participating in the process must feel safe and not feel judged or attacked.

In NLP, we prefer to avoid using a 'Why' question. When you ask someone "Why?", often they may feel threatened and feel they have to defend what they or their colleagues have said or done, thus making excuses or rationalizing their behaviour. If this occurs, there will be little opportunity for determining the root cause or resolving the issue. Asking questions such as, "What specifically is wrong?", "How did this occur?" or "What gave rise to this problem?" focuses our attention on the problem and the process that gave rise to it. Hence we have a clearer focus, more information and an understanding of what exactly is wrong and how the process can be improved. If you are a coach working with a client, it may be more effective to talk about your client’s strategy (rather than the process) and how the strategy can be changed to get a different result.

Asking questions in order to become more specific is referred to in NLP jargon as 'chunking down'. To get a clearer understanding of the problem and how it occurred, we may ask any of the following questions:

How, what, where, who, when specifically? E.g. What caused this problem? How did this occur?
What is a component of this? E.g. Focus on a particular component, part, or action.
What is an example of this?

The exact questions you will ask depend on the situation.

In summary, the objective of Toyota's 'Five Whys' process is to gain clarity on what is the problem and how the process (or strategy) can be adjusted to get an improved result in the future. The basic steps are:

Start with the end result, or symptom.
Chunk down or get more specific by asking questions such as the above, while avoiding “Why’ questions. This step is repeated about five times.
Create a space of safety and trust for those involved in the process.

To illustrate, assume we are meeting with our production team as a major client has registered a complaint.

Who specifically is complaining? Answer: The President of ABC company.
What specifically is he/she concerned about? Answer: The quality of our last shipment.
Which product(s) and from where was it shipped/produced? Answer: DVDs from our California plant.
What specifically was the problem? Answer: The shipment did not meet their specified criteria.
How did that occur? Answer: This company has special needs that were not communicated to the production department.
How is it that the production department was not aware of these special needs? Answer: There is no space on the order form to indicate this requirement.
If this information had been available to production, could we have met his needs? Answer: Yes.

Sometimes there maybe more than one path to follow. In the previous example, the client may have been upset with the quality of the product and failure to deliver on time. Here we have two paths to follow. You should always look for a second or third path as the first path may be the most obvious and not the one with the greatest impact.

This easy to use process can be used in a variety of situations: customer service, quality control, a coach assisting a client, a parent assisting their child with a problem at school, a manager uncovering problems with his/her team, ... . It can also be used to gain clarity on a future desired outcome and the process required to achieve it. In fact you are only limited by your imagination.

Author: Roger Ellerton is a certified NLP trainer, certified management consultant and the founder and managing partner of Renewal Technologies. He can be reached at Renewal Technologies www.renewal.ca. The above article is an extract from his book Live Your Dreams - Let Reality Catch Up: NLP and Common Sense for Coaches, Managers and You.

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Humour
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Inflation allows you to live in a more expensive neighbourhood without moving.

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. -- Ronald Reagan

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More Information
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For more information, please visit our website or contact us at info@renewal.ca

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Books, ebooks and CDs by Roger Ellerton

Click on the following links to obtain more information on these products:

Book: Live Your Dreams Let Reality Catch Up: NLP and Common Sense for Coaches, Managers and You.
e-book: Live Your Dreams Let Reality Catch Up: 5 Step Action Plan.
NEW! Book: Parents' Handbook: NLP and Common Sense Guide for Family Well-Being.
e-book: NLP Techniques Anyone Can Use. Discover the power of NLP.
CD: Ho'oponopono, a meditation to bringing balance into your life.
CD: Balancing Modalities, a meditation to improve access to the visual, auditory, kinesthetic and auditory digital modalities.
CD: Outcome MASTERY, a process and meditation to help you achieve what you desire - more comprehensive than SMART goals.

Renewal Technologies Inc.

Ottawa - Kingston - Gananoque
Ontario, Canada
K2S 1G2
www.renewal.ca
info@renewal.ca