Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
NLP PRESUPPOSITION
Behind every behaviour there is a positive intention
A presupposition is an implicit belief about A presupposition is an implicit assumption about the world or background belief relating to an utterance whose truth is taken for granted in discourse.
Presuppositions are not grounded statements; they are assumptive with implied beliefs relating to the world. From a Meta Model perspective, presuppositional statements are not well-formed for example
Every behaviour?
Which behaviour specifically?
According to whom?
Intention – intend how specifically?
The world? Who/what specifically in the world?
So presupposition is not true. The group of ‘NLP Presuppositions’ are said to be convenient beliefs for an NLP Coach to act as if’ the presuppositional belief is true in the coaching context.
All behaviours have consequences, and it’s the consequences of the behaviour that are the real challenge for the client. By chunking up to the intention of the behaviour, and then discovering alternative behaviours that satisfy the intention, where the consequences bring choices to the client’s life, where choice was lacking, the coach is supporting the client with holistic change, without negating the original behaviour, which once may have had value for the client.
The above can be done through negotiation with the unconscious as in many New Code NLP change formats or through conscious deliberation with the client in a strong resource state
One aspect, that both Classic and Original New Code NLP overlooked, which Emergent New Code NLP addresses, is the testing of new choices directly in the live context where the client was lacking choice and a loop built into the change work of trial and error with new choices until the client’s targets/outcomes for the coaching is fully met, so behaviours, intention, consequence and outcome are aligned.
NLP PRESUPPOSITION
Behind every behaviour there is a positive intention
A presupposition is an implicit belief about A presupposition is an implicit assumption about the world or background belief relating to an utterance whose truth is taken for granted in discourse.
Presuppositions are not grounded statements; they are assumptive with implied beliefs relating to the world. From a Meta Model perspective, presuppositional statements are not well-formed for example
Every behaviour?
Which behaviour specifically?
According to whom?
Intention – intend how specifically?
The world? Who/what specifically in the world?
So presupposition is not true. The group of ‘NLP Presuppositions’ are said to be convenient beliefs for an NLP Coach to act as if’ the presuppositional belief is true in the coaching context.
All behaviours have consequences, and it’s the consequences of the behaviour that are the real challenge for the client. By chunking up to the intention of the behaviour, and then discovering alternative behaviours that satisfy the intention, where the consequences bring choices to the client’s life, where choice was lacking, the coach is supporting the client with holistic change, without negating the original behaviour, which once may have had value for the client.
The above can be done through negotiation with the unconscious as in many New Code NLP change formats or through conscious deliberation with the client in a strong resource state
One aspect, that both Classic and Original New Code NLP overlooked, which Emergent New Code NLP addresses, is the testing of new choices directly in the live context where the client was lacking choice and a loop built into the change work of trial and error with new choices until the client’s targets/outcomes for the coaching is fully met, so behaviours, intention, consequence and outcome are aligned.
