Meta programmes are dynamic and context-dependent because people’s state of mind is often dependent on where they are. When you’re at home, you feel one way, and when you’re at work, you might feel significantly different. If you’re with friends, you might feel a completely different way. So, depending on where you are, your state of mind is usually different and so are your meta-programs and behaviours.

When you, as a leader, practice calibrating where your employees and others are right now, you also have the opportunity to play back the META programmes and personal profile they have right now and match them on a deeper and more detailed level. This knowledge and application of META programmes can be used to meet people where they are and build trusting connections. You can adapt your way of communicating to match the person. Meta programmes are also great for teamwork as they explain some of the human differences you experience in teamwork. This can lead to a greater acceptance of differences and thus better utilisation of the different resources that each person possesses.

When talking to someone, listening to them for a few minutes can help you decode how they think and get motivated, so you can design your language in a way that makes it difficult for them to not be motivated to do what needs to be done.

By using META Programmes in NLP, we can develop greater flexibility in our thinking and behaviour. When we understand our own META Programmes and are aware of others’, we can adapt our communication and interactions to achieve better results. For example, we can adapt our communication style to meet the needs of a detail-orientated person by providing more specific information or adjusting our energy level.

In personal development, META Programmes can also be useful for identifying areas where we want to grow. For example, if we realise that we are very necessity-oriented, we can work on opening ourselves up to more opportunities and taking more risks. By challenging our META Programmes, we can expand our horizons and achieve greater personal growth.

In conclusion, META Programmes in NLP are a valuable model for understanding individual differences in human thinking and behaviour. By increasing our self-awareness of our own META Programmes and being aware of others’, we can improve our communication, understanding and personal development. META Programmes are a useful tool for creating greater flexibility and adaptability in our lives and relationships.

6.3.4.3 Key META Programmes for the Excellent Middle Manager
The Excellent Middle Manager sees and uses the META programmes from two different perspectives, in line with the key points just described about the use of the selected META programmes.

Firstly, the Excellent Middle Manager is able to mentally move around all the corners and scales of the selected metaprograms and apply them in their communication with others and with themselves. The chaotic dynamics and constant interplay of the META programmes means that the Great Middle Manager is constantly on a quest to decode the current META programmes of the world around them and apply them in their communication.

Secondly, outstanding middle managers have some very specific commonalities in the form of META programmes, which they make particular use of in their leadership function, as they emerge as excellent and outstanding middle managers in leadership situations.

They have four basic META programmes that are always present in their behaviour and five META programmes that they use more situationally.

The four basic META programmes of outstanding middle managers are that they are:

• “Externally referring” rather than “internally referring”,
• the excellent middle managers are “towards-orientated” rather than “away from”,
• excellent middle managers “See opportunities” rather than “procedure”,
• and excellent middle managers are “general” rather than “specific”.

The other five META programmes for outstanding middle managers are that they are:

• “sort by self” rather than “sort by others”. They also “sort by team”. They prioritise the team and make decisions based on team performance. See model
• “Proactive” rather than “reactive”. They proactively look for observations that can be used to create results and develop the team professionally and personally.
  • Including problems that need to be solved
  • Development points that point forward
  • Collect information from staff, colleagues and customers every day
  • Here, personal conversations are used very actively
  • Performance appraisals are taken extremely seriously
  • There is no huddling for conversations. React immediately and address the conversation as soon as possible
    • “Opportunity-orientated, decisive and solution-oriented”. They take the bull by the horns once a task is observed.
• “Outgoing”. This is especially true in bilateral conversations.
• “Externally referencing”. This is especially true for personal conversations.

The other metaprograms for The Excellent Middle Manager are more scattered, so a pattern cannot be detected here.