what is the "new code"?

The "Classic Code" and the "New Code" NLP

The New Code NLP is the evolution of the Neuro Linguistic Programming on the part of his co-creator John Grinder, at the beginning with the collaboration of Judith Delozier and then with the collaboration of Carmen Bostic St. Clair.

The new code is a consequence of a sequence of design activities, not a modeling activity in the strict sense that we have defined it.

The fascinating and fully engaging task of making explicit the complex behaviors of a number of extremely talented people (Satir, Perls, Erickson…) had a profound effect on the co-creators of NLP. While Grinder and Bandler had exercised themselves greatly in approaching each of the modeling projects in a disciplined know-nothing state, it became apparent in the late ‘70s that the distinct models of excellence that had been coded had significant overlap.
Further their extensive experiences in the application of the patterning and the design demands in the training context led naturally to a deep appreciation of the variables common to the patterns, partially explicit and partially tacit.

For example, the manipulation of state (both the state of the agent of change and of the client in a change work application) is seen to be common to all interventions, and simultaneously as an example of one of the members of the set of design variables that slowly emerged from these extensive experiences, constantly developing and testing new methods for making the transfer of patterning more effective and efficient.

These adjustments represented steps in this inductive process of making at least partially explicit the set of design variables underlying the classic code patterning.

All this activity left the two-co-creators of NLP with a partially explicated set of design variables.

It was about this time that these two men decided to separate their interests. Looking back now with the advantage of hindsight, it is apparent that each of the two co-creators of NLP subsequently pursued their personal preferences. The form that the exploitation of the partially explicated set of design variables took in the case of Bandler is what he refers to as the Design of Human Engineering; while in the case of Grinder, it took the form of the New Code.

In Grinder’s case, the systematic use of the partially explicated design variables that resulted in the new code can be understood to be a certain kind of self-modeling. […] “I arrive at new patterning by a partially conscious and more importantly by an unconscious manipulation of certain design variables; I use feedback to determine what is worth pursuing until I reach some criterion – that is, until I am satisfied that I have achieved the results I wanted to achieve. Then and only then, do I attempt in a disciplined manner an explication of the patterning that I have designed".

Parts of the New Code were developed in collaboration with Judith Delozier – the book “Turtles All the Way Down” written by Delozier and Grinder catch a part of this common effort.

The collaboration between Grinder and Delozier stopped in 1988. Grinder continued to develop and refine the New Code in collaboration with Carmen Bostic St. Clair since 1989.

The New Code represents a natural although radical extension of certain variables embodied in the classic code. In particular, there was from the beginning of the coding of the classical code a number of constant practices:
1	an insistence that putative changes had to be verified through calibration for the agent of change to be satisfied that change had occurred;
2	the consistent use of experiences of the past as the source of states of high performance to be used as resources in change work;
3	the deliberate avoidance of content as an important part of the process of change;
4	the use of contextual cues as anchors to ensure appropriate reactivation of the resource state involved (future pacing) and
5	a relative lack of concern with conscious understanding on either the part of the client and the agent of change with respect to the content of the changes being made. This translates to refusing to indulge in investigations into the origins of the behaviors to be changed – in other words, an avoidance of all archeological activities.

The new code, then, takes these variables to their extreme values. For example, in the new code, the so-called resources states are created directly through the participation of the client in an activity – often a game – that itself creates a high performance state but one, curiously enough, that has neither history nor content to it. It is simply a game but a game that activates neurological circuits that serve as the base for changes in the designed to ensure that certain characteristics that are typical of high performance states are present.

The technical requirements of the new code compared with the classic code are sharply reduced, lowering the skill threshold for people desiring to participate.

In the critique of the classic code we identified design flaws that the New Code corrects. These flaws contrast maximally with the Six Step Reframing format that we are proposing creates the bridge from the classic code to the new code. In the new code, we find that:
1	The unconscious of the client is explicitly assigned the responsibility for the selection of the critical elements – the desired state, the resource, or new behaviors;
2	The unconscious is explicitly involved in all critical steps;
3	There are precise constraints placed upon the selection of new behavior(s); more specifically, the new behavior(s) must satisfy the original positive intention(s) of the behavior(s) to be changed;
4	The manipulation occurs at the level of state and intention as opposed at the level of behavior.

Taken, translated and adapted by Andrea Frausin and Alessandro de Vita Zublena from "Whispering in the Wind", by John Grinder and Carmen Bostic St.Clair, Whispering in the Wind, J. and C. Entreprises, 2001.

Adz Conseil's Business Coaching and Personal Coaching explicitly contains the patterns and models of the new code. Explanations are also provided for the transformation of every classic code model into a model which benefits of the New Code.