How Prevalent is the “Hypnosis Problem” in QMS Certification Bodies?

With the revelation that AAQG held an official training session on how to use NeuroLinguistic Programming (NLP) hypnosis techniques on AS9100 clients, it’s worth looking at how deep the problem runs.

In case you missed it, NLP is a dubious, debunked, quasi-spiritual approach to hypnosis whereby the practitioner uses subtle, unseen methods to coerce the subject into agreeing with him/her, often without the knowledge of the subject. When it’s used in “therapy” the subject is obviously informed, even if they are being sold absolute junk science that claims their flu, phobia or cancer can be cured just by the use of NLP.

But when NLP is used by sales people or auditors, it’s being done without the subject’s knowledge or consent, a serious breach of ethics and auditing rules. Auditors can hardly say they audited objectively if they are busy hypnotizing their clients into willing submission, in order that they agree with them.

 The Unusual Suspects

So who’s doing it? It seems it is not just Rick Randall, the AS9100 and ISO 9001 auditor who gave the AAQG presentation on NLP in 2013. A quick search shows other auditors simultaneously claiming NLP Practitioner status.

First we have San Diego executive consultant and hairspray-can explosion victim Janette Bailey, of CUSTOMatrix, who boasts of being a “certified AS9100 Auditor” and “Master’s Practitioner of Neurolinguistic Programming, … trained in Advanced Clinical Hypnosis.” The good news is that Dr. Bailey apparently also a bit of a resume-stretcher, since her name doesn’t show up under active AS9100 auditors in the OASIS database. So she’s probably not auditing anyone other than her lipliner sales rep.

Next we have Mohan Karambelkar of Mumbai India, who claims to be a lead ISO 9001 auditor and “Certified NLP Trainer, Certified NLP Master Practitioner, Certified Life Coach.” If you hadn’t choked over that self-aggrandizing egopumping, to make matters worse he says he “achieved the highest title ‘Distinguished Toastmaster’ (DTM).” That makes sense; no Toastmaster possessing humility has yet been discovered.

Ann Jagan of Canada is both an Certified Plexus Service Provider, but also “an  independent Third Party Auditor and Consultant  in the Automotive and Service Sectors.” According to this bio:

She has had 100% success in helping her clients achieve and maintain their registration status to both Quality Management and Environmental Management systems requirements defined by  ISO 9001 and EMS 14001.

I don’t know about you, but I find it irritating when third party auditors take credit for the success of their clients, after spending only a few days on site at each. But whatever… her credentials also include Certified NLP Practitioner. Perhaps if I sat with her long enough for her to map my eye movements, mirror my seated posture and let her yank my arm out of its socket while pretending not to notice, I too would be hypnotized into overlooking her dubious credentials.

UK-based “Life Coach” David Cliff makes no bones about mixing his quasi-religious NLP practice with his ISO work, although it’s not clear if he is currently auditing.

Perhaps you want to improve your money management, reduce stress or take a major step in exploring your own spirituality?

With over 30 years of experience in personal growth and organisational development, David Cliff of Gedanken Ltd provides, a whole range of tailored coaching and personal development services. … At Gedanken,will develop a comprehensive approach to your needs and tailor the support you seek uniquely to you. With I3 Profiling Accreditation and ISO 9001 , we can offer quality and objectivity suffused with experience and humanity.

(“I3 Profiling” is apparently a Newer Age form of the Myers Briggs personality testing.)

Hong Kong’s Dr. Nickel Leung is a man for all seasons, with a resume that includes about every possible obscure diploma you could print obtain, including one for Body Language and another called “Master of Wedding.” With credentials like that, all he was missing was some ISO and NLP, so of course the bio includes those as well. Any guy who wears velvet jackets with pointy dress shoes and skinny jeans must be trustworthy and objective, so no worries here.

Janet Pink of the UK registrar The Audit People is also an NLP Practitioner, whose “driving passion is to create healthy energetic organisations, work life balance and wellness for individuals. ” I’m not sure how you measure wellness, but I am sure it’s value-added auditing.

Karen Kimberley, another (coff) Toastmaster, appears to be a former ISO 9001 auditor, and let’s hope that’s the case, since now she’s selling “confidence building” training, and her name is followed by the longest set of bullshit initials I have ever seen.

Guano de los Murcielagos

The problem is that because NLP practitioners fiddle with a debunked pseudoscience, they are not chemists, engineers or MBAs, but instead reside in the unregulated world of “alternative therapies.” This is a world that thrives on subjectivity, opinion, blind faith and misdirection. Because the practices are always tied to some homespun form of “spirituality,” critics are derided as “non believers,” and a criticism of NLP stands a 50-50 chance of landing you in hot water for “religious persecution.” If it sounds like the shtick used by Scientologists to get out of paying taxes, it’s not by accident.

As a result, it has no place in the profession of ISO 9001 or AS9100 auditing, since audits collect objective evidence which must withstand repeated scrutiny. Whether the NLP practitioner is using the techniques to relax the auditee, gather evidence or simply make themselves appear more popular, nothing good comes of it. There is not a single Certification Body contract on the planet that has a client sign off on allowing the auditor to also act as an ad hoc “therapist” much less to use hypnosis on them. It’s unethical, it violates accreditation rules, and could probably be illegal. And seriously: what SIC code do these people have that enables them to audit in the first place?

Now, a reality check. It is unlikely that any of these so-called “Master Practitioners” are competent enough to do much more than subtly convince their audit clients to buy them lunch.   I don’t believe we have a massive conspiracy of scary, mustache-twirling hypnotists pushing clients to accept bogus findings and sign on for more, longer contracts. But, as my previous article pointed out, NLP is highly unethical in this setting, and could have unforeseen psychological effects on those with certain conditions (PTSD, bipolar, depression) for which the ISO auditor is unaware. If this has a negative affect on the health of just one audit client, that’s sufficient enough risk to ban the practice. If it introduces subjectivity to the audit — which it does — then that, too, is sufficient enough.

AAQG must ban the practice. Let’s see if they step up.

(Update 12/11/2015: the link for David Cliff now results in a 404 error, so was removed.)