Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) is improving communication through the use of language skills. In particular, it focuses on how people prefer to communicate.
Learning NLP allows you to connect with people using their preferred style of communication and also provides a better understanding of how they filter the information coming to them from the outside world. This ensures information flow between people is more effective.
NLP originated in America in the mid 1970's out of a collaboration between John Grinder who was a linguist and Richard Bandler who was studying mathematics and computer science. Together they studied how excellent communicators in the area of psychotherapy used language.
The outcome was called the Meta Model which is a way to use key questions to clarify what words mean to an individual. This results in better quality more specific information.
The other model that is used in NLP is the Milton Model, named after Milton Erickson a world-renowned hypnotherapist. With this model the language used is kept vague on purpose, so that people can make their own general meaning of the words said.