According to the model, the levels influence each other in both directions, but a change on a higher level will have a greater impact on the lower levels than vice versa. For example, learning a new skill at first instance (capability level), for example a language, might open me up both to the importance of other cultures (values level) and my identity - I belong to the world (identity level). It certainly changes my behavior -suddenly I can talk to people to whom I could not have talked before. There might even be a dramatic change in my environment - I might move to another country.

If, on the other side, the belief level is changed first, for example, from: I do not have the capacity to learn foreign languages to: It’s easy for me to learn languages, the effects for the lower levels are tremendous! (source: change- management- toolbook.com)

The NLP logical levels (also known as the logical levels of change and the logical levels of thinking) are useful for assisting with or understanding change from an individual, social or organization point of view.

Identity

Who? Who are you as an individual or company? What role do you play to achieve your purpose?

Who you are, that is what role(s) you play in this context? Your identity relative to those around you? Our identity determines our overall vision or purpose (mission).

Beliefs and Values

Why? Why do you do something? What do you believe in or value? As an individual, you may believe you can do anything you choose. Or you may value honesty. From a company perspective, the company may value good customer service and/or the well- being of staff.

Your values, what you believe. Your expectations about this situation. What is important to you? Our beliefs and values provide the reinforcement that supports or denies our capabilities (motivation and permission).

Capabilities/Strategies/Competence

How? How do you go about doing things? As an individual or company, what are your capabilities, skills, strategies or action plans? What can you do? What are your skills? How are they relevant? How do you apply them? Our capabilities guide and give direction to these behavioral actions through a mental map, path or strategy.

Behaviors

What? What are your behaviors? What you do and how you behave. Our behavior is made up of the specific actions we take within our environment.

Environment

Where? When? With Whom? Where, when and with whom do you display your behaviors? What are the external influences on you? Where you live work and play. The physical, social and emotional environment. Environmental factors determine the external 'givens' we have to react to.

For many of us, the logical levels work outside our conscious awareness. Whether we are aware of them or not, they have a significant influence over the quality of our lives.

The following exercise will help you to: 1. Become consciously aware of what factors influence how you live your life. 2. Identify possible conflicts. 3. Recognize possible changes you can make to bring the levels more in alignment and therefore achieve a higher level of personal congruence (reduced inner conflict).

I suggest you take your time doing this exercise and write down your answers.

Identity/Mission: Who are you or what role do you play? Is it the role necessary to achieve your purpose? What do you need to change?

Beliefs and Values: What beliefs do you have about yourself, about others, about the world in general? Do these beliefs support you in fulfilling your role? What do you value - in yourself, others, the world in general. Are these values in alignment with your role? Are there other beliefs and values that you could take on that would be more in alignment?

Capabilities/Strategies/Competence: What capabilities/strategies/action plans do you have? Do you need to develop new capabilities, strategies or action plans? Are they in alignment with each of the above logical levels? If not, what needs to be changed? Maybe you need to change your capabilities (get more training), your strategies or action plans. Or maybe, given this new information, you need to reassess your purpose, your role or your beliefs and values.

Behaviors: What do people really see/experience in your behaviors? Are your behaviors in alignment with each of the above logical levels? Does something need to be changed?

Environment: When, where, with whom do you do these behaviors? Are they in alignment with the above logical levels?

You can use this framework to check for consistency (congruence) between each level. For example, a person might think it important to be on time for meetings but in practice often be late. So the belief (timeliness is important) is contradicted by the behavior (lateness).

It can also help you check whether what you think and do lines up with your self-identity and values; inconsistency or conflict between these areas can lead to stress, misunderstanding by others and poor performance.

The framework can also be applied to organizations. If a consultant is called into a company to advise on customer care, questions relating to Logical Levels framework can help identify any inconsistencies in what is happening. For example, the workplace may give an impression of untidiness, and staff may not listen well to customers' views; both of these could be at odds with an organizational belief day paying attention to the customer is important. It may also be the case that the staff's beliefs about customer care do not correspond with those of the organization leading to mixed messages being given by those who visit it.

It seems obvious that all the different parts of your life are deeply interconnected. But a common way to treat problems is to try to isolate them. If there’s a problem with your health, you need to diet and exercise. If there’s a problem in your career, it’s time to work harder. But this isolation protocol doesn't work well because there’s too much overlap between all the different parts of your life, no matter how much you try to isolate the problem areas and go to work on them.

It’s often the case that the obvious cause of the problem isn’t the true source. If you feel lonely because you haven’t been able to find the right relationship, and you keep trying harder and harder to find a relationship, you may get nowhere.

The problem may be that you work at a career you are not passionate about, and you project this lack of passion to everyone you meet. And still a deeper issue may be that your spiritual beliefs tell you that service to others is very important, but you don’t feel you are doing that. Then you change careers to do what you love, and it aligns with your spiritual beliefs because now you feel you are contributing and serving. Then out of nowhere, you meet your future spouse, who is attracted to your passion about your work and the contribution you are making. And the encouragement you experience from this relationship in turn helps you advance your career, increase your income, and free up more time to spend with your new spouse. Your stress goes down, and your health improves too. Your inner spiritual conflict was the real source of your inability to find the right relationship. Everything is deeply interconnected.

The Logical Levels model can help you align your environment, behaviors, competencies, beliefs/values, identity and purpose, challenging them also to consider a higher purpose - whether work- based, family, social or spiritual in which they make a contribution outside the day-to-day demands of life.

What is NLP?

Have you heard about Neuro Linguistic Programming, or NLP? It's an incredibly useful behavioral science that can help you change your life.

Developed in the 1970s, it combines techniques from neurology, computer science, and linguistics to help people achieve their potential. Here's what it is and how it works.

NLP has been described as the science of excellence in humans and involves modeling the language structure and behavior of success people.

This means if you want to be a happy, successful person, you can't go wrong by thinking, talking, and behaving the way happy, successful people do. And if you utilize NLP in your speech, you will be able to persuade and convince others with greater success, too!

Basic NLP Principles

There are many variants of NLP, so there is debate between some practitioners that others are doing it wrong. Even with these hot debates, though, the basic principles are the same, and all agree that it works to make your life more fulfilling.

The two biggest principles of NLP are that the map is not the territory, and that both life and mind are systemic processes. What do those principles mean? Let's take a look at them and find out.

1.    The map is not the territory. This means that, as people, we have no way to actually understand reality. Instead, we understand our perceptions of that reality, and those perceptions may be flawed.

We use our senses to create a map of what we believe is there. These maps are what determine our behavior, not reality itself. If your map is skewed, you’ll behave in ways that are skewed, too.

2.    Life and mind are systemic processes. This means that the things going on inside your mind and body, and between you and your environment, can’t be isolated from one another. Trying to do so won’t result in success.

Every NLP technique you encounter is based on these principles. These NLP techniques can help us understand how our brains work, how we store information, and how to change our behaviors to ones that are more desirable.

NLP Benefits

Here are some specific ways that NLP can help you:

1.    Career. NLP can help you be more effective in your career. It can build your skills in teamwork, personal development, coaching, leadership, sales, and productivity. No matter what it is, if there's a potential for growth and human interaction is present, NLP can help.

2.    Goal Achievement. You can use NLP to help you set and achieve goals, as long as those goals are intelligent, measurable, meaningful and achievable.

•    For example, no program can guarantee you earn three million dollars in a month unless you already have logical means to draw this income.

However, this method could be the one you use to successfully strengthen your skills and interactions with others. It can change the way you think and speak, and motivate you to take appropriate actions to achieve your goals.

3.    Mental Health. NLP can help you overcome mental and emotional disorders and phobias.

4.    NLP can bring you a happier and more fulfilling life.

If you're interested in learning how to make a change in your life, NLP could be the tool you've been looking for.

Quite simply, NLP involves studying successful people and the steps they take to achieve such success. This success can come from any part of your life.

Overcoming phobias, learning how to speak with confidence in front of large groups, and learning how to have a loving personal relationship are all issues that can be helped with NLP techniques. Investigate your options with NLP; you'll be surprised by the difference it can make in your life!