Using the NLP ‘Logical Levels’ model with Appreciative Inquiry

Robert Dilts, originator of the 'Logical Levels' model - photo by Christian Aubry via Wikimedia Commons

The Design phase is sometimes described as “building a bridge from the ‘best of what is’ (revealed, at least in part, in the Discovery stage) to the best of ‘what could be’ (the vision set out in the Dream stage)”. But how to bridge that gap, particularly when the Dream seems far removed from even the best of the current reality?

As we mentioned in the post about using Fishbone Analysis with Appreciative Inquiry, many Appreciative Inquiry textbooks can seem rather vague in supplying actual step-by-step procedures for getting from the Discovered present to the Dream future.

Here is another method you can use for getting from Dream to Delivery – “Logical Levels” of organisation.

This model, originated by NLP author Robert Dilts, posits six levels at which change can occur. These are the levels, with some key questions for each one:

Spirit (Purpose): What are we here for? What are we as an organisation part of that is greater than ourselves?

Identity: Who are we?

Values and Beliefs: What is important to us? What motivates us?

Capablities: What do we know how to do? What skills do we have?

Behaviour: What are we doing?

Environment: Where do we operate? What is around us?

Dilts suggests that each level organises and influences the ones below it. A change at a lower level may change the levels above, but it is far more likely that change at a higher level will change the levels below it.

• Our Behaviour acts on our Environment
• Our Capabilities (skills) govern our Behaviour
• Our Values and Beliefs determine which of our Capabilities we use
• Our Identity is supported by our Beliefs and Values
• Our sense of Purpose and of being part of something more extensive and important than ourselves shapes our Identity.

When we look for connections with the AI model, we see that:

• ‘Provocative propositions’ are usually statements of Identity and/or Purpose. When they are inspiring, as they should be, they will also resonate with:
• Values, which are what motivate us as well as our criteria for deciding what is right or wrong, will emerge from questions in the Appreciative Interview: “What’s important about this experience? What do you value about it?”
• Capabilities and Behaviour are pointed to by questions such as “What is already working? What should we be doing more of?” This level also equates to the new forms of organisation, workflows and processes that are often mentioned as emerging from the Design stage in the AI literature.
• Environment is what the organisation operates in: customers, other stakeholders, competitors, partners, markets, and regulatory frameworks, as well as physical locations and resources. This is also where we would look for consequences and knock-on effects of our changes.

Each level needs to be aligned with the others – for example, the Behaviours we need to undertake in order to achieve our Purpose and fulfil our Values may require us to expand our Capabilities.

One way of using this model in the Design stage would be to start with the Provocative Proposition (a bit of Appreciative Inquiry jargon to signify a ‘mission statement’ or slogan which sums up the aspirations coming out of the Dream stage, which is meaningful to the people within the organisation or team who have come up with it, and which acts as a ’stretch’, inspiring people to raise their game and make the Dream a reality) at Identity or Purpose level, and to examine the Behaviours needed to make it a reality.

Or you could start with the Values and work down by asking “What Behaviours do we need to pursue? What Capabilities do we need?” At the same time you could work upwards by asking “Who are we when we truly fulfil these Values?”

As you examine each level in the light of the others, expect more information to emerge at each level. You may find yourself refining the Provocative Proposition in the light of the re-examined Values, or that the Values set expands as you consider the implications of Identity or Behaviours.

When each ‘Logical Level’ of the organisation is aligned with the Provocative Proposition and with the other levels, you have a sound basis for action.

To learn more about practical tools for using Appreciative Inquiry, attend our two-day Practical Appreciative Inquiry facilitator training in London or Manchester.

Appreciative Inquiry for teambuilding

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) makes an excellent format for teambuilding. It can be very rewarding for a team to work through the 4-D cycle, each stage building on the one before. A day (or slightly less than a day) gives enough time to really go into some depth, reaffirm bonds within the team, and build morale and confidence.

For the day to run smoothly it’s important to choose carefully the affirmative topic for the inquiry. Often some variation of “How do we work together more effectively?” will work well.

In the Discovery stage, having team members interview each other to unearth stories of when they have experienced or participated in exceptionally good examples of the topic can help to remind interviewees of their own worth, and that there are times – often forgotten in the hurly-burly of day-to-day work – when the team can work exceptionally well together. The interviewers often also feel inspired as they hear stories that resonate with their own experience and values.

To get the maximum value from the Discovery stage, have people who don’t normally work closely together interview each other. Interviewing across different responsibilities or levels of management can build understanding and appreciation of the contribution and viewpoints of people in different roles.

In the Dream stage, team members co-construct a vision of their desired future as a team. This can be a opportunity for people to loosen up and have fun as they create a presentation of their vision using words, collage, or even on occasion poetry, ‘living sculpture’, or song.

For the Design stage we now favour taking specific aspects of the Dream – whichever elements the team feels most motivated to work on – and letting the team use a adapted fishbone diagrams and ’swimming lanes’ to identify tasks, structures and relationships that need to be in place to translate into an action plan.

Finally, for the Delivery stage team members can make requests, offer to help other team members with their needs, and make commitments to take specific actions or take responsibility for ensuring that something happens.

These photos come from a recent teambuilding day we facilitated for the Occuptional Health team at Mid-Essex Hospital Trust. Denise Mortimer, a project manager at the Trust who commissioned us, wrote the day up for the Trust’s internal magazine:

On 16th September the Occupational Health Department embarked on a team building event with inspiring results! The team were introduced to ‘Appreciative Inquiry’ which is a process that works by acknowledging and building on what is good and what works well, instead of focusing on the negative.  Often we focus on what our problems are and as a result we tend to magnify those problems, which only contribute to a downward spiral of feeling helpless and hopeless.  With Appreciative Inquiry we get to reconnect with what we love about work and when we are at our best, resulting in people feeling inspired to take action and creating more positivity in the workplace.

By the end of the session the group were left feeling inspired with realistic actions that were genuinely created and owned by them. With a lot of laughter and a lot of no-nonsense talk about what needs to happen, the group now have to build on the momentum of the day and they certainly seemed ready to!

We were pleased to help Denise, a graduate of our Practical Appreciative Inquiry facilitator training, to co-facilitate the day. She is now being asked to run other Appreciative Inquiry events within the NHS.

The next Practical Appreciative Inquiry facilitator training runs in Manchester on 21-22 October – there are still some spaces available but you need to get your booking in fast!

Book review: Appreciative Team Building

Appreciative Team Building by Diana Whitney, Amanda Trosten-Bloom, Jay Cherney and Ron Fry

This short book (98 pages) provides an strong starting point for anyone wanting to build a more positive and productive culture in their team.

A few pages in, I found this eye-opening encapsulation of what’s wrong with the “conventional wisdom” on team-building:

“Even in training programs to help teams develop effectively, the most popular models today shape participants to expect and welcome storming as a necessary phase of a good team’s development. The very idea that in order to get better at teamwork, we must engage in some special form of fighting or arguing with one another is a reason people partly dread being assigned to new teams or projects. The language itself shapes powerful, often self-fulfilling prophecies.”

It seems so obvious now they’ve pointed it out!

The heart of the book is a set of 48 multi-part ‘positive questions’, around such subject areas as “Aligning Purpose and Goals” and “Promoting Leadership”. You could use any question to interview team members individually, have the team explore a question as a group, or have team members pair up and interview each other.

Having so many questions to choose from could save you a lot of time, as you can just select (and adapt, if necessary) the questions relevant to the aspects of your team’s performance that you want to develop.

By the time you have read or tried out a few of the questions, you would find it easy to create more of your own. For example, questions 7-10 are around balancing the various preference pairs in the Myers-Briggs model. You could easily develop similar questions around whatever model (e.g. Belbin team roles) your team is familiar with.

The other sections of the book cover ten ways you could use the questions, for applications ranging from “Selecting Team Members” to “Energizing Team Meetings”, plus a step-by-step guide for conducting a self-managed appreciative inquiry, and a template for building your own appreciative interview guide.

What I’d like to see in the next edition: 1) perhaps a little more practical advice on how to get the process going if you’re starting with a very cynical or demoralised team, and 2) an index.

Overall, this is a very handy book for team leaders who want to create a more positive and therefore more productive climate in their teams.

Order Appreciative Team Building from Amazon UK now.

Review by Andy Smith