It would be no surprise to anyone that organisations have gone through and continue to go through significant amounts of change; and although change is inevitable, it is not always effective. Leaders often focus on surface-level adjustments like processes or policies, only to find that deeper issues persist. That’s where Robert Dilts’ Logical Levels of Change offers a powerful lens. Originally developed within the field of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), this model provides a structured way to understand human behavior and transformation. When applied to organisations, it becomes a strategic tool for diagnosing challenges, aligning teams, and driving sustainable change.

So what are the Logical Levels?

Dilts’ model outlines six levels of human experience and change, each influencing the ones below it. These levels are:

The key insight here is that change at a higher level cascades downward, while change at a lower level rarely affects the levels above. For example, improving a team’s skills (Capabilities) won’t stick if their core beliefs about collaboration (Beliefs & Values) are misaligned.

Organisations, like individuals, operate across these levels. Let’s explore how each level manifests in a business context — and how leaders can use this framework to drive transformation.

1. Environment: The Context for Change

The Environment level includes market conditions, office layout, technology, and team structures. While easy to modify, environmental changes often fail to produce lasting impact unless deeper levels are addressed. As an example that many people might be able to relate to, moving to a hybrid work model may improve flexibility, but if employees don’t feel trusted (Beliefs), productivity may still suffer.

2. Behavior: What People Do

Behavioral change is often the focus of performance management — tracking KPIs, enforcing policies, or encouraging new habits. But behavior is a symptom, not a root cause. The same is true for those ‘below the line’ behaviours. We have to ask, What beliefs or identity-level issues might be driving that resistance?

3. Capabilities: Skills and Strategies

Training programs and coaching often target this level. While essential, capability-building must be aligned with values and identity to be effective. For example, teaching conflict resolution skills won’t help if the team believes that speaking up leads to punishment. This is why, when working with a team, I always start with understanding and resolving any trust issues because if a team is to perform at the highest level they must be able to talk and share ideas without the fear of retribution or ridicule.

4. Beliefs & Values: The Cultural Core

This is where organisational culture lives. Beliefs about leadership, innovation, and collaboration shape how people interpret their roles and make decisions. For example, what’s the collective (cultural) belief in your organisation with regard to ‘failure’? Is it something to avoided or punished, or is it seen as a learning opportunity? Of course, it’s all well and good to embrace failure as a learning but what if the stakes are high? Then it’s up to leadership to ensure there are quality controls in place so that no mistake can sink the ship. What quality measures do you have in place for your team to ensure it’s a safe space to learn, innovate and grow, whilst maintaining the potential risks that come with that?

5. Identity: Who We Are

Identity is about how individuals and teams see themselves. This became even more important for teams during COVID when working from home was much more prevalent. Do you and and your identify as ‘customer-first’ company? A ‘disruptor’? A family’? Identity drives pride, loyalty, and purpose. That’s why employees of some organisations refer to themselves as a group; i.e. people who work at Xero refer to themselves as Xeros; KIPP employees call themselves Kippsters; Google, Googlers, and so on. They have clearly bought into the identity of the organisation.

Leadership Insight: Change efforts often falter when they threaten identity. Mergers, rebrands, or restructures must honor and evolve identity — not erase it.

6. Purpose/Spiritual: Why We Exist

This is the highest level — often expressed as mission, vision, or legacy. It connects people to something bigger than themselves. For example, Patagonia’s environmental mission isn’t just branding — it’s a spiritual anchor that guides decisions across all levels.

Diagnosing and Designing Change with Logical Levels

When change initiatives stall, these questions, pertaining to the Logical Levels, can be used as a diagnostic map:
– Is the resistance behavioral or belief-based?
– Are we training skills without addressing identity?
– Does our strategy align with our purpose?

Conversely, when designing change, start from the top:

– Clarify Purpose – Why are we changing?
– Align Identity – Who do we need to become?
– Shift Beliefs – What must we believe to succeed?
– Build Capabilities – What skills are required?
– Encourage Behavior – What actions reflect the change?
– Shape Environment – What context supports it?

Final Thoughts

Robert Dilts’ Logical Levels offer more than a theoretical model — they provide a practical roadmap for transformational leadership. By addressing change holistically, from purpose to environment, organisations can move beyond superficial fixes and create cultures where growth is not just possible — but inevitable. Whether you’re leading a team, designing a workshop, or navigating a strategic pivot, this framework invites you to ask deeper questions and lead with intention. Because real change doesn’t start with what we do — it starts with who we are.

Are you interested in tools for building a high performing team? Then check out my new book ‘Now, Lead Others’.

If you’re interested in hearing more tips about how you can Unleash Your Potential or that of your team, please feel free to drop me a note. I’m always happy to share ideas and help where I can.

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Now that the election has come and gone my mind can’t help but jump back to the local Tauranga election in which Sam Uffindell was successful. He won and according to him in an earlier interview he has always been a winner; in fact, his dad instilled it in him. This comment raised a red flag for me becauseit seems to be a philosophy of life for Uffindell and considering his upbringing in private schools and his past behaviour he almost seems to be a poster child for what Ian Robertson terms The Winner Effect. It isn’t just Uffindell who has fallen foul to the dark side of winning. Simon Henry, through his disgraceful and arrogant comments about Nadia Lim last year, is also an example of someone who may have fallen foul to its seduction.

So what is The Winner Effect and how can we recognise it? 

When a person is prone to winning it becomes, like a drug, addictive. There is a certain ‘high’ that people get from winning that is produced by a heady cocktail of testosterone and dopamine, and, over time, due to chemical changes in the brain, leads to behaviours that can inevitably be the downfall of the winner. Dopamine, as you’re aware, fuels the brain’s reward system but when this system is hijacked through the use of cocaine, heroin, or other more behavioural rewards, such as the thrill of gambling or sex, then even higher levels of dopamine are needed to achieve the same ‘high’.

However, there is another natural reward that some people crave, and that is the reward of power. Power causes a surge of testosterone which in turn triggers the release of dopamine and anything that repeatedly and strongly triggers a surge in dopamine in the brain’s reward system runs the risk of unleashing the unquenchable cravings of an addict. This may be partly the reason why so many politicians and world leaders don’t want to step down or relinquish their hold over people; think of the likes of Stalin, Mao, Kim Il Sung, Mugabe and, more recently, Putin.

Now most CEOs and politicians aren’t drug addicts or gamblers but the effect of dopamine on the brain motivates you and sharpens your goal-achieving eye; hence increasing your risk taking behaviour. This heady cocktail of hormones also causes blinkers to our better judgement; we become tunnel-visioned and fail to heed the advice of others because, after all, we get a sense that we cannot fail – we’re winners. Unfortunately, other behaviours tend to emerge from these chemical changes over time, one of which is a reduction in empathy. We start to see others as objects, not as people but as pawns that we can manipulate for our own gain. We recognise that there are rules that we must abide by but we also believe that the rules that apply to the great unwashed don’t apply to us; entitlement is often the term used to describe this. We justify our treatment of others in ways such as, if I’m behaving this way to you, you must be a really bad person and you deserve it. As an example of the blindness that power-addled brains can portray we only need to go back to the beginning of the Global Financial Crisis. At the outset of the GFC the CEOs of some of America’s biggest banks and car manufacturers all flew by private jet when they were called to a meeting in Washington, and they couldn’t see why this was a problem. The brains of these immensely powerful men had been shaped by power so that it was difficult for them to see their actions as others saw them.

So why is it then that not all CEOs and those with great power bestowed on them turn into tyrants? The answer lies in a different type of power. When people go off the rails they tend to have a high need for personal gain; this type of power is categorised as p-power. However, those whose goals are more socially focused, whether for a group, an institution or for society in general, have what’s referred to as s-power. We all have the capacity for both types of power and it largely comes down to which type is more dominant. Those with s-power-dominance tend to have some moral standing and a concern for others. It’s important to note that in order to achieve great things we need p-power (goal achievement and all the hard work and singular focus that it brings) but in order to ensure it doesn’t take over we need to exercise our s-power. It’s the s-power that causes ‘activity inhibition’ which allows us a degree of self-judgement, self-control and good sense. In short, it gives us the ability to critically examine our own character. S-power not only tames p-power, it also dissolves the physiological linkage to testosterone and the competitive aggression that goes with it.

Therefore, the antidote to ego-driven p-power is self-reflection, practicing humility, and giving the power to others allowing them to make decisions that are right for them, and supporting others in the quest for a greater good.

If you’d like to know more about how to achieve more as an individual or as a team, or if you’d like to explore how coaching can help you become a better leader (of others or yourself!), or even if you’re just generally curious about what professional coaching can offer you, please contact us at any time for a free consultation.

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