Logical levels (3)
The third and final stage of the Logical Levels method switches, from pacing and leading, to pure leading in the direction of new behavioural choices.
By working through a person’s strategy step-by-step, purposely mismatching the key sensory modalities at each step, we provide a context which allows the person to fully consider the possibility of alternative behaviours which in turn increases choice and behavioural flexibility.
In the presence of a good rapport the person you are working with will have to compare and contrast their original behaviours with the alternative behaviours you describe to them simply in order to respond to your questions.
They may only consider each one for a moment or two before correcting you but, if you describe each behaviour vividly enough, they will develop a full Visual, Kinesthetic and Auditory representation of each alternative behaviour.
After considering a behaviour which is the polar opposite of what they’ve been used to this person’s natural response is likely to be in the negative i.e. 'No, it's not a really high pitched voice like Mickey Mouse'
You respond with:-
‘Well could it be? And if it was, would it still work?'
In order to answer this question the person now has to imagine actually performing this alternative behaviour which, remember, is the polar opposite of what they would normally do at this step of the strategy. To do this effectively they now have to fully associate into this alternative behaviour – see what they would see, hear what they would hear etc. etc.
In order to process your words and respond to your questions the person will have to mentally 'rehearse' each alternative behaviour in the context of their strategy.
Each and every mental 'rehearsal' that they perform:-
- Interrupts the pattern of the strategy they have been running.
- Demonstrates the fact that behavioural choices are actually available to them.
- Blows out the boundary conditions of the ‘problem’ behavioural strategy by allowing the person to fully consider alternative behaviours radically different from those they are used to.
It is highly likely that having fully considered the alternative behaviour for this strategic step this person will confirm that no, the strategy would not work if they performed your alternative behaviour in place of the behaviour they would normally perform at that step in their strategy – which is exactly what we are looking for.
Each time the person repeats this process, considers alternative behaviours, those behaviours become associated with the relevant strategic step to the degree where they can’t be separated. If we imagine the original strategy as a record (or CD for those of you who don’t remember vinyl) our outcome here is to scratch that record over and over until it can’t be played in the same way again.
Repeat this process for each step in the person’s strategy, mismatching and scratching the strategic record as you go.
Once the strategic record is well and truly scratched check your progress by asking the person to think about the sensory input which previously acted as the trigger for the ‘problem behaviour’, the strategy which led to the undesired outcomes.
If the person responds differently then progress has been made. In the unlikely event that the person still responds to the stimulus by running the original strategy then further work is needed – repeat the entire process until the desired results are achieved.