A Research Paper By Alex Chu, Transformational Coach, TAIWAN
Change is Constant
The Only Thing That is Constant is Change. – Heraclitus
Human beings change constantly. Our physical body changes as we grow older, our beliefs and values change as we explore the world, and our identities and responsibilities change as we begin to play more roles in our relationships with our family, friends, work, and communities. The external world also changes constantly. Since 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed people’s lives and the world economy. The Ukraine War in 2022 also altered the world order and the political relationships between the most powerful countries in the world. When faced with challenging changes, some people choose to accept the changes and adapt, but some people choose to resist. In the coaching process, broadly speaking, all topics from the client are related to making a change. It might involve hesitation in making a decision to change, difficulties in taking the first step to change or finding a solution to make the change sustainable. I gradually grew more interested in how people react to, process, and adapt to changes on my journey as a coach, and conducted research on this topic.
This research paper will focus on two questions:
- What are the important factors that influence when, how, and why people change?
- How can a coach help the client with the change process?
Neurological Levels of Learning and Change
Robert Dilts, a developer, and trainer in the field of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), proposed a model of NeuroLogical Levels which shapes our relationships and interactions with the world. This model includes 6 levels of learning and change.
- Spiritual: a sense of being a member of a larger system beyond one’s individual identity
- Identity: how an individual sees or values himself/herself
- Beliefs and Values: How meaning is given to a result or situation
- Capabilities: strategies and skills.
- Behavior: specific actions and reactions.
- Environment: external context and constraints.
This research focuses on changes on an individual level, therefore the highest “spiritual” level will not be discussed here. According to Dilts, the function of each level is to synthesize, organize, and direct the interactions on the level below it. Changing something on an upper level would necessarily “radiate” downward, precipitating change on the lower levels. Changing something on a lower level could, but would not necessarily, affect the upper levels.
The concept of the hierarchy of logical levels and the role it plays in how people change was also mentioned in James Clear’s well-known book, Atomic Habits. He proposed three levels at which change can occur.
- Level 1: Change the outcomes
- Level 2: Change the process
- Level 3: Change the identity
He mentioned that the key to building lasting habits is focusing on creating a new identity first because our current behaviors are simply a reflection of our current identity.
Take a man who is trying to quit smoking for example. When asked about his attitude towards smoking, he might give different answers depending on which NeuroLogical level he has linked to quitting smoking:
- “I smoke only when my friends ask me to” (Environment)
- “I don’t smoke because I’m trying to quit smoking now” (Behavior)
- “I don’t smoke because it is bad for my health” (Belief)
- “I’m not a smoker” (Identity)
The determination implied and the emotional effect created by each statement becomes progressively stronger. The higher the level of the change occurs, the more profound and sustainable the change will be. The first statement indicates that environmental cues still play a role in the person’s decision to smoke. In other words, the decision-making about smoking is situational. The second statement implies that the person is intentionally changing on a behavior level regardless of the environmental influences. The third statement shows the belief the person holds about smoking. The last statement is an expression of his identity as a non-smoker. This deeply rooted identification of one’s self forms the strongest change in a person.
Trigger for Change
Not in his goals but in his transitions man is great. —Ralph Waldo Emerson
There is a tendency for each Neurological Level to be in alignment. Misalignment within a certain level or between different levels will often cause an individual to experience various negative emotions, “signals” that make the individual aware of the need to make a change to put each level in alignment again.
The trigger for change can be external. Kids going to college, starting a new job, moving to a different city, divorce, loss of a loved one, retirement and other environmental changes can all be triggers for internal NeuroLogical changes in our daily lives. When the triggers create misalignment with a person’s higher NeuroLogical Levels like beliefs, values, or identities, it often causes significant internal conflicts and forces them to either change the external environment or their internal beliefs, values, or identities in order to keep every level aligned and feel peace again. For example, a man who just lost his wife might feel he had lost his identity as a husband, a lover, and a caring friend. His beliefs of “I will never find another woman like her” or “I will never be happy without my wife” might put him through depression and frustration before he can find a way to “update” his identities and beliefs and adapt to his new life condition.
In the book Transitions. Making Sense of Life’s Changes, William Bridges describes this internal change as “transition”, a psychological process of inner reorientation and self-definition that a person has to go through to incorporate the changes into their life. All transition processes are composed of three phases.
- An Ending: the letting go of an old situation. We have to let go of the old thing before we can pick up the new one. It is often an uncomfortable experience because we are giving up something we were certain about before.
- A Neutral Zone: the confusing status between the end and the new beginning. The feeling of uncertainty might be overwhelming and lead to anxiety, frustration, and depression. It is an important time for us to find out the meaning of this transition and what we really want out of it.
- A New Beginning: the launching forth again in a new situation. We move on and take on new roles, beliefs, and values along the way.
It is often difficult for people in the “ending” phase to process negative emotions if the challenging life situation causes disturbance in the identity and belief level. One of the reasons is that we often define ourselves through the relationships we have with others. Bridges believes that change can be more endurable if it means something and if it is part of a movement toward a desired end. If the change is not related to some larger and beneficial pattern, it simply becomes distressing. Based on this perspective, finding positive meaning from past negative experiences will be an important step to move from the “ending” phase toward the “new beginning” phase.
The similar concept of how people go through internal transitions and learn when facing new situations was also brought up by Jack Mezirow, an American sociologist. Mezirow developed the Transformational Learning Theory based on the notion that our interpretations of our experiences are what give them meaning and lead to personal change. He proposed 10 phases of a personal transformation.
- Disorienting Dilemma
- Self-Examination
- Critical Assessment
- Recognition of Shared Experiences
- Exploring Options for New Behavior
- Planning a Course of Action
- Acquisition of Knowledge
- Trying New Roles
- Building Confidence
- Reintegration
The process begins with the uncomfortable recognition that the current experience or life condition doesn’t match our past knowledge. We become gradually aware of our own beliefs and begin to evaluate and validate them under different circumstances. We realize our beliefs need to evolve, and we have to take new actions and try new roles to continue the learning process. We build strong confidence and reintegrate what we learned into who we are.
Based on Bridges’ and Mezirow’s theories and Dilts’ NeuroLogical Model, we can generally summarize the entire personal change process into three core stages.
- Challenge: All significant internal transitions (or transformations in Mezirow’s theory) start from some form of personal crisis. It causes conflicts with our beliefs, values, or identities and triggers us to make a change.
- Reflection: Self-reflection and examination of our belief system and how we see and define the world we are in. We try to resolve the discrepancy between our experience and belief system by figuring out what a new version of perspective might look like.
- New journey: We adopt this new belief system and take action. Through continuous learning, we integrate this whole new way of looking at the world into our new identity.
The Three Transition Stages
Very often our clients come to a coach because some life situations are driving them to make a change. As a coach we help our clients deal with the unsatisfactory reality, go through the transition process required to move on, and eventually achieve their goals. Depending on which of the three transition stages the client is in, the coach can use different strategies to help the client proceed to the next stage.
Challenge
When faced with a challenging situation, people often feel frustrated, anxious, hopeless, depressed, lost, or other various kinds of negative emotions. When the clients are in strong negative emotions, we can support our clients and help them understand how their beliefs, values, and identities play a role in the negative emotions they are experiencing. The powerful questions include:
- What emotions are you feeling right now?
- Are there any other feelings that are relevant?
- How is this emotion affecting your thinking and behaviors?
- What is the relationship between your thinking, feeling, and behaviors?
- If this emotion had a message for you, what would it be?
- How would you like to feel in this situation(ex. relationship)? What needs to happen in order for you to feel this way?
As mentioned above, finding positive meaning from past negative experiences is an important step to moving on. Although in coaching practice we focus on the future not the past, we can help the client look at their past experience from an empowering perspective with the following questions.
- Looking back at everything you went through from this experience, what have you learned that can help you improve in the future?
- How can the lessons you learned make you grow?
- How can the experience make you a better person?
- How can you use this experience to help others?
Change Transition
In the Reflection phase, it is important to take a closer look at if and how our clients’ beliefs, values, and identities are aligned with reality. After recognizing the discrepancy, we help the clients find out what they really want from the transition and who they want to be afterward. Useful questions are below.
- What are the important beliefs and values for you regarding the situation you are in now?
- What do you want at this moment?
- What makes it important for you to make the change?
- Who do you want to be after this transition?
- What difference will it make in your life if you become the person you want to be? How will you feel?
People might experience uncertainty and hesitate to make a change in this phase. As a coach, we help the client clarify different aspects and possible outcomes of making a change and identify potential barriers. Below are some useful questions.
- What is holding you back from making the change?
- What will happen if you continue not to make the change?
- What will happen if you successfully make the change?
New Journey
In the New Journey phase, the client has made a decision to change and started to plan a new version of NeuroLogical levels including environment, behaviors, capabilities, beliefs and values, and identities in order to achieve their goals. After taking new actions, learning new skills, adopting new beliefs and values, and playing new roles, the clients gradually integrate this entire experience into who they are. We can help the client with the following questions.
- What do you need to do differently in order to achieve your goal?
- What skills do you need to learn?
- What resources do you need? What kind of environment or structure is necessary?
- Who can help you with this?
- What new beliefs do you need to have to achieve success?
- Who do you need to become to make it happen?
- How can you prepare for the challenges along the way?
- What can you do immediately to take you one step further towards your goal?
Prepare for the Next Challenge
We are now living in a constantly changing world. The change-dependent economy and the fast-paced business markets have led our culture to celebrate creativity and innovation. Moreover, the advancement of technology has made information exchange easier than ever before. People feel overwhelmed by information overload and the demands to react quickly while trying to make sense of what is happening around them. All these factors prevent us from spending time with ourselves to see what we really want from our lives. We need to listen to the message from our emotions and pay attention to our deeper needs. We need to stop reacting to the world and start responding with clear intentions. It’s the only way to prepare ourselves for the next change and continue to grow.
References
Dilts, R. (2014). A Brief History of Logical Levels. [online] [Accessed 17 Nov 2022]
Clear, J. (2018). Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones (Illustrated). Avery.
Bridges, W. (2020). TRANSITIONS: Making Sense of Life’s Changes, 40th Anniversary Edition. Good Morning Press.
Brinson, S. (2021), The 10 Phases of Mezirow's Transformational Learning Theory. [online] [Accessed 17 Nov 2022]