224 Part III: Opening the Toolkit
Getting to Grips with a Hierarchy of Confl ict
Conflict can take place at different levels of a hierarchy, known as logical
levels, as follows:
✓ Identity
✓ Values and beliefs
✓ Capabilities and skills
✓ Behaviour
✓ Environment
When you’re considering some of the conflicts you face, understanding the
level at which you need to engage is helpful. For example, if as a manager you
believe that people are what make your company a success but you focus
more on developing your technology than your people, you may need to
modify your behaviour to bring it into line with the needs of your staff and
ultimately with your beliefs.
The levels of this hierarchy are also referred to as neurological levels because
they connect with your thinking processes and therefore the brain and
its interaction with your body. (You can find out all about logical levels in
Chapter 11.) These neurological levels operate in a hierarchy – like the rungs
on a ladder – with identity at a higher rung and environment down below.
When you can identify the real logical level at which you’re working, the
conflict becomes easier to resolve.
Here are some examples of the conflicts you may face at the different
logical levels:
✓ Identity: Often you have many roles to play in your life and work that
pull you in different directions. You may want to be a good parent as
well as a committed employee, or a nice, likeable person as well as a
profitable manager. Perhaps you’re trying to be a supportive son or
daughter or a volunteer in the local community, as well as an interna-
tional jet-setter.
✓ Values and beliefs: Sometimes you have a mix of beliefs that don’t seem
to fit well together or match your values. You may want to be happy,
and yet part of you doesn’t believe that you deserve happiness. You
may value both health and wealth but not believe that getting them both
at the same time is possible. You may value family life and global busi-
ness success and be struggling to see how these items can fit together,
because you have no role models of these two values sitting side by side
as equals.
