Bateson : thinking

levels

For coaching

By the way people tell their experiences and stories, you can recognise the level on which they formulate a
problem. If you stick to one level, the problem can remain unsolvable. The coach can ask questions to
switch to another level of thinking in order to explore the roots of a problem and to find alternative ways to
solve it.

Bateson discriminates six levels:

Spirituality
Identity
Beliefs
Skills
Behaviour
Environment

Environment; The focus is on what happened, where, with whom and how. The person places the cause of a problem
outside himself/herself. Much energy is directed at explaining and justifying how this situation developed.

Behaviour; The focus is on what the person thought of and did himself and on the influence he had and can have on
the situation.

Skills; Through the analysis of his own influence the person comes to think of actions he would have wanted to do, but
is not yet capable of doing. The attention shifts to the skills he would like to develop to be more capable of dealing with
these situations.

Beliefs; The person thinks about the why of his behaviour, which often refers to values and standards that guide his
behaviour. Beliefs come to the surface in recognisable behavioural patterns in various situations. Beliefs can either
stimulate or hinder the actual use of skills in a situation.

Identity; The person explores the meaning of the situation: why do I feel exhausted after this situation? What makes it
worthily for me to deal with this? What challenges and motivates me? This level is important when dealing with issues
like motivational problems, stress, burnout.

Spirituality; The person links the issue at hand to a larger perspective: the meaning of life, religious issues, spiritual
vision, social responsibilities, ecological responsibilities. This level refers to wisdom and deserves attention when
dealing with a personal (life) crisis.
On each level you can formulate questions that lead to the next higher level, e.g.:.

This document is available on the Learning Web Please contact us for more information : helene.meunier@lafarge.com tel +33 4 7482 16 16 fax
+33 4 74 94 34 78

Spirituality
Identity
Beliefs
Skills
Behaviour
Environment

Explore environment
What happens? Who is involved? When does this happen?
What bothers you?
Can you be more specific?
What are the consequences for you?
Move to behaviour
What do you do in this situation?
How do you do this? Does it help?
What would you have wanted to do differently?
What is your influence on this situation?
What could you do to influence this situation more?
What are your options?
Move to skills
Are you able to do this? Why not?
What would you need to be able to influence this situation?
What prevented you from doing this before?
How could you make it work?
What would you need to learn to be able to do this?
Move to beliefs
What do you think of this?
What could happen?
Why is this good/bad/desirable?
What is supporting this opinion?
What makes this opinion last with you?
Can you imagine other ways of looking at this situation?
What is the benefit for you of these different viewpoints?
Move to identity
What makes you move? What are you enthusiastic about?
How do you see yourself in this situation? Is this situation doing justice to you?
Do you want to go on like this? Does this fit you?
What is the most important to you?
Spirituality
What are the connections you see in life?
Which experiences enrich you / make you wiser?
What are your lessons in life?

This document is available on the Learning Web Please contact us for more information : helene.meunier@lafarge.com tel +33 4 7482 16 16 fax
+33 4 74 94 34 78