Sometimes on this site, we review a non-lean book with a view to drawing parallels and insights into lean thinking. And that is exactly what we will aim to do here. Whether this article is hit or miss is largely unimportant. What is great is having the opportunity for discussion, so let’s dive in.
Modello was the name of a housing project just south of Miami with a reputation for drugs, alcohol, violence, prostitution, truancy, and many other social disorders.
The book tells the story of how this community turned itself around. The sub-titles on the cover give an extra clue. One states, “A story of hope for the inner city and beyond.” Another, “An inside-out model of prevention and resiliency in action.”
At the centre, at least initially, is Dr Roger Mills. Dr Mills was a traditionally trained psychologist whose life was turned around by exposure to the wonderfully charismatic Sydney Banks.
Banks, previously a Scottish welder of average education, had come to a realisation about life that had changed his entire outlook. Banks distilled this understanding down to three principles, those of mind, consciousness, and thought.
Mind is the innate wisdom, common sense and mental health available for all. Consciousness is the essence that allows us to be aware of our day to day experience, and thought is the commodity that powers our experience in the moment.
To be clear, what Sydney Banks, Roger Mills, and many others were saying is that each of us is experiencing the result of our thought at this instant. If we change the thought, we can change the experience. It is an inside-out model of life rather than an outside-in. Through understanding when a low mood, for instance, is colouring the lens of our outlook on life, we can embrace the realisation in the moment, smile at it, and move on the something more positive.
If this seems fanciful or non-sensical, I will invite you to sit with the explanation above for a while. Better still, why not look up Sydney Banks online, or perhaps modern practitioners, such as Michael Neill or Jamie Smart.
But what the book “Modello” offers is the transcription of this method applied practically to deprived and ignored housing projects in Miami. It is a joy to read first-person accounts from residents throughout the book in their authentic language. Through these accounts, we see a transformation in a group of individuals, which seems to seep out and change the community.
Take, for example, Ruby. Ruby was addicted to crack cocaine and, through gaining an understanding of her own thought, was able to find the motivation to seek help and attend a rehabilitation clinic.
Then consider Lenny. Lenny was bright and ambitious but had sought to steer his talent towards selling drugs. The logic seemed simple. Looking around, Lenny could see that those young men around him who had nice clothes and cars were selling drugs. It was a straightforward story to keep repeating that this was the only way to succeed. However, because one of the Modello ladies reached out to him, recognising his talents for what they were, Lenny not only changed himself but influenced his friends as well. As the book closed, Lenny and his friends had established a Student Tenant’s Association and were all in college – this coming from a background where college would not previously be considered an option.
The book contains many similar tales of triumph over perceived adversity. Schools were turned around, Parent Teacher Associations created, and neighbourhood crime seemingly defeated. Individual women stopped drinking, ended abusive relationships, went back to school, and found meaningful jobs.
So what happened? I think people made a connection with their natural mental health and common sense. People also realised that their lives had value. With this realisation, it didn’t make sense to take drugs, drink, or endure an abusive relationship. Then, free from the shackles of vice or abuse, people began to see hope, which fuelled their subsequent actions.
Allow me to address the topic differently. Imagine our lives as a notebook. At birth, it is full of pristine sheets of paper. This blank page is our mental wellbeing, and in this state, the paper is open to receiving anything.
But as we grow, things are written onto those pages. In moments of reflection, we re-read the sentences, add to them, and create the person we recognise as us. It doesn’t matter if what we read is positive or negative; we build upon our stories and embellish everything with thought.
If challenged, we become defensive and fight tooth and nail for this self-created picture – this notebook that makes us an individual, but as the words on the page, self is a series of repeated beliefs – many of which do not serve us.
For, despite all of the writings in our collective notebooks, one fact remains true. The pristine page still exists underneath it all, and the greater part of ourselves exists in the space between the letters. Through recognising the words as thought and having the consciousness to realise that we are just a book, we have the opportunity to connect to the pristine page of mind.
What is more, there is only one infinite notepad, and all of our lives are written on it. At a fundamental level, we are all connected. When, on some level, the residents of Modello and Homestead Gardens realised this, suspicion, hate, and violence no longer made sense. To hurt another was to hurt oneself. The only emotion that makes sense, after that, is love.
In my book “Super Lean – Unlock Your Company’s Million-Dollar Edge,” I have attempted to describe the impact of this understanding on lean transformations.
Continuous improvement is the responsibility of everyone within the business – but each person is telling themselves their own story. We must recognise this and engage with people to understand that the past does not equal the future.
For example, we will have team members who have “seen this lean thing all before.” It might be that their experience was less than positive. Part of successfully engaging this tranche of the team is showing them a different experience, but secondly, convincing them that their previous exposure lives in the past, and therefore only as thought.
Because this thought, even if it is not fully conscious, may block both full engagement and creativity. Coaching the three principles within the workplace, perhaps alongside other coaching models, such as kata and GROW, is the key to unlocking the final percentage points of human potential. At this point, a learning organisation will begin to buzz. Learning can be an activity that comes with fear, especially the further into the learning zone you get. But, as before, fear is just a reaction to our thought in the moment. Think about something that you are scared of. Do you start to feel a physical response? Knots in the stomach, or similar? I get this when I think of snakes, even though a real snake is not present.
It, therefore, follows that some negative thinking around continuous improvement and lean may have zero relationship to the reality of the current situation – yet this thinking is blocking learning and creativity.
So how, in our lean efforts, do we get past this potential blockage towards full engagement. The answer is straightforward – through awareness and giving room to feeling.
A simple coaching question like “where do you think that feeling comes from?” is a super start. Then we can employ PDCA style questioning, such as “what insights are coming through for you?” “What do you see now?” “What might you try if you knew you were not going to fail?”
And within the framework of the PDCA approach, we should not be afraid to take actions on gut feeling. The hunches of our team members can so often hide a seam of gold – let’s not nip them in the bud with a “show me the data” request – at least not every time.
If you’re interested in learning more about the topics raised in this article, you can always read more in my book “Super Lean – Unlock Your Company’s Million-Dollar Edge.” Alternatively, there are links to books by Michael Neill, Jamie Smart, and Sydney Banks over in the shop.
I’d love for you to comment below. Best wishes – let’s see if we can truly incorporate Three Principles or 3P Lean into our working and personal lives.