What is Lean Mind Management?

What is Lean Mind Management?

I first became involved in ‘Lean Management’ when I ran an engineering company and came to realise it is one of those scary terms like ‘Change Management’ because it is poorly understood and often poorly implemented. It was at that time that I became aware of interested in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming).

What fascinated me most about all of the above is that they are systems based models (systems thinking) and that is at the heart of engineering and cybernetics.

The aim of this article is to look understanding the methodology and realising that the techniques are just applications of this methodology. Lean literally means to cut away the unwanted/unneeded to reveal and make best use of the quality remaining product. This refinement methodology applies to every skilful area of life from the Martial Arts to business processes; from painting and decorating to coaching and therapy. The most efficient way to do any of these is not ‘have a go to you get good at it’ but to ‘model excellence’.

Modelling Excellence is at the core of NLP methodology and is literally ‘Lean Learning’. The simple rule is: find someone who is excellent at what you want and model them; don’t copy them, it’s not the same thing.

So what is Lean Mind Management?

Lean Mind Management (LMM) is the name of often use to describe NLP as the process of modelling excellence is to cut away all that is not absolutely necessary and being left with the underlying structure that is transferable, if that is your aim. It is not about positive or negative, it is only about usefulness in the context the ‘lean skill’ is to be applied. As an example, in his book ‘Left of Bang’ Patrick Van Horne used this modelling to refine the transferable skills necessary to identify terror threat and defined what he terms ‘the four pillars of observable behaviour’. When a client comes to see me for anxiety management, I often model their skill they’ve titled anxiety to understand how efficient they are at it and if that skill structure be reframed to something more useful in the context they want. Milton Erickson is quoted as saying “first model your clients’ reality then role model it”. It may sound strange but please consider that people become very efficient at skills they don’t want (e.g. anxiety, self-doubt, procrastination etc.) so they already have the skill of LMM just are not consciously applying it to skills they do want only unconsciously to skills they don’t want. How cool would it be to realise this and be able to do something about it.

We learn many things by immersion eg you move to a new area to live/work and over time you develop an awareness of the area and are able to navigate your way around. Yet rather than take all that time, if you used maps and directions you will know your way around much sooner. That is the key to modelling or mapping. LLM is the process of becoming the most efficient at this.

In his book ‘Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience’ Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi examines the challenges of lifelong learning by which we can improve our lives by constantly increasing our experience of happiness. Flow is ‘understanding the Natural path of travel’; it is not forcing or opposing or judging. LMM is about enabling flow through refinement and elegant efficiency of action and thought.

How is NLP LMM?

Gotta love the acronyms…

When Drs Richard Bandler and John Grinder developed the field now known as NLP, they did this by modelling human behaviour and Bandler described it as “the study of the structure of subjective experience”. The attitude, methodology and techniques of NLP enable us to work more efficient with rapport building plus behaviour and belief change in whatever context we choose.

Where do you want to be lean?

• Relationships
• Coaching
• Business development
• Change management
• Or…

Techniques are the application of NLP methodology. LMM is the methodology that enables flexible application so you can develop your own context specific techniques.

Learn to be lean, learn to be mindful, after all it’s your brain and you should be in charge of what its doing rather than leaving it to chance.

To find out more about Lean Mind Management and Neuro-Linguistic programming, training and application, Mark can be contacted on 0121 251 6172 or email [email protected]