192 Leading with NLP
are. When we shift to thinking about the mental models be-
hind the procedures, we open up a whole new set of
questions. For example:
What level of decision can customer support be trusted to
take without supervision?
Are customers trustworthy?
Are they trying to get something for nothing?
Mental models can be uncovered by the question ‘Why?’, if
you ask it persistently enough. Keep asking until you get an-
swers that go beyond blaming individuals.
Why did the customer lose his temper?
Because he was not called back as promised.
Why?
Because the supervisor was overworked.
Why?
Because his staff were not authorized to take certain
decisions on their own.
Keep asking ‘Why?’ until you see how the system is responsi-
ble for what has happened.
The structure of any organization is kept intact by its pro-
cedures and these are the result of certain ways of thinking.
Leaders have to change these ways of thinking – unless they
change the mental models behind the procedures, another
procedure that accomplishes the same purpose will simply
grow in its place. It’s like the mythological Hydra – if you
keep cutting off the head, two more grow in its place. You
have to get to the heart of the beast, the point in the system
where change will make a difference – the leverage point.
This nearly always involves changing people’s ideas, beliefs,
attitudes and mental models.
Changing mental models is generative learning, so it fol-
lows that if the model is changed, then the procedures will
change too. Change a procedure without changing the men-
tal models, on the other hand, and the new way will be