– I was first contacted by Benefits because they were finding out what systems thinking, lean etc was, and they saw my name all over message boards on the IDEA, and noticed I worked in the same building.

-a stream of accountants appeared asking for help preparing for an exam with a question about lean in it, and they had heard from my old boss who was an accountant, that I used to bang on about it all the time.

–“Several people have mentioned your name to me over the last couple of months and I was wondering if it might be possible to meet up at some point so I can pick your brains.”

It has taken me almost 7 years to get lucky. I thought I was wasting my time with all the talk and articles sent round showing how well ST worked in a housing repairs service in some faraway Local Authority.  Turns out it all the niggling (or some of it, an unknown portion) and haranguing had some effect. I became known for something. Like Seth Godin’s Purple Cow, I stand out and stand for something. I might not be great at it, or consistent, but I can regurgitate half digested knowledge on request.

In the board room on a huge whiteboard I have drawn the model for Check. There is a projector screen that comes down to cover it, and is often pulled down to hide it.  When walking past the room if it’s empty I go in and pull the screen up so the diagram is there for people to see, and someone one day might ask  “what’s that?” and another unplanned and unforeseeable event could happen.

I get immensely downhearted at times, but then a whole load of synchronised good fortune comes along and I forget it all. I found myself saying this week to someone, “it doesn’t matter if someone doesn’t get it, you can’t make them. It’s not their time.  I got it when I did, and couldn’t have before that”. Like I was patient! Perhaps even had learned some kind of letting go and that I must have began to realise you cannot control people, but you can lay the ground for when people who ARE ready, that there is something to help influence them.