Here's the one thing I wish TOC people would understand
Kevin Kohls
I help logical leaders improve profitability and create long term change. Ask me how :) Want to talk? Schedule a time at calendly.com/kevinkohls or go to linktr.ee/kevinkohls
I'm Kevin Kohls, and I work with Logical Leaders to improve they manage their teams to improve their productivity and morale while generating bottom-line results.
I am a Theory of Constraints guy, but I am surprised (and somewhat disappointed) that they don't see the logic behind one basic concept that impacts the long-term viability of TOC projects.
There's a matrix that defines the view on shifting the paradigm from the current situation to a TOC paradigm. It has a mermaid, crutches, a pot of gold, and an alligator. The simple concept is that we have fallen in love with the mermaid and want to stay there despite the alligators that we constantly battle. But there is a pot of gold at the top of the hill that is better than being with the mermaid, but it's dangerous, and there is a fear that we might fall and break our legs - thus the crutches.
The solution is that we must, as TOC experts, create an easy path from the mermaid to the top of the hill. Seeing the obvious benefit, management will eagerly make that transition.
But long-term success has eluded TOC. It often fails with the first leadership change. If we apply the logic that TOC is proud to call the foundation of its methods, it becomes clear why this is. It deals with the logic of habits and group dynamics and a chemical reaction in the brain.
Close To Reality - Beach Chairs and Paychecks
Let's toss out the false allegory of a mermaid, which is supposed to represent something we can't take with us. We are on the beach drinking margaritas in a beach chair, fending off alligators on a daily basis. We stay for the view and the drinks but have to deal with the alligators, and the trip up the hill looks difficult. Still, we keep doing the same things every week because we get a paycheck. Soon, it becomes a habit. Show up every day, work like hell to get everything done by Friday, get paid, then it's the weekend. We fall into a routine - a habit.
The TOC solution comes along, and suddenly, the trip doesn't look that hard. Yet still, there is resistance, and management has to issue a mandate. Take the training. Then let's go up the hill.
The Chemicals That Prevent Change
What Goldratt and TOC fail to realize is two concepts:
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Following the same habits as the tribe produces powerful chemicals in the brain that want to reinforce the tribe to stay with the current habit. One mandate doesn't solve this.
In the short term, the mandate works, TOC works, and the process generates results. Once the mandate disappears, usually because the person who issues it is gone, TOC fades away. The new leader doesn't understand how the process works, and the chemical pull of the old habit pulls part of the herd down the hill. Soon, even though they understood the old way was better, a critical mass of the tribe returned to the old ways. The "hit" of those chemicals is greater than no reward, TOC logic or not.
The Solution?
Logical Leaders will develop solutions to these problems. But most of these will not be TOC people. For all of their declarations of the strength of TOC based on logic, they cannot deal with one simple fact.
Eli Goldratt did not develop this method.
So, it will be up to logical leaders who never shook his hand to examine this logic and conclude, "It's possible the guy who wrote The Goal—this Goldratt fellow—might have missed an assumption. I think he would have been okay with that, because in this other book he says that you have to challenge assumptions to resolve conflict."
Call to Action
Do you agree that this logic is correct? Is the matrix flawed?
Technical Director, office of the CTO at DoiT International
7 个月Jordan Peterson's explanation on how dopamine influences our progression towards our goals (https://youtu.be/xwbZ4iZwMqI) resonates with a quote by Goldratt: > "To reach a full life, we need to have enough meaningful successes." Goldratt frequently emphasized that people don't seek an "easy life" or even a "happy life"; they are most content when they have a "meaningful life." Perhaps Goldratt did understand the chemical aspects that drive and motivate us. The purpose of having achievable goals in life is to find meaning. I suggest that resistance to change often stems from a failure to see a goal as meaningful or achievable. A goal might seem obvious and commonsensical to one person, but another might struggle to understand it similarly. Closing these gaps—essentially, persuading others—is the challenge. Using metaphors like mermaids, crutches, pots of gold and alligators is just one technique, which may or may not work for different individuals. It's unlikely that this technique works the same way for everyone.
Project Manager at GENEDGE
7 个月Love the picture, but you forgot the crutches.
The Assumption Hacker | Helping you redesign how you think, so that you can reinvent your results | Posts and programs about the process | Endorsed by Dr. Eli Goldratt | TOCICO Lifetime Achievement Reward
7 个月Hi Kevin. I agree that no implementation of TOC or any significant change will last without new habits being formed (and some old ones abandoned). I’m a TOC person who studies and utilizes more than what Eli taught me. I actually know more than a handful. of others Regarding the change matrix - it was never intended nor was it claimed to be the magic bullet for implementations to be smooth sailing (at least not by the guy who developed it). It is simply a model (and one that I appreciate and use frequently) to help people try to understand why a proposed change would be rejected or embraced by those whose participation is needed. (Whether they are proposing the change or they are the ones on the receiving end of a proposed change.) ? What one does with the understanding they gain is another story. Looking forward to seeing you at the TOCICO conference for a longer conversation.
In Goldratt's Change Matrix, the Mermaids represent current Desirable Effects (DEs). And if we're on a nice lakeshore, in the American South (where Alligators are native), chilling out on the shore, on a chaise lounge with a frosty margarita (and a great taco truck taco?) is a great example of a Mermaid. And if you decide to leave the lakeshore, and journey to the top of a distant mountain... where a Pot of Gold awaits (along with a Rattlesnake or two) -- you have to give up the lakeshore DEs, yes? Although there are some pretty good canned margaritas you could take with you... And the journey is not trivial. There are challenges & struggles along the way (represented by the Crutches), but there are also small wins (represented by the Gold Nuggets you find). Indeed, a wise guide can structure your journey, so not only do you succeed in reaching your destination, but you learn the skills, practices, and habits along the way, that you'll need to lock in the gains -- and the Pot of Gold. This is why I prefer the 6-box "pro" version of the Change Matrix+. The transition from your current reality, to your chosen future reality, is an opportunity not just to reach the "Pot of Gold", but to develop yourself along the journey.
GM/Strategic Change Consulting Practice Lead at The Advantage Group, Inc.
7 个月Lisa Scheinkopf ,Anil Jain (Dosi)