Am I on my own?

In Eli Goldratt’s last ever public seminar, he asked the audience (as he often did) “Who has read my book – The Goal?”

He then says “About 80%. So now a different question. How many of you had the courage to implement it? Ah, about 15%. So let me pick a person at random. Have we ever met or spoken before?” The man in the audience says “No”. Eli continues “Did you get results?” The man answers that he did; he applied the ideas into a financial services business, dramatically reducing lead times and improving performance. He also states that he got a pay rise and a new corner office!
Eli makes the point that this is typical – anyone who really tried got results. He also makes the point that it takes courage. Courage is definitely a necessity but is it sufficient? Over many years we have encountered hundreds of people who, having read “The Goal” or “Critical Chain” or “Isn’t It Obvious”, have personally been inspired to apply the knowledge they have gained, for the benefit of their organisations.
Many of them failed to capitalise on the knowledge. Why? Some have stated that although they were personally willing and in fact inspired, they felt like they were “on their own”. They could not engage their colleagues or their boss or in some cases could not even have a discussion on the subject. Why does TOC trigger such resistance? Why does it pose such a threat? Do we create it ourselves through our passion and conviction for TOC?
The answers must lay, for each person who resists, somewhere in one or more of the four quadrants – see Overcoming Resistance to Change – Isn’t It Obvious

Using the terminology of the four quadrants:
The “pot of gold” is not large enough – the benefits of changing
The “alligator” is not such a big threat – the threats of not changing
The “mermaid” is too appealing – the benefits of not changing
The “crutches” are too risky – the threats of changing

So if you want to introduce your colleagues to TOC – what do you do? Many people start to talk about it, about the book, about how great the ideas are, about how “we should try this stuff” – all of which can trigger the all too familiar NIH syndrome [Not Invented Here] or the inevitable WAD syndrome [We Are Different].
So what do we recommend? We have had many years of supporting individuals who have found themselves in this position – feeling on their own, because the new found clarity and simplicity of thinking that TOC has given them is at odds with the confusion and complexity that others seem to take for granted. There are two strategies that have worked in the past for such individuals – both are by nature stealth strategies. To this we add the latest – the quadrants:

• Become very valuable to your organisation by applying the ideas personally to your area of responsibility – without disclosing that it is “TOC” – just commonsense.
• Win people over slowly and very carefully, by following the Layers of buy-in, to gain consensus – but again to “commonsense” not specifically to TOC
• Gain acceptance of changes needed using the four quadrants

In brief we will describe the “how to” for each of these. If you need help with these approaches please contact us:

How to become very valuable to your organisation by applying the ideas personally to your area of responsibility

• Understand clearly the “goal” of your area of responsibility and your “goal units”
• Understand clearly the contribution this “goal” makes to your boss / organisation
• Accept that there are undesirable effects related to what you provide
• Understand the nature and magnitude of those undesirable effects
• Analyse the flow of work – and how the undesirable effects arise
• Identify the core problem / constraint that is limiting making the most of what you have
• Implement a change to how you operate that will result in more “goal units” from your area
• Enjoy the improved results or if none, analyse your erroneous thinking on the problem or solution and adjust the changes
• When success comes, use the credibility gained to tackle bigger issues and with those who ask, share the thinking – BUT DO NOT PUSH TOC!

How to win people over slowly and very carefully, by following the Layers of buy-in, to gain consensus

First a reminder on the Layers of Buy-in:

• Consensus on the problem
• Consensus on the direction of the solution
• Consensus on the benefits that the solution will bring
• Consensus on how to mitigate/remove any negative effects that can arise from implementing the solution
• Consensus on how to overcome the major obstacles to implementation

Remember that we need to deal with the layers in sequence, like peeling an onion.

What does “the problem” mean in layer 1? We define this as the core conflict or the erroneous assumption that holds the core conflict in place. How do we find this?

You should start with gathering undesirable effects (UDE’s) in the area being studied – check the existence and magnitude of these effects – gain consensus on them with DIP’s (directly involved people) and DAP’s (directly affected people) – do this with individuals, not in a group.

Next, personally perform a 3 cloud (TOC tool) analysis of three of the main UDE’s and derive the core conflict and supporting assumptions. Connect the core conflict, with cause and effect, to the UDE’s. Then validate the analysis by a focused discussion with each of the DIP’s individually – not showing the full analysis. (Treat your formal TOC work as the preparation or rehearsal not the actual show – many people get intimidated by boxes and arrows, plus you have to explain the “method” which diverts attention from the subject matter). At this point layer 1 is complete and the DIP’s should say to you “So what? What is the solution?”

Your answer should be something like “Now I have validated the problem I can start to develop a solution – I will come back to you when I have a draft”. Remember slowly, slowly!

From your discussions so far, you should be able to develop the criteria for a good solution. Next identify the erroneous assumption and develop and injection to “break” the core conflict

[here we would recommend reading “Behind the Cloud” by Jelena Fedurko, which is an excellent practical guide to using the cloud]

Connect the injection, using cause and effect, to the desirable effects and criteria for a good solution. Validate this work by a focused discussion with each of the DIP’s individually – not showing the full analysis. (Layer 2 complete)

Gain an understanding with the DIP’s of the magnitude of the benefits - Layer 3 – and listen for the “yes …but” arguments. Record these and who raised them. Now, on your own, sort the yes-but’ items into those which are:

• Potential Negative Effects that could only exist if you implemented the solution
• Obstacles that will block you from ever implementing the solution

For each of the potential negative effects – prepare a “negative branch reservation” (NBR), and trim it – see again “Behind the Cloud” for more detail. Validate the trimming injections with the DIP who raised the risk.

Once each of the DIP’s individually has agreed the problem, the solution, the benefits and how to avoid potential negative side effects, it is time to use their collective intuition to raise the major show stoppers and how to overcome them. This should be done as a group process, not individually. The process is designed to gain consensus and lead to an implementation road map. [If you would like a detailed description of the process please contact us]

With the implementation road map you can now start to “make the changes”. It is a long journey to get to this point but extremely rewarding as well as a great piece of personal development.

How to gain consensus of the changes needed using the four quadrants

This process starts by you doing preparatory work again on your own. First, in relation to the proposed change, complete the 4 quadrants from your point of view – what is the pot of gold for you; what is the alligator for you etc. Then complete them from the point of view of the system/company – what is the pot of gold for the system/company etc.

Next complete them from the point of view of the person whom you want to agree to the changes. To do this you must try to “walk in their shoes” of as those in NLP say “enter their Model Of The World”. If you cannot answer the four questions then this indicates that you need to LISTEN more to the other person. You will need to engage them in a discussion around the subject and explore the 4 quadrants without mentioning the actual change that you want to make. Done skilfully, this works – done poorly it crashes.

Once your preparation is complete, then you can have an open discussion with the person. This starts with agreement with them on THEIR alligator – the current reality. Moving then to THEIR pot of gold – their desired reality. Once this is agreed, you introduce the change as the ENABLER that can get them away from the alligator and closer to the pot of gold. Tell them that you think that they may not agree because of THEIR mermaid and the risks (crutches). At no time have you mentioned your or the company view points. Only if you get consensus on their viewpoint do you introduce the other viewpoints. If at any time you sense disagreement – LISTEN carefully and back away – to do more thinking on your own. Adjust off-line and re-engage.

This is a recently developed process which has had some initial success – so we would love to hear from you how it goes when you try it.

As stated before, if you need any guidance on buy-in issues related to TOC – then let us know.

Martin Powell – Director
Goldratt UK
m.powell@goldratt.co.uk