Achieving Greatness – Organisational Development
The Thinking for Change (TFC) programme
Using the TOC Thinking Processes to Creating the Learning Organisation
This aspect of our work concentrates on helping the organisation achieve progress towards the goal,
however that may be defined. This also includes recognising the necessary conditions for the
achievement of the goal and ensuring that they are not put at risk. For example, if the goal is to make
money now and in the future, then two necessary conditions are as follows: that the market is satisfied
now and in the future and that the team is satisfied now and in the future.
The TFC change model, shown below, comprises four key questions. As the leader of an
organisation, I need to know what it is that has to change if I am to make progress towards the
organisation's goal. Once I can answer that question, with the support and commitment of the team,
I can then determine what the solution looks like – what it is I am leading the change to. The next
step is to create the implementation plan that takes me from where I am right now to where I want the
organisation to be and finally, need to know how to maintain the onwards progress of the organisation.
Organisational focus comprises three distinct phases:
Phase One: Strategic Management Training
Phase Two: Securing the Implementation
Phase Three: Developing Sustainability
Phase One: Strategic Management Training
The ten day Strategic Management training programme is the starting point for the application of the
Thinking For Change approach to organisations. This is where we focus on the gap between the desired level
of performance and the current level. This requires an understanding of both the physical and the
logical structure of the organisation and the relationship it has with all aspects of the supply chain
in which it sits. As far as the physical aspects are concerned this involves the use of the five steps
of focusing as shown below:
- Identify the constraint
- Exploit the constraint
- Subordinate everything else to the support of the constraint
- Elevate the constraint
- Prevent inertia – if the constraint has been broken go back to step 1
These five steps are well known in the world of operations, but are just as effective in project
management, sales and purchasing; and just as applicable to other industries such as healthcare or
charity organisations.
Strategic management also requires an understanding of the logical barriers to enhanced performance.
This demands a different approach, but still one that dovetails with the five steps. The approach
comprises the use of powerful logical, analytical tools to answer four questions:
- What to change?
- What to change to?
- How to effect the change?
The first question requires a logical analysis of the current situation, using the issues and problems
that the organisation is experiencing right now as the starting point of the analysis. This leads to
the recognition of the core problem – that which is causing most of the current problems and issues
within the organisation. But knowing the core problem is not enough, we must now develop a solution
that removes the core problem once and for all. This then is the answer to the question what to change
to.
Again the same logical approach is used to develop the solution and then test it, logically that is!
Solutions must meet certain criteria. They must remove the impact of the core problem, they must be
replicable, they must be scalable and they must be sustainable. These criteria are essential if the proposed
change is to stick.
Once this has been completed, and validated, the next question is how to effect the change – how do we
implement this solution? This requires an understanding of what stands in the way of success – the
obstacles.
The obstacles to each aspect of the solution are captured and analysed, and once they have been
validated, the intermediate objective (IO), that which overcomes the obstacle, is determined. Once
each IO has been identified it can be checked for dependency in terms of both time and logic. This
then forms the basis of our implementation plan and can then be transferred into a project plan using
Critical Chain Project Management, ready for execution. At this point in
the process, measures are put in place to ensure that progress is maintained, and also that the
solution is taking the organisation towards the goal.
Strategic Management training is aimed at Senior Management Teams and consists of 10 intensive days,
usually spread over several weeks. The fee is £5,000.00 per person.
Phase Two: Securing the Implementation
In the process of managing change it is critical that the implementation of the change is secured. It is
not enough to have developed a robust solution to the core problem, it is not enough to have
successfully started the implementation: it must be completed. This involves a process of on-going
coaching and mentoring until the people within the organisation have both confidence in their own
ability, and that of the new system, to deliver a win-win for all. We provide this support through
regular visits, updating the knowledge that has been already transferred into the organisation and
being available for questions and new issues to be addressed.
Phase Three: Developing Sustainability
Once the implementation process has been successfully completed it becomes vital that the progress
towards the goal is maintained. The activities contained within phase two are under way, yet there is
still one more aspect to successful change that must be addressed. For any successful change programme
there must be three dimensions: replicability, scalability and sustainability. The third phase focuses
most on sustainability. Here the capability to sustain the change process is developed through
training people within the organisation to teach and support without external input. They are given
the opportunity to develop new skills to drive the change process forward, support the rest of the
people and to take responsibility for managing not just the change process, but also the development of
new solutions to problems as and when they arise.
If you would like to arrange a course at a time to
suit you and your organisation, please contact us by telephone or e-mail:
TEL: 01664 502860
E-MAIL: dianej@toc-lean.com
Please click here for a printable version of this page.
Return to top of page
|
