One of the biggest challenges for business growth, is the myriad of places that seem to be good opportunities for improvement that might lead to growth. TOC can help you cut through these and find the ONE place that you must improve that will lead to growth.
In my previous post I pointed out the risk of ignoring the results that TOC can deliver to you, or to your competition.
In the next few posts I’d like to focus on some of the key concepts of the Theory of Constraints to help you understand why, and how this management framework delivers such phenomenal results.
Let us start with: FOCUS
TOC can be summarized in a single word: Focus
In his book “Theory of Constraints,” Eli Goldratt summarizes all of the Theory of Constraints into a single word: FOCUS.
That statement in itself is quite a feat of focus!
In my opinion this is the key that makes TOC work. All the applications, all the thinking processes – all of it is about answering the question: “Where should we focus?”
The three core questions of TOC: “What to change?” “What to change to?” and “How to cause the change?” are questions of focus. They imply that once you’ve figure out what to change, then then next two questions must focus on this item that must change. It implies that you must NOT change other things at the same time. Focusing on many things at the same time, is the same as not focusing on anything.
Critical Chain Project Management (The TOC application for projects) helps us to identify the one path that will slow the project down – and then uses buffer warnings to tell you where exactly the risk of project delay is the highest – so that you can focus.
Throughput Accounting gives you a clear hierarchy in terms of financial measurements, allowing you to focus where the impact is the greatest.
The TOC replenishment supply chain approach helps the entire supply chain focus on the place where money is actually made – at the final point of sale to the consumer.
Strategy and Tactic trees allow a clear path of strategy execution that allows tremendous focus, and that makes it easy for those involved in executing to see exactly at what level they should be focusing to drive the strategy forward.
Over the next few posts we will look at some of these items in more detail. But the real power behind everything that TOC does, is in helping you focus, and helping you focus on the one place in your business where you are most likely to see the greatest results the fastest.
If you want to learn how to achieve this focus, just email info@5-2-50 and let’s start up a conversation about the best way to put you on your path to rapid, stable growth.
To your success
Ashton