«SIMPLE COMPLEXITY». OUR APPROACH

Experience, versatility, creativity, 360-degree communication

We simplify the management of all aspects of communication in order to improve their effectiveness. We suggest strategies to direct the many hues and complexities of communication. We manage complex projects by activating synergic resources, vision and experimentation. We help clients reach the forefront of their individual industries, relying on our responsibility, competence and experience.
Complete and integrated consultancy to suggest the best actions and tools in order to improve brand perception, leveraging the whole communication mix.

19 March 2020

Coronavirus, a reading with the glasses of Theory of Constraints

In this moment of forced imprisonment due to the coronavirus emergency, we asked customers, partners, friends to share interventions that help us support the moment and, together, to deepen important issues taking advantage of more time available. The first is that of Claudio Vettor, Managing Director at Winwin Consulting. His is a brand new application to the current moment of one of the most famous theories of organization and business management. The aim is making us reflect both on how to transform a bond (the forced stay at home) into an opportunity, both on why we have to go along with what we are asked to do by the authorities. In doing so, it brings companies closer to what the Constraint Theory is and how it works, in a simple and clear way. Below, the video and the text of the speech.

Coronavirus, an interpretation through the Theory of Constraints
What is TOC – Theory of Constraints

It is a methodology developed to simplify management and continuously improve the performance of companies and organizations operating in contexts characterized by complexity, uncertainty, variability and limited availability of resources.

The TOC was created by Eliyahu Goldratt over a period of more than three decades and has had worldwide success in the United States, Latin America, India, South Africa, China, Taiwan and Japan, as well as in Europe, albeit to a lesser extent. In Italy its application has been much less extensive. Why? Maybe I’ll tell you in another video.

The focus on the flow of operations and the simplicity of the approach allow for rapid, significant and continuous results over time.

The TOC provides an answer to the following questions:

– What is it that limits the company’s performance and prevents it from achieving much more?
– What is the easiest, fastest, lowest cost and lowest risk way to get much more, now and in the future?

The versatility of its solutions, which cover all management areas, makes the Theory of Constraints compatible with most of the methods for continuous improvement.

What does the TOC have to do with Coronavirus?
The Coronavirus emergency seems to have all the requirements that justify the use of the TOC. It is a situation characterized by complexity (there are many variables involved; it is a global phenomenon), uncertainty and variability (we know very little about the virus, how it propagates, how it evolves) and limited availability of resources (beds in hospital intensive care units, masks, etc.).

We will use what I love to call the TOC “mother procedure”, the 5 focus steps. It is useful for quickly reaching the maximum of the objective within a time interval called operating interval, which is to say the time interval that does not allow you to structurally change the available resources.

But first we need to define what is “the system” on which we want to operate and what is the goal we are trying to achieve.

It is an important choice. And my choice is to consider the entire nation as a system, made up of citizens, but also by social relations between people, factories, schools, etc. The well-being of this system is jeopardized by the speed at which the virus is spreading. If its speed was 10 times slower we would be much less at risk.

As a result, I would decline the goal like this: reduce the rate of expansion of the infection by losing the minimum of well-being reduce as much as possible the rate of expansion of the infection by losing the minimum of well-being. I repeat, only by reducing this speed does the system as a whole stand. And it is equally evident that imprisoning 16 million people would stop the infection immediately, but, from the point of view of psychological and physical well-being, this is not a great idea.

And now that we’ve laid the foundations, let’s see how the TOC helps.

We will follow the procedure step by step in this way:

Step 1 – identify the constraint or factor that more than any others determines the achievement of the objective. The lever to use to obtain the maximum in terms of effort/result.

In this emergency context, given the system and the objective, the constraint to leverage is the “number of personal contacts”: if I do not control them closely, reaching the objective is a chimera, given the fact that who is positive to the virus does not have a sign that makes them recognizable from a distance.

Step 2 – exploit the constraint, which means “use” the constraint in such a way that it produces the maximum objective. In our case it means two things: reduce unsafe contacts to a minimum + take all precautions to make contact safe (gel, masks, distance…)

Step 3 – subordinate, or adapt all the processes of the entire system so that the decisions taken in the two previous steps are implemented.
In our case, I interpret it this way: reorganize one’s life in order to minimize unsafe contacts (i.e. staying at home and not going out if not necessary)

Step 4 – how do I increase the constraint without penalizing the goal, or rather achieving more?
At this point, it is very easy for you to find yourself in a conflict, a situation that TOC welcomes. TOC likes conflicts very much. Only when the conflict that limits you in achieving the goal is clear, only then, with a special tool that I will talk about soon, it is possible to invent a brilliant solution.

Here the conflict is evident, on one hand I should reduce contacts to a minimum (to reduce the rate of contagiousness), on the other I should not reduce them to a minimum (a lonely life sucks).

The direction of the solution for me is: maintain enough sociality (at a distance) in the presence of the constraint. Like? For example, inventing dinners with friends via Skype! Once the direction is indicated, fantasy takes over.

Step 5 – prevent inertia from becoming the constraint – At the end of this emergency, once the constraint has been removed – I haven’t told you yet: the constraint is like the Pope, when a constraint dies another one is born – it would be a crime to resume old habits, for two fundamental reasons:

1 – many of the new habits, both professionally and privately, must be absolutely maintained. For the sake of your well-being, is it better to have a workshop from home or drive 700 km to go to the customer? New habits cost us less and give us more well-being.
2 – almost always some of the old habits become the new constraint. So, if you don’t want to do again the effort that just ended, better abandon them.

Theoria srl copyright 2024 - Privacy e Cookies Policy
FOLLOW US