Theory of Constraints Handbook - James Cox Iii [547]
Given these existing constraints facing our “educated audiences,” it was critical that we find a way to prevent “mental indigestion” for our inmate audience who were likely to find the processes even more difficult to use and practice within the narrow confines of prison life. Two fundamental questions needed to be answered, namely:
1. Was it possible to distill the TOC tools into their core components to simplify the learning process further?
2. How could we expand the opportunities for TOC participants to practice and use the tools?
With these questions in mind, we needed to create simple TOC materials applicable across age, education level, and language with easy applications to daily life.
Core Content
The TOC TP Tools are based on two types of logic—necessity and sufficiency, and the concept of win-win. Rather than launch directly into the mechanics of the tools, however, for the reasons mentioned previously, we decided to teach these principles first to simplify the learning process. Once these principles were well understood, the ability to apply the tools would subsequently fall into place.
Teaching Necessity Logic Both the EC and PRT tools are founded on necessity logic. Both are read in an “In order to....we must...because...” format and the validity of their cause-effect relationships depends on meeting minimum necessary requirements. In many instances, we saw amazing breakthroughs through the use of these tools, but their full application is intended for more significant issues rather than to overcome daily run-ofthe-mill decisions (e.g., choosing between buying apples or bananas), although the necessity logic underlying both types of applications is the same.
The underlying logic is straightforward. Every action that we take is driven by an underlying need. As shown in Fig. 27-8, in order to make logical decisions, we need to:
1. Question the validity of that need,
2. Check whether there is a better way to meet that need,
3. Check the underlying assumptions if necessary.
FIGURE 27-8 Cloud with common objective, needs, and wants.
Differentiating between Needs and Wants To teach necessity logic, we focused on the main component of the TOC Evaporating Cloud—the relationship between the “need” and “want” on either side of the conflict. The first step was to teach the importance of needs over wants using many different group activities such as basic budgeting, needs analysis, or demonstration games like the Potato Experiment (see shaded box). Considerable time was spent on this topic, as understanding this concept was central to learning subsequent TOC TP tools.
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The Potato Experiment©
Props Required—One clear plastic container, one bag of mixed potatoes ranging from large to baby potatoes, one bag of uncooked rice, and a 1-L bottle of water. Show only the plastic container and potatoes.
1. Ask a volunteer from the audience to fit as many potatoes into the container as possible, preferably in order of largest to smallest. They will soon realize that the trick is to insert the largest potatoes first and then intersperse the gaps with the smaller potatoes. Now ask the class whether the container is full to which the answer will be yes.
2. Reveal the bag of rice and ask another volunteer to pour as much rice as possible into the container. Once done, ask the class whether the container is full to which again the answer will be yes.
3. Finally, reveal the 1-L bottle of water and ask another volunteer to pour the water to fill the remainder of the container. Once again, ask the class whether the container is full to which the answer will be yes.
4. Let the container stand