Constraints
“The Theory of Constraints is a methodology for identifying the most important limiting factor (i.e. constraint) that stands in the way of achieving a goal and then systematically improving that constraint until it is no longer the limiting factor. In manufacturing, the constraint is often referred to as a bottleneck.”
One of the many coaching certifications our coaching team carries is my partner Paul’s PMP project management one. I have learned so much from him on this topic and one of the things I had to figure out from some of our earliest interactions was his term “chasing the constraint”.
We would be talking about our challenges or those of a client and it never seemed to bother him. There is an indomitability that he brings to every situation, but this is something different. It is the conviction that every organization has a problem or constraint that needs to be dealt with.
But not only that, solving that problem always leads to or exposes a problem elsewhere in the organization. For instance:
We have a real problem with lagging sales. We focus all our guns in that direction and get the flywheel really spinning on business creation…
Only to realize that we don’t have quite enough production capacity to handle the huge increase in sales.
This reveals the fact that our administrative way of tracking and processing work doesn’t scale to greater volume well…
And this produces delays in getting the work processed which causes cancellation of jobs sold and leads us back to a problem with having enough business.
The risk is that you get problem fatigue and don’t want to solve any of the constraints. Or that you convince yourself there is only one and that if it gets fixed, everything will be okay and you will have no problems to deal with. Those are both horrible mistakes.
Jesus was trying to exhort the disciples and said “In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
In other words, you WILL have trouble in this life but I will help you overcome all of them. Don’t let yourself be surprised or discouraged by trouble in this life and take the easier burden and lighter yoke we find in God when we walk through our challenges with him.
In my frustration and overwhelm as a leader and a father, I have approached others with an unstated warning:
“Don’t you dare bring me any more problems!”
That is the opposite of “chasing the constraint” and it is pretty poor leadership.
We need to believe that everything has a solution.
We need to determine what issue is most pressing.
We need to focus our efforts to improve and solve that problem.
We need to know that there is likely another constraint or problem behind that one.
And that we will chase that constraint and solve it as well.
That is a complete perspective and game-changer! And it is completely within your ability to claim and execute. Just claiming that while installing a meeting mechanism to make sure execution happens will completely change an organization.
Consider
Have you trained your family and team to not bring you any problems?
Have you gotten comfortable with the idea that there will always be problems or issues that need to be solved?
Do you have a process and meeting rhythm in place to ensure that constraints get identified and solved resolved?