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Join Derek Hudson as he explores Essential Dynamics, a framework for approaching the challenges facing people and organizations. Consider your Quest!
Welcome to Essential Dynamics. I'm your host, Derek Hudson. The Essential Dynamics podcast is an opportunity for us to have deep conversations with interesting people to test the principles of essential dynamics, the thinking framework that I've been developing to help people and organizations solve problems and improve performance. I'm happy to have back on the show today, Angela Montgomery from Intelligent Management, author of a new book, which in part is entitled The Human Constraint. Angela, welcome back.
Angela:Great to be back there.
Derek:So we were just talking as we're getting ready here that the book, The Human Constraint, which we're talking about today, has a has a full title, which, which I can't recite. Can you tell us what the full title of the book is?
Angela:Yes. I was very excited when Taylor and Francis, decided to publish, this book because I had released it as a web project called The Human Constraint. They are releasing it as a book, which is called The Human Constraint, How Business Leaders Can Embed Continuous Innovation, Conflict Resolution, and Problem Solving into Daily Practice. So I was very happy when they came up with that because that's what they saw in this book, and I hope that that is what the readers will be able to take away.
Derek:So so let's talk about the first part of the title. And, we you know, in our previous episode, I think we established that, the failure to think at a systems level is the root of a lot of problems that we have in organizations and in our society. What's the human constraint?
Angela:Something that we all have to live with, and it sounds negative, but it's not. So the theory of constraints that was developed by doctor Elio Hal Goldratt, first introduced in the nineteen seventies, is a phenomenal body of work that we have, intelligent management have been introducing into organizations, since the mid nineteen nineties, first in Italy and Europe and then in North America, where we are now based in Canada. And the name of this approach, theory of constraints, sounds, again, negative. But in fact, when you understand what a constraint is, you will realize that it's always an incredible opportunity. So what doctor Goldratt introduced into the business world and what is the source of a phenomenal ability to create radical improvement in the performance of a company, whatever they do, whatever the sector, is based on the idea that in a system, if you identify a constraint, which and by that, we don't mean a bottleneck.
Angela:We mean a strategic leverage point. If we identify that and we choose that strategically, then we can organize everything else in the company around it in order to really improve the speed of flow of everything that we deliver. Because it sounds counterintuitive, but it actually comes from fluid dynamics, which is what doctor Goldratt studied as a physicist. If you have a tube of flow of liquid and you squeeze it at one point, it will actually accelerate the flow of the liquid through that tube. And it's the same thing applied to whether it's a production line of machines or as in the case of intelligent management, the work we do when you work with the whole organization, choosing a strategic leverage point, which can be one particular activity inside the company.
Angela:That allows you to then design everything else that goes on, all the interflows of work, all the processes in such a way that they feed that constraint so that it's working all the time and delivering all the time. That is constraint in the sense of, of a company or, or production. And that's what most people who are familiar with the theory of constraints know about. What we came to realize after many years, because we've been doing this since 1996, is that no matter how much people, are open to this and are open to change and they want to improve things, ultimately, it's never just about the technicalities of choosing a constraint and making, you know, designing the the process flows and all the other things which are involved in that. Ultimately, the difficulty can be in our ability, our human ability to accept change, to live with the change, and to go with the change.
Angela:So that is why I call the book The Human Constraint. We actually when we're working with people, we talk about cognitive constraints. So cognitive constraint means that, we have a series of mental models, assumptions that, allow us to allow us to act and allow us to, exist in reality because there are certain assumptions that I need to have. I need to assume that when I open the door of my apartment, there is a floor outside and I can step onto it and walk into an elevator. That is an assumption that I make, and it helps me to function.
Angela:But there are so many other assumptions that we make in life, so many mental models, so many entrenched beliefs, which can be limiting beliefs. So what in intelligent management we focus on when we work with companies is identifying that set, and there's a precise way to do that. Doctor Goldratt developed a thinking process, which is called the core conflict. It's a method for surfacing those assumptions. So we have them out expressed, verbalized in a way that has never been done before.
Angela:So people can look at them and say, yes, these are a set of assumptions or limiting beliefs that are keeping us stuck. And if we're able to challenge those assumptions, that's what allows us to break through into a new solution, a new reality, and that's what allows us to move into a more desirable future. So the human constraint, as I said, it sounds negative. It's actually a huge opportunity, to look at what is limiting us and find a way to challenge those limiting beliefs, those assumptions, and move through to a more desirable future.
Derek:That's fantastic. I wanna go back just for a second because we do talk about the theory of constraints a lot on this podcast, and, we don't always assume that that people have that background. In a complex system, where as you said, you've you're trying to turn inputs into outputs, somewhere in that system is a step that runs slower than the other ones. And, and if you improve all the other steps and you don't improve that one, you won't increase your flow. So that's that's maybe the idea of a bottleneck.
Derek:And then what you say is, yes, but that the one the place that is the bottleneck doesn't need to be the constraint. So what you wanna do is you want to choose, the place where you're going to focus your attention and make that the constraint. And then, two things. One, you should choose something that's expensive or valuable or the key to your process, something that really matters as your focus point or your leverage point. And then the other thing is you need to make sure that nothing else becomes a constraint.
Derek:And so everything else has to have more capacity than your leverage point. So now maybe you've in a sense, you've moved your bottleneck to where you want it to be. But we we don't necessarily talk about it as a bottleneck because it's now an opportunity. As you say, if you can increase the flow at the leverage point, you can increase the flow at the system overall. So let's not waste our time and attention fixing a bunch of stuff that doesn't matter.
Derek:Let's focus it on where we can have the biggest impact. Is that fair to say?
Angela:Yes. There is a lot of confusion in the world about what theory of constraints actually is, what it means, what it contains. And so we give as much information about that as we can, and we publish various books, that people can find on our website because there is confusion. And when we talk about constraint, it's not a bottleneck. A bottleneck is something that we want to eliminate.
Angela:We don't want a bottleneck. It's gonna prevent us, from, the smooth flow that we need in our operations. However, by identifying a strategic point in our company and deciding that that is gonna be our constraint, it's a choice that we make. It's a strategic choice, and we can choose it on the basis of the value that we see in that particular part of our of our company. And in in in some cases, it could be the value that is perceived by the customer, because we could have plenty of wonderful things going on in our company, but the customer doesn't really care about that too much or they care about the value that they perceive by receiving what what we give them.
Angela:So we make the choice of, which point in the system we want to have less capacity than the rest of the system. That's it. It's not about bottlenecks at all. And it's but by having that strategically chosen point, which is called a constraint leverage point, that is a strategic choice which is going to enhance everything that is going on in the system. It also gives us incredible focus because all the decisions that we have to make simply has to tell us, is this helping the constraint?
Angela:Is it increasing throughput, from the system? Everything else is detail. So, we don't need to get lost and worried about, a million other things. We can simply focus on that. And, of course, then that opens up a whole series of implications, which is if we have a constraint and we are subordinating everything else in the system to that constraint, and we know that we need capacity in the system, in order for the constraint to function all the time because we get a moment lost to the constraint is a moment of throughput loss that we will never again recover, then we cannot possibly think in terms of cost, and, and how and costing costs and reducing and efficiencies in the traditional sense.
Derek:Well, there's lots there's lots there. Now, but I wanna change the conversation just a little bit. Typically, when we're talking about the theory of constraints, we start with some physical process. It's easier to understand. There's a process in the organization which turns inputs to outputs, which may which may be an intellectual process, but it's step by step.
Derek:When you talk about the human constraint, in my mind, you're talking about the process of managing the process. And, so sometimes I refer to that there's the system and then there's the meta system. And the the system has a constraint, which you either design or happens if you don't design, and you have to deal with that. And the meta system constraint is always management, management's attention, management's capacity, management's management's ability to think of things different. And so I would say the human constraint sits above that.
Derek:You can design your flow, at a sort of value add level, but then you have to deal with, can you actually get people to run the business that way? And that's the human constraint.
Angela:The ability to think systemically is something which we're not taught at school. We're not taught at university. We're certainly not taught it in business schools. And yet, it is the most important skill, for anybody in any kind of leadership position in the world today to have, because what has changed in our world is that we now live in a reality of complexity. And so this is what the the character in the the human constraint called Sam, is repeatedly trying to get people to understand is that we live in a world of complexity.
Angela:Therefore, we must be able to understand what that means. We must be able to understand the implications for that in how we manage, how we recruit, how we, do all our operations. And it's only by understanding, what that means in terms of these incredible explosion of interdependencies that we all live with, and pandemic was, you know, the most crucial and painful example of that, what happens to supply chains, etcetera. So it's only by understanding that level of complexity and the fact that if that is our current reality, which it is and it's not gonna change, then we cannot keep repeating the same behaviors and the same business behaviors and the same decision making behaviors, that we've had and that were effective probably up until the second World War. But that is interestingly when, system science actually really started having practical applications, for how to manage scarcity of resources that, in a in an effective way.
Angela:So it's the ability to think systemically, and we have to thank doctor Goldratt for this amazing gift that he made to the world, of developing the thinking processes and the theory of constraints. And so there is, the second section of the book, The Human Constraint, is devoted to explaining what those thinking processes are and how people can use them and embed them into their day to day because it's like a muscle that we need to train and become stronger in. Otherwise, we're not gonna be able to withstand the continuous onslaught of of events and stay true to to what we need to stay true to. So it's a little bit like an analogy we use with people is, it's like when you learn to fly a plane. Domenico, when I met him as a young man that had a pilot's license and, he could fly a plane by day, but he didn't have the license to fly by night.
Angela:And, I don't some people remember when John Kennedy's son tragically died, in a in a in a plane crash. It was quite possibly due to the fact that he was flying later than he should have done in the day, and he wasn't he didn't have the skills to navigate, in the dark. So in order to navigate in the dark, you have to learn not to look at the, not to look out the window, but to look at a set of instruments and take the information from that. And in the same way, today, leaders, managers, executives, they have to learn to look at instruments. They can't be looking out the window and say, oh, this is how we've always done it.
Angela:You know, this is gonna keep working. It won't. There is a whole body of knowledge that people can learn and absorb that will allow them to operate in a complex world, which is what the one that we're living in today. And so to be able to think systemically, we can use the doctor Goldratt's thinking processes. And using them on an ongoing basis helps us to connect a series of dots, and come up with solutions we wouldn't otherwise be able to develop.
Derek:So I I take it that the goal of rereleasing the human constraint is, for the readers to start on a journey of thinking more systemically. Is that fair to say?
Angela:Yes. That that pretty much sums it up, Jo. I mean, first, it's to make people familiar with the idea of, there being a different way for companies to organize themselves and to manage themselves, as whole systems, which has a whole slew of benefits and and knock on effects that are all positive and which allow companies to scale and grow, in a harmonious way, in a holistic way, and that allows the individuals inside this these systems to really to flourish, in a way that they cannot if they are trapped within silos or within traditional, jobs descriptions and roles. What we propose is a design of an organization based on competencies. So, a person's competencies can can grow, can be put to use in a way that just isn't possible in a linear way of thinking about an organization, thinking about careers, about career ladders, about getting to the top.
Angela:These are all concepts which are no longer valid for the reality that we live in today.
Derek:One of the other things you do, I think, in the book is is talk also about the benefit of systemic thinking beyond the organization. And one of the things that I enjoyed, in in the book version that I read was the conversations with the rabbi.
Angela:Yes.
Derek:So so why is there a rabbi in a business book written by a a a literary writer with a science background? Now we've got now we've got the rabbi.
Angela:Well, I don't have a science background. My partners have a science background, but I I what I write is informed by science. Let's put it like that. But, yes, we had the great good fortune, to to hear directly from doctor Goldratt himself, who, is is was Israeli and, from a religious, Jewish family. And, he, gave the the advice directly to Domenico, that if he wanted to understand the theory of constraints better, he should study the Talmud.
Angela:Now at the time, Domenico did not know what the Talmud was, had never heard of it, and that was the beginning of a whole journey for us of learning that we have continued ever since and that of, actually Hasidic philosophy. And it has it is something which has increased our understanding of the theory of constraints, but it has also enlarged our vision and our, comprehension of of the positive impact that all this kind of, approach to thinking and to solving problems can have way beyond just the business world, going into all aspects of of human coexistence, if you like. So that's why there is a a rabbi character in the book because, in our years in New York, we had the great good fortune to study with some of the best and the brightest in Hasidic philosophy, and so to gain insights into what it means to, to identify a constraint and to, leverage a constraint. It's it's a recurring theme that that we learned. And in fact, the the telling of the Passover story is not about people remembering a historical event.
Angela:It is actually about continuously reminding ourselves of the possibility of coming through a situation of stricture, of constraint, and of breaking through into a freedom that comes from our ability to challenge, specific situations of stricture, and use our systemic intelligence, to to overcome that and to create new solutions, new breakthroughs.
Derek:I I think the there's an example in the book of the rabbi's teaching about the, children of Israel. At one point, they were wandering in the wilderness, and they want to go back to Egypt. And they wanna go back into slavery because it was easier.
Angela:That's right.
Derek:If if we, maybe as we pull this together, we think about our, concept in essential dynamics of the quest. And I did a Christmas episode where I I talked about, some of my spiritual background and the idea that, our mortal experience is constrained for a reason. And and that's to give us limited capacity so we can learn what to focus on, and we can so we can do hard things. And, I think what you're trying to do here and get us getting the world to think of things at a system as an integrated system, it does go beyond the organization. It does reach out to the human experience.
Derek:And I think your what your premise that I read in the book, I think, is that, when when organizations work this way, they will work that way with other organizations, and we'll be able to optimize human potential in a way which we haven't seen to this point.
Angela:Absolutely, Darren. There is a whole world waiting for us, not waiting for us, that we actually have to cocreate, every day with our actions, with our thoughts, with our speech, how we communicate with each other, how the expectations we have. We can build a much better world, by understanding what it means to act as a system, by understanding that we have to respect other people's needs, and that the opportunities, for doing things in a better way, in a wiser way, are manifold. It's just up to us to make the choice, and that means that, business is an opportunity to actually improve human existence in so many ways that go well beyond just the day to day transaction and the Excel spreadsheet.
Derek:Oh, fantastic. So I would like to, kind of stop there. I'm trained as an accountant. I am I am not an accountant.
Angela:Okay.
Derek:And, I'm a I'm a dreamer. I'm I'm an adventurer. I I love, talking about how things could be better, and I like helping people see things differently and do better. And I am convinced that, we can get to truth if we try to understand how things relate to each other and how there is real cause and effect in this world, and we can make choices that make things better.
Angela:Mhmm. Absolutely.
Derek:So I'm thrilled to be associated with you and your team and these concepts, And I hope that, many other people take as many notes as I did about from your from your book, The Human Constraint. Angela, where can people find you?
Angela:We have a website which is wwwintelligentmanagement.ws,sforsugar, and, that is where we have put together a huge collection of articles, blog posts, and, links to our various publications.
Derek:And will that be the best place to find the book when it's released in August?
Angela:And the book will be released. It will be available on all the channels. Every anywhere you buy your books, you will find it there.
Derek:That's very awesome. Alright. Well, I look forward to trying to figure out how to get a signed copy when you're when you're in Edmonton next.
Angela:When we're next in Edmonton? Yes. If I Okay. If I
Derek:don't find you in Ottawa. So, Angela, thanks very much. Brynn Griffiths, in the studio. Thank you, Brynn, for your work. I'm Derek Hudson.
Derek:I'm with Unconstrained, and you can find us at getunconstrained.com. And until next time, consider your quest.