Business Problems And Mistakes – Understand & Solve

The Evaporating Cloud for conflict resolution is perhaps the most difficult of the TOC Thinking Processes.

This is because it forces you to challenge your basic beliefs about a situation, or more contentiously, to challenge the beliefs of someone else.

What better place to start than a 2 minute video featuring Eliyahu Goldratt, the genius behind the Theory of Constraints and the thinking processes.

Next we have an 8 minute video from a TOC study course on problem solving. I’ve skipped videos 1 and 2 of this sries to go straight into the evaporating cloud.

Next is the subsequent video in the same course which looks at testing the logic in the cloud.

Moving on to the following video, which looks at challenging the assumptions.

If you prefer to read, The Logical Thinking Process by William Dettmer is excellent.

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The Current Reality Tree is used to investigate the causes of an existing problem within the business system. It is part of the TOC Thinking Processes developed by Eliyahu Goldratt.

Here are two videos from Chris Hohmann.

Video 1 – Presenting a Current Reality Tree, for you to scrutinize

Video 2 – Scrutinizing and improving a Logical Current Reality Tree

It’s easy to have mixed feelings about the TOC Thinking Processes, to be both daunted but also fascinated by its power to reach powerful insights you wouldn’t find elsewhere.

The best book on this subject is The Logical Thinking Process by William Dettmer. There is also an Executive Summary.

Get To Know Me

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Here is a 31 minute video of Christian Hohmann explaining the Goal Tree from Dettmer’s Logical Thinking Process (TOC thinking processes).

I like this a lot as it combines the goal of the business system, the critical success factors and the necessary conditions.

Problems within the performance of the business system, known as undesirable effects will come through somewhere on the Goal Tree.

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The full title of this book by Bruce Bowler is

“The Bankruptcy Alternative: Close Your Business Your Way, Without Bankruptcy. Save Time, Save Money, Save Your Sanity!“

In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I rated the book at the FOUR stars level which means I consider to be good to very good.

Here is what I posted.

Thoughtful ideas for any business owner heading into difficulty

No one starts a business expecting to have it shut down in a few years yet statistics indicate that this happens far too often.

There are two types of closure: [continue reading…]

Leading expert, author and trainer Bill Dettmer is interviewed by Erik Mano about the logical thinking process derived from Eliyahu Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints Thinking Processes.

Introduction – Video 1

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Many people dream about “being their own boss” and, perhaps, you’re one of them.

Others find them forced into self employment and starting a business because they were made redundant from what they thought was a secure job and either, are struggling to get another job or don’t want to go through their recent traumas again.

I started my consultancy/training/coaching business in 1995 and I’ve never regretted it even though I had a few nights where I’d wake up in a cold sweat, wondering what I was doing.

The Different Ways You Can Become A Business Owner

There are many different routes into becoming a business owner:

1. Starting a business from scratch on your own.
2. Starting a business with a partner.
3. Buying a business on your own.
4. Buying a business with a partner.
5. Buying into an existing business, perhaps because the existing business owner either needs more cash or wants to reduce his or her hours of work.
6. Buying a franchise.

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The full title of this book by H William Dettmer is

“The Logical Thinking Process: A Systems Approach to Complex Problem Solving“.

In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I rate the book at the FIVE Stars level, this means that I consider it to be excellent.

Here is what I posted.

A clear explanation of TOC Thinking Processes

On the one hand, the Theory of Constraints Thinking Processes can be powerful tools for investigating the current situation and identifying vital ways to improve the system in ways to meet the goal. On the other hand, they can be daunting to prepare and/or to understand because of the acronyms, unusual terminology and complexity of both the diagrams and their underlying rules. [continue reading…]

Business Coaching can work very well for many business owners but the big question is…

Will business coaching work for you?

The honest answer is that it depends on:

• You,
• Your situation,
• The business coach and how he or she fits in both with you and your situation.

This is why two aspects of what a coach offers are particularly important at the beginning:

• Try before you commit sessions – personalities can clash and you may find that a particular coach is a poor fit for your personality or issues. This is why I offer a Business Second Opinion Session to talk about any issue holding back British based business owners.
  .
• Some kind of guarantee – this shares the burden of finding the right fit between you and your coach. The coach shouldn’t see his or her task as “selling coaching hours for a profit” but as “helping business owners to succeed.”

What Is Business Coaching?

My simple definition of business coaching is that it’s helping you to get from where you are to where you want to be. [continue reading…]

If your business is finding it tough to win enough sales volume to give you the profit level you want, you may be trying to solve it the wrong way.

To get the best improvement in results, you need to tackle the right problem in the most effective way. Sometimes, business owners can make faulty diagnoses of the underlying issue and this happens particularly when the business owner is under too much pressure.

If you don’t focus your time and attention on the key constraint or bottleneck, you’re likely to get disappointing results. (see The Theory Of Constraints For Small Businesses)

This diagnose the problem to prescribe the right solution is a similar process to your doctor uses to make sure that his prescribed treatment is tackling the most likely cause. For example, there are many different reasons for a patient having a headache – from eye strain to general tension to too much alcohol… all the way through in severity to a brain tumour or a fractured skull.

Sales being too low is a symptom but, without looking in detail, it’s not clear what the underlying problem is and therefore it’s not clear

What Causes A Business To Have A Sales Problem?

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