[Confession time ... I interviewed Ted almost a year ago and then things got busy and I forgot to post his response. My apologies to Ted and to y'all.]
1. Hi Ted. Can you tell us a little about your TOC journey?
Where did it start? It started in 1987 when I first met Eli at a seminar in Coventry whilst working for the Open University in the UK. This started me thinking about just what he was saying with respect to the manufacturing industry in the UK at the time – but I could not see the process which as a systems engineer was rather important. The next time was meeting Oded following an invitation to attend the Slough Jonah Conference in 1990 I think. This was the real start as I could now see a process, and that led to my going to Ashridge with most the UK team to do what I think was the second Thinking Process Jonah course. From that moment on I knew that TOC was my home as far as work was concerned, and this has remained the case. In 1992 I undertook my PhD at Cranfield which led to the publication of my book Unconstrained Organisations which really tried to understand the barriers to change that many people had to face and which I called Paradigm Lock. If you want to know more about that there are also a couple of Jonah Conference videos which capture some of what I researched. It was certainly very interesting taking over 350 clouds and bringing them all down to 1 – the paradigm Lock cloud. This cloud remains to this day as one of the key barriers to change and why my work these days is much more focused on helping people break free from the grip of the cloud than other applications such as DBR or CCPM.
How was the trip? I’ll tell you when I have completed the journey – but so far I would not change one single aspect, it has always been fun, and fun to work with such wonderful people.
2. I know you had a big involvement in preparing the Management Skills part of TOC. Can you tell us about that work?
I first saw the embryonic MSW when Dale and Tracey sent me a three day session they had developed as part of the Jonah programme at the time, TOC for daily use I think it was and it covered the use of a conflict cloud for both simple and complex problems, NBRs, PRT and TRT. It was very simple, was designed to give the people on the course a quick win whilst waiting for the full TOC analysis to deliver once completed. From that it developed to a full blown application in its own right, and filled a real gap in the market for effective team development tools that dug a little deeper than the usual.
I have often linked my work in this are with that of Meredith Belbin and found great synergy between the two. I did some work a while ago with the Forensic Science Service and the Belbin analysis allowed me to predict the likely conflicts that were occurring with great accuracy, and also to help them change the structure so that people did not find themselves in the wrong position within the organisation.
Of course this then led to the development of the Personal Focus tools which are supreme in their ability to unblock people and I doubt if there are better tools around. They do need to be used with great care, and not everyone who thinks they can use them can actually do so, but apart from that, they really are powerful and effective, what more can you ask.
3. What was your favourite TOC success?
This is tricky but I would have to say no one single event; rather watching people breaking free from the blocks in their life is what ranks up there with the highest. To see people achieve their goal in life, or at least for them to see the way forward is simply one of the greatest gifts we can ever have. I have worked with many companies over the years, large and small, and all around the globe, but it always comes back to people. When I hear from people I have worked with in the past and they tell me what they have done with the knowledge I taught them, they have achieved so much and it makes me feel rather humble to have had just a small part in that process.
Stephen Covey tells us to live our lives in crescendo, and I agree; so for me the best is yet to come, there are people I have yet to meet who need the knowledge I can teach them, the skills I can coach them in, and they will achieve great things. I stand on the shoulders of great people, Eli Goldratt, Oded Cohen, Alex Meshar, Alex Klarman, Alan Leader Dee Jacob and many more. I have been privileged to work with many more great people and it is impossible to try and name them all, but perhaps just a few, Kathy Austin and Dick Peschke, Bert Husken, Jean-Claude-Miremont and all the other GIG folks, Avraham Mordoch and Tali Mastboim and so many more.
Perhaps it is my definition of success determines why the answer is as it is. The goal is not about money, it is not about how many projects in however many companies. It is not about growing a large TOC consulting practice and so on. For me the goal is to see people flourish, to become what lies inside them but has perhaps been held back. To make a difference in a world that desperately needs people who can make a difference, to make companies stronger, to make our communities stronger and a better place to live and bring up a family. To see conflicts being addressed using a process that delivers, to see people be the people they were born to be.
4. Can you tell us a little about your family life?
Where do you live? I live in a small market town called Melton Mowbray famous for pork pies and stilton cheese. We, that is my wife Audrey and myself, have lived here for many years now, both our kids were born here, went to school here and my daughter Suzie, whom many in the TOC world will know, still lives in the town with her husband and two children, and my son Mark lives in Rothley with his wife and also two children, so four grandchildren – which makes life wonderful. Audrey has a border collie called Millie and I have two cats, one of 23 years and another of 3 years – which again makes life interesting. Audrey and I still enjoy taking our MGC GT out for rallies and being rally marshals for classic car events, although our days as major rally participants are behind us these days as are my days racing Lasers!!
My primary interest is my role as a Lay Minister and Evangelist within the Anglican church, the role of preaching and teaching, but also being out on the streets late at night as a Street Pastor, working with other Christians from all the other churches, meeting people, helping them if they need it, being there if they need us.
5. Oh and one more question, if you don't mind: if you could suggestion a question to ask yourself what would it be and what's the answer?
Good question and one that forces me to think. I guess I would like to have an easy question to answer...that makes life easy, but then since when have I sought a quiet or easy life. And then does it have to have an answer, for example why do people in the UK spend vast sums of money on improving areas that do not need improving, spending scarce resource on non-constraints simply because the measurement cannot make the distinction between a constraint and a non-constraint? Why is it that prospective clients say that they will "do" TOC once their current projects are completed, even when they know that the current projects are driving improvement in the wrong direction, or even no improvement at all? Why do major companies in the UK feel that they have no need of focusing as they will get round to the real issues eventually and anyway they already know what to do, even if they do nothing! Why do people stay in pain due to living in the wrong paradigm, especially when they know that they are in the wrong paradigm? Why is it better to stay where you are and die than to move and live (see Who Moved The Cheese) What does it take to encourage people to think differently, to think even!! And when you sit with people in this state the overwhelming feeling is one of shared grief, they are about to fail and there appears to be nothing that can be done to address the situation, and most likely more people will lose their jobs because the people at the top cannot bear to admit to their failures, there is a lack of morality at the top of many companies and this must be addressed. The answer to all this....................well it starts with people accepting responsibility, being accountable, for the results of their actions and not blaming others. This is not easy as people will often try to shift the blame to others, but this aspect forces us to recognise that we are able to define our future for ourselves. It all depends who lies at the centre of our being, if it us then we become self-seeking in every decision we make without regard to the implications for others, it is "me" that counts and I do not have to care about anyone else (welcome to the post-modern world). But we do not have to inhabit the very core of our being, someone else can. But this is not enough, there is a second aspect to the answer which is that we need to understand, define, and subordinate to our goal in life and the necessary conditions that must be achieved if the goal is to be achieved. And remember the goal, the FRT if you like does not have us anywhere within it, part of the Prt yes, but not the FRT. The FRT is our legacy whether it is in life or an organisation is not the question, the FRT, the Goal, is what we leave behind when we move on. Finally there is the question of leadership, and it is part of our progress through life that we are able to respond to the promptings of others, both those above us and below. Leadership comes from may places, from many people, but are we tuned to that message entering our lives or are we filled with all the noise of a fractured world? So listen to the promptings of our inner self, of those around us, of those perhaps with whom we have little or no contact and yet are able to give us valuable insight to who are we are and what we can be. Live life in crescendo, live it to the full, for we have but one life to make a difference to the world in which we live. Now you can see part of what I feel my legacy to be, hence the work in personal focus, hence the work within the church, hence the desire to see people grow, to be before doing. Finally, here's a copy of Ted's review of Eli Goldratt's book The Choice: Review of The Choice.
