Welcome to this series on the Theory of Constraints (TOC) with Ashton Fourie. It’s a 9 part series that looks at how the Theory of constraints can help you grow your business. This is the fifth instalment where we chat about Designing For Delegation!
Designing For Delegation!
There are two types of constraints in a business. One constraint is operational. It’s in your value stream – the way you deliver products and services to your customers.
The other constraint is strategic. It’s the constraint that is regulating how fast your organisation can grow. By default that constraint is management attention.
Unfortunately, in many organisations, the operational constraint is also management attention because the organisation was not designed to allow effective delegation.
The Three Levels of Work
In this episode, Ashton breaks down how a business grows and how delegation needs to happen within the organisation. Using a hypothetical example Ashton goes on to explain that as the organisation grows it moves through different levels. Delegation enables you to move between the different levels where:
- The first level is technical work.
- The second level is process work.
- The third level is strategic work.
A Natural Upwards Flow
The most natural way for a business to grow is from technical upwards. First, do the technical work, then build the processes to be able to delegate that technical work. When that is in place, build the processes to manage the processes, and delegate that. Then begin to focus on the strategic work.
Business Relearnt – Learn To Unlearn, Relearn.
Fast constant change demands that we keep looking at how we do things and to keep learning new ways to solve our customer’s problems. What business relearnt series provides you with approaches and methodologies to help you do that.
The Full Business Relearnt TOC Series – Broken Down?
TOC offers you many opportunities to look at doing things in a different way. Ashton breaks down how you can do this in this series. Here are the topics around the theory of constraints that we will cover:
- Why you cannot ignore TOC
- The surprising inverse relationship between the number of improvements and actual improvement
- Are you spending too much money for increased capacity
- The costly mistake of elevating your constraint first
- Design for Delegation – Three levels of work
- Planning too much is planning to fail
- You don’t want project management – You just want to get your projects done!
- Theory of Constraints and Employee Engagement
- Turning the layers of resistance into moments of agreement
Who Is Ashton Fourie:
Ashton is a proven growth strategist and looks at building sustained success in tough economic climates.
He is the CEO of 5-2-50 (pronounced Five To Fifty). This is a South African based company with a vision to eradicate poverty through ensuring that there is a good job available to every woman and man on earth who is able and willing to work.
5-2-50 help’s their clients formulate a clear vision and strategy to grow up to ten times in size in a period of no more than five years. Their toolset is a combination of Theory of Constraints, Lean and Agile interventions, combined with their strategic management methodology that has been tested in the local and international market.
