Every individual, business and organization experiences the sensation of getting stuck at some point. They know they are capable of doing more, even significantly more, but they don’t know how. We learn from the Theory of Constraints that this situation of blockage is an opportunity. It is created not by what is real but what we believe to be real. When we have a systematic way to identify that situation of blockage and examine it, we discover that is made of limiting beliefs, or assumptions.
‘The Human Constraint’ is our business novel for a New Economics of sustainable prosperity. It has sold so far in 21 countries around the world. Today we’re sharing a snippet of the accompanying online learning centre that accompanies each chapter of the novel. This section deals with limiting beliefs and a powerful, systemic Thinking Process Tool from the Theory of Constraints to overcome them.
Assumptions and limiting beliefs
In a chapter of ‘The Human Constraint’ set in 2007 at the beginning of the global financial crisis, two of the characters realize they are looking at the same scene – the Manhattan skyline, but seeing different things. One characters sees a skyline of tall buildings, the other character sees a huge gap where the twin towers used to be. They are coming to the same reality with different information, different biases, different assumptions, or limiting beliefs.
Some of the assumptions we have in life are very necessary. They help us to navigate our reality. Others, however, can be very limiting. They can contribute to our forming limiting beliefs about our reality and what we can do within it.
Transforming the Negative
People, organizations, and even entire sectors and industries, have limiting beliefs. These beliefs prevent people and organizations artificially from achieving more than they currently do. We refer to these beliefs as “assumptions”. They are mental models about the reality in which we operate. First of all, these assumptions need to be surfaced and verbalized accurately. Only then can we challenge them. Rather than using techniques to combat them, we can attack them with a powerful set of cognitive tools that transform those limiting beliefs into a positive strategy for change as well as a full plan for implementation. (See Thinking Process Tools from the Theory of Constraints.)
From Bondage to Freedom
Over the years of transferring the Decalogue methodology to organizations, we have unearthed a vast array of assumptions, or limiting beliefs, some of which are specific to an organization, and some which are common to a particular sector. They may have to do with how long it takes to produce a particular product, or what kind of market the organization should address. They may even be about why the organization actually exists and what it does. One of the most exhilarating aspects of our work is surfacing and challenging these beliefs. Once this is achieved, the sense of liberation is palpable, a whole new horizon of possibilities emerges, and the exciting task of designing and implementing a new reality begins. The only limit is what we can conceive.
Using the Conflict Cloud to expose and challenge assumptions and limiting beliefs
We write the Conflict Cloud from right to left, starting with the conflicting positions D and D’, then we verbalize the needs that these positions are trying to protect. Once the needs are verbalized, we can derive from them a common goal that satisfies both needs. We then add the assumptions (mental models) in between each item of the cloud. These assumptions are the prevailing logic of our situation. They are the “because” that connects one box with another. As we move from left to right across the cloud, the assumptions become weaker and easier to challenge. The weakest assumptions of all are those between D and D’. They are the reason for the conflict, and when we are able to challenge and invalidate those assumptions, we open a pathway for positive change towards something better, and toward unleashing potential that is currently trapped.
Now purchased in 21 countries around the world, our business novel The Human Constraint takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride through the financial crisis and towards a new model for future business. Dramatizing several case histories with the Decalogue methodology, the e-book comes with an accompanying website highlighting chapter by chapter the thinking, methods and tools to achieve a new economy of sustainable wealth.
Sign up to our blog here and shift your thinking towards broader, systemic possibilities for yourself and your organization. Intelligent Management provides education and training on systemic management, W. Edwards Deming’s management philosophy and the Theory of Constraints (Decalogue methodology) in North America and Europe.
About the Author
Angela Montgomery Ph.D. is Partner and Co-founder of Intelligent Management and author of the business novel+ website The Human Constraint , so far purchased in 21 countries around the globe. This downloadable novel uses narrative to look at how the Deming approach and the Theory of Constraints can create the organization of the future, based on collaboration, network and social innovation. She is co-author with Dr. Domenico Lepore, founder, and Dr. Giovanni Siepe of ‘Quality, Involvement, Flow: The Systemic Organization’ from CRC Press, New York.