Today went by in a flash, probably because I was so focused on getting through my presentation this afternoon.
We had one plenary session to start the day, “Can TOC Cure the Ailing Health Care System?” by Dr. Gary Wadhwa. Though he admitted his presentation was not a policy pitch or a political statement, he showed how he had use TOC to invigorate his practice and help the local health system along the way. His point in general was that health care must be solved, so why not use the thinking processes and other essential tools to solve it. His goal was an ever flourishing health care system.
Eli Schragenheim presented “The Role of the Transition Period in Implementing a Change.” He noted that implementing TOC changes paradigms and understanding paradigm changes takes time. He provided details on how to lead a group of people through the uncertainty of a significant change, TOC or not. I’m excited to try out some of his suggestions. If you can get your hands on the presentation files or the video, you’ll want to check this presentation out.
In “Implementing Constraints Management with Lean Six Sigma: Lessons Learned at Anadolu Medical Center,” Bahadir Inozu and Vickie Kamataris presented their SystemCPI solution. They used to improve performance in a hospital in Turkey. I appreciated their model of how they break apart a conflict into which tool (TOC, Lean or Six Sigma) best fits the conflict.
The final presentation I watched before giving my own was “A New Breakthrough Tool for Reducing Changes in Projects by 50%,” by Andy Watt. It’s hard to say that any of the presentations was my favorite, but with Andy’s presentation I can see a huge amount of rapid wins that could be achieved if I can only get its content before people who struggle with project scope creep.
Finally I presented and all of that was quite a blur. The computer system wouldn’t quite support loading my presentation, so after fits and starts swapping between computers I was introduced and on my way. The audience, from where I was standing, seemed to remain engaged, perhaps only watching to see if the energetic pregnant lady in front of them would run out of steam before the presentation ended. After the presentation several people wandered up to the front to thank me, which always is unexpected by appreciated.
I’m so excited I came to the conference and so grateful to my employer for supporting my participation. The people who had to approve for me to attend know who they are, they read this blog, and will likely read soon just how grateful I am. I’ll thank you again when I return on Monday.
I still have tonight and most of tomorrow at this location so I still have time to talk/think/absorb so much more. Now that my presentation is done I’m glad to lean back and relax for a while. Thanks to everyone who’s been reading my updates and following along with the conference. I’m glad we could take this journey together.
