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Advanced Fundamentals · Lesson 5 of 8

Inherent harmony and the conflict cloud

The second belief: every chronic problem is held in place by a conflict, and every conflict rests on an assumption that can be challenged. Learn to build a cloud, surface its assumptions and find the injection.

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Behind every chronic problem, a conflict

Why do some problems never go away? Because solving them on one side creates a problem somewhere else. That means a conflict: to satisfy one need, another need is put at risk. TOC’s second belief, inherent harmony, says that conflicts don’t exist in reality; they exist because of erroneous assumptions. Find the wrong assumption and the conflict dissolves, giving a win-win rather than a compromise.

Go back to the plant from the last lesson. The core problem was work centres maximising their own productivity. Why do sensible managers do that?

The structure of a cloud

A conflict cloud, or evaporating cloud, has five boxes, read as “in order to … we must …”:

  • A, the objective: the shared goal both sides want.
  • B and C, the needs: two requirements for reaching A.
  • D and D′, the actions: what each need seems to demand. D and D′ conflict.

Read it aloud: in order to have A, we must have B; in order to have B, we must do D. And: in order to have A, we must have C; in order to have C, we must do D′. Both sides share A, which is exactly what makes a resolution possible.

Four kinds of cloud

Problems present themselves in different ways, and each kind of cloud is built from a different starting point:

Type Trigger Start from
Inner dilemma “I’m torn between two options.” The two actions, D and D′, then up to the needs and the objective
Day-to-day conflict “I want this, they want that.” My action and theirs; the hardest part is finding what both genuinely share
Firefighting “I had to break a rule to put out a fire.” Allowing the exception (D) versus enforcing the rule (D′)
UDE cloud “Our performance is poor because we’re forced to meet some other need.” The undesirable effect, then the need it endangers

Surfacing assumptions

Under every arrow sits an assumption: the reason we believe that link must hold. Good assumptions:

  1. Refer to both ends of the arrow, and bring in a third element, a person, object or factor not already in the boxes.
  2. Explain the link, not one box. If it just restates C, it isn’t explaining why C needs D′.
  3. Pass the check: “If we want [need], and if [assumption], then we must [action].” The assumption must say something new.
  4. Ask about the current mechanism: how exactly do we believe this action achieves this need today? This question often reveals an alternative mechanism, and with it, the injection.

The injection

An injection is a new condition that, once it exists, makes one assumption false, and so dissolves the conflict. The richest assumptions to challenge are usually the ones under D versus D′, and under the arrow from the action you’d rather avoid.

The U-shape: clouds for daily problems

Managers can use clouds every day with a seven-step routine, called the U-shape because it goes down into the problem and back up to the solution:

  1. Identify the type of problem.
  2. Write the storyline in plain words.
  3. Build the cloud.
  4. Check and improve the cloud’s logic.
  5. Surface the assumptions.
  6. Find the injection, and check it doesn’t create new problems.
  7. Communicate the solution: the cloud makes the “why” visible.

Clouds work for teenagers too. ThinkTOC, which I’m building with Patrick Leonard and Ben Rawson, uses the conflict cloud to help teens think through their own dilemmas.

Check your understanding

Answer all five. Get four right to complete the lesson.

1. Inherent harmony says that conflicts exist because of…

  • Bad people
  • Limited money
  • Erroneous assumptions
  • Too many meetings

Find the wrong assumption and the conflict dissolves.

2. In a cloud, A is…

  • The shared objective
  • One side’s action
  • An assumption
  • The injection

Both sides share it, which makes resolution possible.

3. A manager says, “I had to let shipping call the customer directly, against our rule.” Which cloud fits?

  • Inner dilemma
  • UDE cloud
  • Day-to-day conflict
  • Firefighting cloud

A rule was broken to put out a fire.

4. An injection is…

  • A compromise between D and D′
  • A new condition that makes an assumption false, dissolving the conflict
  • A new rule enforced harder
  • An extra budget

Not a split-the-difference, but a change in reality.

5. A good assumption…

  • Restates one of the boxes
  • Is as short as possible
  • Explains why the link holds and brings in a third element
  • Blames someone

It explains the arrow, not the box.