Business Tips: How To Strengthen Your "Weakest Link"

Strengthen Your "Weakest Link" By Applying The Theory of Constraints

No matter what field you work in, there is often scope for boosting performance. A simple way of doing this is to identify and eliminate "bottlenecks," or points of constraints.

But how do you identify these bottlenecks?

One approach is to use the Theory of Constraints (TOC). This helps you identify the most important bottleneck in your processes and systems, so that you can deal with it and improve performance.

The Theory

Have you heard the phrase, "A chain is only as strong as its weakest link?" This is the basis of the Theory of Constraints. It was created by Dr Eli Goldratt and was published in his 1984 book "The Goal."

According to him, performance in any organisation is dictated by constraints. These are restrictions that prevent an organisation from maximising its performance and reaching its goals.

These constraints can involve people, supplies, information, equipment, or even policies, and can be internal or external to an organisation.

The theory says that every system, no matter how well it performs, has at least one constraint that limits its performance – this is the system's "weakest link." The theory also says that a system can have only one constraint at a time, and that other areas of weakness are "non-constraints" until they become the weakest link.

You use the theory by identifying your constraint – your weakest link - and changing the way that you work so that you can overcome it.

The theory was originally used successfully in manufacturing, but you can use it in a variety of situations.

Applying the Theory

Let's look at a step-by-step process for using TOC.

Step 1: Identify the Constraint

The first step is to identify your weakest link – this is the factor that's holding you back the most.

Start by looking at the processes that you use regularly. Are you working as efficiently as you could be? Or are there bottlenecks? For example, because your people lack skills or training?

Remember that constraints may not just be physical. They can also include intangible factors such as ineffective communication, restrictive company policies, or even poor team morale.

Also bear in mind that, according to the theory, a system can only have one constraint at a time. So, you need to decide which factor is your weakest link, and focus on that.

Step 2: Manage the Constraint

Once you've identified the constraint, you need to figure out how to manage it. What can you do to increase efficiency in this area and cure the problem? - Goldratt calls this "exploiting the constraint."

Your solutions will vary depending on your team, your goals, and the constraint you're trying to overcome. For example, it might involve helping a team member delegate work effectively, modifying lunch breaks or vacation time to make workflow more efficient, or reorganising the way that a task is done to make it more efficient.

Step 3: Evaluate Performance

Finally, look at how your constraint is performing with the fixes you've put into place. Is it working well? Or is it still holding back the performance of the rest of the system?

If the constraint is still negatively affecting performance, move back to step 2. If you've dealt with the constraint effectively, you can move back to step 1 and identify another constraint.

At this point, I know what some of you are saying: Where are the bullet points? I need bullet points to follow!

No problem. Here you go:

Sum Up

Dr Eli Goldratt developed his Theory of Constraints in his 1984 book "The Goal."

The theory says that every system, no matter how well it performs, has at least one constraint that limits its performance. You use the theory by identifying your constraint and restructuring the way that you work so that you can overcome it.

You can minimise constraints and work more efficiently toward accomplishing your goals by working through these steps:

1  Identify the constraint.

2 Manage the constraint.

3 Evaluate performance.

One final note: Remember that the theory says that every process has at least one constraint. While this may be true, be sensible in how you apply the theory – sometimes removing this constraint will have a minimal impact on performance.

I hope this helps your business be brilliant.

That is all - 

David

Places To Educate Yourself Online For Free

I think all education is self-education.

It doesn’t matter if you’re sitting in a classroom or a coffee shop. Ask any lecturer; people don’t learn anything they don’t want to learn.

I think of my Mum who went to university in her forties. Why? Because she wanted to learn. She was hungry for knowledge. At 90 she is still an avid reader and learner and loves to discuss the subjects she has read about.

Hats off to those people who take the time and initiative to pursue knowledge on their own. 

If you look at any acclaimed scholar, entrepreneur or historical figure you can think of odds are that you will find that they are a product of continuous self-education.

If you’re interested in learning something new, this article is for you. I came across these self-education resources as I was helping some colleagues prepare for exams and wanted to share them.

•  Tufts OpenCourseWare – Tufts OpenCourseWare is part of a new educational movement initiated by MIT that provides free access to course content for everyone online.  Tufts’ course offerings demonstrate the University’s strength in the life sciences in addition to its multidisciplinary approach, international perspective and underlying ethic of service to its local, national and international communities.

•  HowStuffWorks Science – More scientific lessons and explanations than you could sort through in an entire year.

•  Harvard Medical School Open Courseware – The mission of the Harvard Medical School Open Courseware Initiative is to exchange knowledge from the Harvard community of scholars to other academic institutions, prospective students, and the general public.

•  Khan Academy – Over 1200 videos lessons covering everything from basic arithmetic and algebra to differential equations, physics, chemistry, and biology.

•  Open Yale Courses – Open Yale Courses provides lectures and other materials from selected Yale College courses to the public free of charge via the internet.  The courses span the full range of liberal arts disciplines, including humanities, social sciences, and physical and biological sciences.

•  Johns Hopkins OpenCourseWare – The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s OpenCourseWare project provides access to content of the School’s most popular courses. As challenges to the world’s health escalate daily, the School feels a moral imperative to provide equal and open access to information and knowledge about the obstacles to the public’s health and their potential solutions.

•  Free Science and Video Lectures Online! – A nice collection of video lectures and lessons on science and philosophy.

•  MIT Sloan School of Management – MIT Sloan is a world-class business school long renowned for thought leadership and the ability to successfully partner theory and practice.  This is a subsection of the larger MIT OpenCourseWare site.

•  My Own Business, Inc. – Offers a free online business administration course that would be beneficial to new managers and to anyone who is interested in starting a business. This comprehensive course is split up into 16 sessions covering topics like business plans, accounting, marketing, insurance, e-commerce and international trade.

•  Harvard Law School – Provides a number of Web casts of law lectures, symposia, panels and conferences. A great collection of relevant information and insights on how the law interacts with current events.

•  Stanford Law – Provides open courseware via iTunes on a variety of law subjects, including the theory of justice, mobile content distribution, gay marriage, judicial review and privacy protection. The tracks are available for free, but you’ll need iTunes. Put the lectures on your iPod or iPhone and listen them anywhere.

•  VideoLectures.NET (Computer Science) – A free and open access educational video lectures repository. The lectures are given by distinguished scholars and scientists at the most important and prominent events like conferences, summer schools, workshops and science promotional events from many fields of Science.

•  Programmer 101: Teach Yourself How to Code – Several helpful resources for computer programming beginners.

•  Google Code University – Provides sample course content and tutorials for Computer Science (CS) students and educators on current computing technologies and paradigms.

•  Oxford University Mathematics OpenCourseWare – Various online mathematics classes provided free by Oxford University.

•  BBC Languages – Teach yourself a new spoken language online.

•  One Minute Languages – Learn a new language via podcasts that are updated regularly.

•  Mango Languages – Over 100 lessons, shown to you in PowerPoint style with interstitial quizzes, to move you through any language without cracking a book.

•  OpenLearn – The OpenLearn website gives free access to Open University course materials. Multiple subjects are covered.

•  YouTube EDU – Educational videos on YouTube organized by subject matter.

•  Wikiversity – Wikiversity is a Wikimedia Foundation project devoted to learning resources, learning projects, and research for use in all levels, types, and styles of education from pre-school to university, including professional training and informal learning.

•  TED – Motivational and educational lectures from noteworthy professionals around the world.

•  Books Should Be Free – Free audio books from the public domain.

•  Google Scholar – Provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites.

•  Self Made Scholar Directory – Free online directory of web-based classes and courses.

Please feel free to add to this list via the comments section if you know of any sites that were left off.

That is all –

David

Terrible Things Science Says You Do to Your Body Every Day

9 Terrible Things Science Says You Do to Your Body Every Day

You try your best to eat healthy, exercise, and generally take good care of yourself. But what if all this time, a few bad habits are quietly working to undo all that effort? Sapping your energy? Doing long-term damage to your health?

Here are the nine worst things that science says you do to your body. The worst part is, many of us do these things every single day.

1. Sitting All Day

Sitting has been called the younger generation's smoking. It's hard to believe that such a mundane, non-action can have such a big impact on health, but yes, it's really that bad for you. Research has shown that extended periods of sitting — classified as sitting for more than three hours at a time — significantly increases the risk of a number of health problems. Too much time on your butt can increase your risk of heart disease by as much as 64%. It puts you at a higher risk for certain types of cancer. It's linked to kidney disease. And it may shave as much as seven years off your life.

2. Letting Stress Get to You

Stress is an important physiological response, but while it's designed to give you the energy to, say, run away from a wild animal, it does little good when you're sitting in an office chair stressing about your to-do list. A 2013 survey by the American Psychological Association found that 45% of adults felt that their stress levels had increased over the last five years. When stress starts interfering with your ability to live a normal life, it's considered "chronic," and that's when it can have major, long-term effects on your health. Stress has been shown to create muscle tension and pain, and because it typically increases heart rate and blood pressure, can contribute to heart disease. It can increase people's risk of Type 2 diabetes and create a whole host of other problems in your gastrointestinal, nervous and reproductive system.

3. Indulging Your Sweet Tooth

Even if you conscientiously avoid the office candy jar, you're probably eating too much sugar. It is estimated that most people consume as much as 500 extra calories per day through sugar. It's hard not to; sugar is in just about everything. Not only does eating too much make it hard to maintain a healthy weight (which presents a number of potential health problems in and of itself), sugar can also increase your risk of heart disease, certain cancers, and the same kind of liver toxicity and health effects as you can get from overconsumption of alcohol.

4. Staying Indoors

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American spends 93% of their life indoors. That's only one half of one day per week spent outside. Not only does that typically mean way less exercise and fresh air than mom would have liked you to have, but staying inside comes with a long list of potential health risks. Getting some sun amps up vitamin D intake, an important vitamin that's hard to get in food — and is essential to health. Spending time outside also helps reduce stress and improve mental health.

5. Failing to Maintain Proper "Sleep Hygiene"

Sleep hygiene isn't about changing your sheets or taking a shower before bed. It's defined as the activities that contribute to better quality sleep. A survey conducted by the National Geographic Channel in 2014 found that 73% of people aged 18 and over sleep less than eight hours per night — although 54% said they needed at least that much to feel rested. The main reason we get so little sleep comes from failing to prioritise it — and engaging in a range of behaviors that make getting your daily dose much more difficult. So what does good sleep hygiene look like? It means avoiding stimulants like caffeine and alcohol in the evening hours, establishing a regular bedtime, keeping your bedroom dark, cool and free of distractions, and staying away from electronic devices before bed.

6. Wearing Skinny Jeans

Love your "skinny" jeans? Just make sure they aren't too skinny; too-tight jeans have been linked to nerve damage. That's right, too-tight jeans can compress a nerve in the groin, leading to a condition called meralgia paresthetica. That can lead to tingling, burning, and pain in the outer thigh that can last for weeks or even months after those jeans go out of style.

7. Eating Packaged Foods

Packaged foods are so convenient and so accessible that everyone tends to eat at least a few of them. Unfortunately, the vast majority of convenience food tends to be loaded with health saboteurs like trans fats, high-fructose corn syrup, salt, and preservatives and additives, all of which have been shown to have negative health impacts.

8. Keeping the Lights On

When the sun sets, we turn on the lights — and our TVs, computers, and mobile devices. But not only does this tend to keep us up late, it also throws off the body's natural biological clock. Because the body's clock evolved to use light to determine when to sleep and wake, exposure to artificial light can contribute to sleep disorders. The impact the disruption of this rhythm can have on the body can also lead to immune system disorder, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, and breast cancer.

9. Staying in a Boring Job

One more reason to quit: Being in a boring job is bad for your health. According to a paper published on the subject in 2012, boredom at work is associated with increased drug and alcohol abuse, overeating, depression and anxiety, and an increased risk of making work-related mistakes.

How many of these surprisingly unhealthy behaviors do you engage in each day? 

Take Care

That is all -

David