TACTics Journal

A Publication for and by TOC for Education Practitioners

September 8, 2000

 

CONTENTS

  WIZDOM

     (1)   Feedback from the Trinidad Class: Using the Danilo Sirias' Method to Find    Needs, Audrey Taylor

  NETWORKING

     (2)   A TOCFE Weather Forecast for the Following Week, Philip Bakker

     (3)  Sharing, Carlos Perelman

  CONNECTIONS

     (4)   Good News from Israel, Gila Glatter

  EDITORS’ NOTE

     (5)    Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A. Edwards

 

WIZDOM

(1)            Feedback from the Trinidad Class: Using The Danilo Sirias' Method to Find Needs

From Audrey Taylor

 

The Global Bank of TOCFE:  This case study so exemplifies what can happen (synchronism?) when you share ideas. —Kathy Suerken

 

The class practiced the day to day clouds, and found, as all classes do, how difficult it can be to discover the needs, especially the valid needs of the “other side.”  Carol, one of the teachers in the room, developed a wonderful conflict, which she allowed the class to use to demonstrate how to find the needs from the conflict.

 

Her conflict involved a remodeling job.  She wanted a contractor to do the job, while her husband wanted to do the job by himself.  The conflict was:

     A:    (Our shared common objective) To ensure our home is secure

     B:    (My Need) To have a job well done in the most efficient way; a sharp

            roof, fewer headaches  

   D:    (My want) To have a contractor

     C:    (The other side’s need) To save money, to in control, personal

          satisfaction from his involvement

     D’    (The other side’s want) To do it himself with his work team

 

What is our conflict?

    D:  The contractor does the work

   D’:  My husband does the work

 

At the International Conference for TOC for Education in Monterrey, Mexico, Danilo Sirias spoke on the last day about methods to determine the needs in the cloud by using a simple process.  Danilo suggested that the advantages and the disadvantages of “D” be listed.  The common theme running through the advantages is “D” and the common theme running through the opposite of the disadvantages is “C.”

 

At my husband, Sears Taylor's, insistence, we used Danilo's technique for discovering the needs in the cloud.  The whole class listed the advantages and disadvantages of using a contractor to do the redecoration work on Carol’s house. The list follows:

 

Advantages:

Job well done

Efficient

Less time

Job finished

No money wasted

Less money spent on restaurants

Less problems

Less cooking

Trouble-free construction

Stress-free construction

 

Disadvantages:

More money

No control

Stranger in “My” house

Trust problems due to strangers in my house

More drinking

More talking

Less production

Poor quality

Risky

Efficient

Economic job

 

The advantages were summarized as, Stress Free Construction.  The opposite of the disadvantages was summarized as Quality, Risk-Free Construction.  Carol stated that using this method of finding “C” was very helpful and gave her insight into her husband’s viewpoint, which she had not previously had.  The rest of the class agreed.  Danilo’s discovery really helped.  It is a nice addition to the TOC tool-bag.  The process also unveils the assumptions.  This is a real break-through!  We love it Danilo!

 

     A:    (Our shared common objective) To ensure our home is secure

     B:    (My Need) Stress-free construction

   D:    (My want) To have a contractor

     C:    (The other side’s need) Quality, risk-free construction

     D’    (The other side’s want) To do it himself with his work team

 

The final cloud, which resulted, is a simpler, and I believe clearer picture of the conflict. Danilo's tool really helped!

 

Thanks, Danilo, for putting your idea into the global bank of TOCFE while it was still in development; thank you, Sears, for taking the idea and trying it in a new situation; thanks to Carol and the entire Trinidad class for using Danilo's idea to learn and letting us enjoy your TOC work; and a special bouquet to Audrey for caring enough to allow the rest of us to learn from the synergy of that experience shared through the written word!Kathy

 

NETWORKING

(2)      A TOCFE Weather Forecast for the Following Week

By Philip Bakker, Netherlands

 

"Some heavy clouds will appear but they will evaporate just as fast as they appeared.  After that bright days are expected."

 

(3)            Sharing

From Carlos Perelman, Mexico

 

I have got a beautiful letter from Carlos Perelman who attended the Monterrey Conference.  He teaches business management at Pan American University.  With his permission, we all can enjoy reading it and go on developing new ideas for e-learning on TOC tools. — Cheryl A. Edwards

 

Dear Gila,

Thank you for conveying your wonderful warm feelings.  I also felt myself at home sharing with all the delegations at the Conference in Monterrey.  This feeling of "brotherhood", as you call it, probably comes from all of us sharing the same values, the same goals and the same strategies.  It's as if we had known each other forever.  And probably the TOC philosophy has a lot to do with it!

 

Can we learn something from this marvelous experience in Monterrey?  At the very least, it provides evidence that TOC is in essence a universal language for genuine humane communication, and so it also provides evidence that our daily efforts in building a better society (by teaching and using the TOC tools and philosophy) are indeed worthwhile!

 

I understand very well what you mean when you say you are looking into the "dark" in reference to the internet as a tool for teaching TOC.  If you see a light out there, please share it with me.

 

Obvious advantages for internet usage would include:

          quality preservation in the spreading of the TOC knowledge, and

          efficiency for reaching a large audience.

 

I don't think major obstacles for using the internet to spread TOC are technical, and less so in "high tech" Israel.  Obstacles (in my perspective) stem from my belief that TOC must be learnt by doing, by "hands on" experience (learning to swim by jumping into the water), by group role playing, by learning from others' experiences in a group, and by principle learning through challenging of assumptions and group feedback.  I still don't know how to do that with the internet, or in a one-to-one presentation.

 

If you will agree with me, TOC is in essence a tool that allows a group of people (an organization, if you prefer) to live in peace with itself, its parts and its environment.  And so, by teaching it in isolation to "individuals," out of context of the organizations to which they belong and out of personal contact with other students and a class facilitator (teacher), we will not improve our current "organizational improvement" success ratio, and will probably decrease current individual learning experience, as provided in the traditional classroom.

 

Hope we can find a creative injection to this cloud:  internet usage vs. not internet usage.  It should be something in the direction of grounding the following flying pig:  "TOC learning and usage is spread in a consistent, efficient and fast way."  One way of grounding this injection would be to find a way for the internet to provide a full fledged group learning experience (as could probably be achieved through a very sophisticated "virtual reality" machine geared to provide such a group learning experience), rather than just providing a more traditional personal and lonely internet learning experience.

 

If you find such a high tech virtual reality machine capable of being distributed through the internet for group distance learning, our pig would be grounded!

 

Good luck in your search.  Please share any developments with me!

Carlos Perelman

 

 

CONNECTIONS

(4)      Good News from Israel

From Gila Glatter

 

Yesterday, Vardit Wiesboym and I gave a workshop to a group of middle and high schoolteachers.  It was held in Jerusalem, as a preparation day for the school opening.  It was a great workshop!  In 2 hours we have succeeded to bring the participants (about 70 people) to be highly involved in analyzing content texts in different subjects and domains.  Feeling great light and insight, they can begin using the cloud as a tool in their lessons.  We prepared the buy-in details and the "luck" was reached...  we are professionals in what we are caring so much about, and in what we put so much work thinking about... experience and time mean a lot in POOGI.

 

Next week I'm going to lead a group of teachers’ teachers in Mofet Institute (an institute for the teachers' teachers).  For 4 days we are going to work on TOC tools.  I just received a call from the institute asking me to allow 2 more people to attend.  The maximum number of people usually allowed is 20.  Of course, I agreed.

 

I'm so proud of the good reputation we are gaining all over, I hope I'll have the intelligence to keep it along our long journey...

 

Best to you,

Gila

 

EDITORS’ NOTES

(5)     Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A. Edwards

Word has it that the site of the 5th Annual TOCFE Conference has been determined.  Since Cheryl and I have sworn to secrecy; we can’t tell.  However, we can give you a few clues.  OK, let’s put it this way, Lily Tomlin would be so very pleased that this site was chosen.  In fact, she would probably ask Madonna to fly home to entertain us while visiting family!  Is that “clue” enough?  Let us know.

 

We welcome your input.  If you would like to share with us, send hyperlink to:           <bucknek@resa.net> or

          <redwards@sault.com>. 

Or, you may send it by mail to:

            Cheryl A. Edwards

          2253 S. Hill Island Road

          Cedarville, MI 49719 USA