About this Presentation
How can we consistently replicate the enthusiasm and commitment of the zealous few in all the individuals in the system? Three fundamental observations provided the framework for the model elucidated in the best-selling new business novel Great Boss – Dead Boss: 1. Groups behave differently from individuals. 2. What motivates groups is different from what motivates individuals. 3. The attributes that motivate groups are deeply visceral, consistent and can be manipulated. The presenter offers the TOC expert community a model that enables them to generate group enthusiasm and commitment – the keystone to large-scale TOC acceptance and enduring support. The presentation describes the attributes of the model, how to apply it in TOC engagements, and how to apply it to TOCICO itself.
What Will You Learn
To help you get the most value from this session, we’ve highlighted a few key points. These takeaways capture the main ideas and practical insights from the presentation, making it easier for you to review, reflect, and apply what you’ve learned.
This keynote makes a provocative claim: the ultimate constraint in many organizations is not process, policy, or market pressure, but motivation itself. More specifically, it argues that conflicting tribal behavior can prevent people from committing to system-level improvement even when the technical solution is clear.
A central insight is that motivation is not primarily an individual trait. The presentation reframes it as a continuous interaction between the individual and the “tribes” that shape identity, security, and self-worth, suggesting that leaders who understand tribal dynamics can build self-reinforcing, high-performance organizations.
The session then translates this idea into TOC language by identifying the constraint as partisan tribal behavior, and by applying the five focusing steps to organizational motivation: exploit the gap in company feeling, remove the factors starving a strong tribe, block the forces spawning sub-tribes, and reset the tribal attributes around a stronger shared cause.
One of the most compelling takeaways is that strong performance cultures do not emerge from hierarchy alone. They are built through clear identity, shared symbols, a credible just cause, common language, trusted leadership, and the deliberate shaping of group meaning, loyalty, and belonging.
Instructor(s)
Ray Immelman
Ray has been in management consulting and executive management positions. He started off as industrial engineer in manufacturing/shop-floor work, progressing to the current position of head of Akzeon Inc. – a management consultancy specializing in long-haul strategy consulting engagements with companies interested in sustainable growth. Ray is a CMC-accredited Management Consultant with ICMCI.