And just like that! The end of the year is near

Hello TOC Flow Community!

December already? As we wrap up 2025, I want to share something that perfectly captures why we do what we do.

🔥Attendee Spotlight: Slow is Smooth. Smooth is Fast.

Kurt Hoge, President of RenoType in Reno, NV, sent me this update, and it made my day:

"When I first read Eli Goldratt's The Goal in January of this year, I knew immediately that we needed to bring the core teachings of the Theory of Constraints into our print shop. What I didn't know was where, or even HOW to begin. That changed when my search led me to the two-day TOC Flow Workshop offered by the team at the Goldratt Group late this summer.

Our entire leadership team attended, and "eye-opening" hardly does it justice. The presentations were exceptional, and the hands-on exercises sparked genuine breakthroughs in how we understand the movement of work through a production environment. For the first time, our team had a shared language, a shared framework, and a shared sense of what great flow should look like.

We're only about three months into implementation, and we know we still have a long way to go. Because we lacked the systems to accurately measure flow across departments, we had to start by building those from scratch: work that is still very much underway. But even with just a handful of initial adjustments and, more importantly, a fundamentally different mindset, the gains have already been remarkable.

In the eight months before the workshop, we averaged about 25 completed jobs per day. Today we completed 39. Over the last two months, we've averaged 32 jobs per day, making those the most productive, highest-revenue, and most profitable months in our company's 40-plus-year history. And the wild part? We felt slow. We were genuinely worried about how slow things seemed. That alone tells you what happens when the organization's mental model for flow changes.

If this is what we can achieve before fully implementing TOC and the Rules of Flow, we can only imagine what's ahead. We are profoundly grateful for the workshop and for the ongoing support, generosity, and expertise the Goldratt Group continues to offer."

💡The Power of Changed Perspective

Read that again: They're having their most profitable month... and they feel slow.

(Eric S, if you're reading this, it reminds me of the conversation we had shortly after Day 2, where you had a busy week and you also felt that things were just flowing through)

This is what happens when your entire organization understands what good flow looks like. When everyone shares the same language and framework, you stop celebrating local wins and start seeing the real potential.

Kurt's team went from 25 to 32 jobs per day (a 28% improvement) with just "a handful of initial adjustments." They haven't even fully implemented TOC yet!

But here's where I get excited: They're not satisfied. They see what's possible. That mental shift is worth more than any metric.

-- Thank you, Kurt, for sharing your journey with our community --

Your 2026 Foundation

As you start planning for 2026, ask yourself:

  *   Does your team share a common understanding of flow?

  *   Can everyone identify your constraint without hesitation?

  *   Are you measuring what matters, or just what's easy?

RenoType didn't have measurements fully aligned with the TOC approach, but it didn't matter. They went ahead built one. They started anyway.

What's holding you back from starting?

❓The Three Questions for Year-End

Before you close out 2025, gather your leadership team and answer:

  1.  What is our constraint? If you get five different answers, you're not ready for 2026.

  2.  How do we measure flow? Not efficiency. Not utilization. Flow. If you can't measure it, you can't improve it.

  3.  What would "feeling slow" at record performance look like for us? When you can answer this, you're thinking like Kurt's team.

Start Where You Are

Kurt's story reminds us: You don't need perfect systems to begin. You need:

  *   Leadership alignment

  *   Shared language (TOC provides this)

  *   Commitment to measure what matters (use good 'ol Excel to start with, if needed)

  *   Patience with the process (three months in, still building)

The results will follow. They always do when you focus on flow.

📣Ready to Transform Your 2026?

Let me know if we can help with your next step, whether that's a leadership workshop, or a design session.

To see where we're headed in 2026, visit our Events Page. You can also contact us today and we'll be in touch.

Here's to making 2026 your breakthrough year. As the US Navy SEALs saying goes "Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast"

Get your flow so smooth that it feels slow. But guess what, my friends… Smooth IS speed.