Feeling better isn't the same thing as getting better.
When trying to overcome a person, team, or even an entire company that is not performing up to snuff, there is almost always an effort to find a one-time, quick fix that solves the problem. At such time, consultants are brought in, or experienced internal personnel are reassigned, so that the problem can be dealt with quickly.
There’s a belief that any problem can be solved with an injection of wisdom, or best practices, or some amount of learning via a seminar, training class, or off-site management council. Inevitably, however, the medicine wears off and the symptoms come back. In their haste to deal with today’s problem, we find that management has treated nothing but the symptoms, and the underlying disease has remained. In fact, their was never even an attempt to try and diagnose it.
The fact of the matter is this: There’s no Magic Pill. It doesn’t exit, it never has, and it never will. Unfortunately, many systems of reward promote short-term thinking. The manager or leader who makes it appear as if a problem has gone away is sure to be rewarded. They’ll take this apparent accomplishment and use it as a launching pad to promotion, or as a highlight with which to market themselves to their next company. It is possible, sometimes, that the systemic causes for poor performance have been addressed. More than likely, what appeared to be a cure was merely temporary injection that made the patient feel better, but the next doctor on the case will find that something’s still wrong. In fact, the disease may have worsened or spread.
Healing the work place isn’t so different from healing a person. It requires several things:
- A realization that our own behaviors are contributing to the illness, if not its direct cause.
- Living healthy by eliminating bad habits has remarkably restorative powers, and prevents future illness.
- Rehabilitating the sick or injured is difficult, but the result is tremendous and long-lasting, at less cost.
- Bandages and painkillers are only to relieve discomfort, not eliminate it.
- When surgery is required, it’s best performed by an expert.
David,
Excellent observations. Treating the symptoms is a sure way to have the problem return. Just like with people’s illnesses, we must find and treat the root causes with valid countermeasures. The countermeasures must include systems to sustain the improvements in order to achieve long term results. Thanks for sharing.
Best,
Chris Paulsen
http://christianpaulsen62.wordpress.com/
Chris,
Thanks for stopping by! If a person’s foot was broken, we’d set the bone, let it heal, and then rehab the foot so the person could walk again and be as productive as possible. In the end, they’d be much more productive than if we implemented short-term and maybe even ridiculous fixes, yet when we’re at work, we tend to go right after the simple solution and leave it in place forever. The person with the broken foot would simply be given a comfy chair and asked to stay out of the way for a while, or maybe just a good dose of painkillers and asked to manage the condition by herself, or the workplace would be rearranged to accommodate her crippled foot, or we’d simply dismiss the her outright since, obviously, they can’t do the job anymore.
At work, any of these solutions would be heralded as difficult decisions someone had the toughness to make, or an innovative reassignment of resources. None of them take care of the underlying problem and heal it correctly, however. What’s even worse – no one asked how the foot was broken in the first place. The odds are, the root cause of that problem is a dirty little secret that no one wants to address, either.
Hi David,
I love the analogy you used to discuss a growing epidemic among organizations. When a doctor is treating a patient they need to have patience, ask questions, spend ample time examining the results and selecting the appropriate remedy. All of this takes time. Time that today’s working managers don’t have. It also takes skills, knowledge and practice. Not anyone can be a doctor. It’s a rigorous process. Unfortunately most managers aren’t equipped with the appropriate skills and knowledge necessary to be successful especially when it comes to accurately and effectively diagnosing performance problems.
Cheers!
Kelly
Kelly –
Wow! Thanks so much for your comment. You gave me an angle I hadn’t even considered: That the person trying to diagnose the problem can do all the right things, but simply not have the skills necessary to do the job! In most companies, people are promoted – and THEN they are sent to management development training.
Seems so backwards, doesn’t it? We wouldn’t give a medical practitioner a sick patient, and then hope they get it right….would we?
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