Cancerous Communications

Studies on Vitamin D by Dr Garland of University College Seattle suggest that the earliest driving force behind cancer is not genetic mutation, but loss of communication among cells due to low vitamin D and Calcium. Communication between cells is essential for healthy cell turnover.

Similarly in an organisation clear communications are necessary to maintain health. When communications falter, the rumour mill is always primed to take over. In many companies the grapevine is more powerful than the official communication channels. Far from wishing to suppress the grapevine, it is important that leaders can get honest, and if necessary, anonymous feedback from the rank and file so they can stay tuned in to their staff.

 In both the commercial and political world we often hear the call for strong leadership to sort things out as though conflict resolution can be achieved by one heroic figure or a narrow group of zealots. When a ‘might is right’ approach is taken, a Win-Lose situation develops. Problems may get swept out of sight for a while but there remains a festering feeling of injustice. As soon as an opportunity arises, harboured resentments re-emerge to reignite the conflict. The stage is set for ongoing chronic confrontation. When groups with vested interests have the upper hand their ideas proliferate. They will pursue their interests over any opposition and at the expense of the general good.  Corporate cancer is very destructive, very costly and very difficult to contain.

Current oncology practice targets tumours with radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery. Very seldom does a patient make a full recovery. Rather, periods of remission shorten, metastasis sets in and before long the patient is lost. Too often the illness is punctuated by periods of intense suffering through aggressive treatment programmes and ultimately palliative care. The burn, poison or cut treatment options fail four times out of five and five year survival rates are poor.

Newer thinking recognises cancer as a long term condition where ‘nutraceutical’ preventive therapy can prevent the illness from taking hold. There is appreciation that cancer generating processes are constantly at work in the body and that optimum health requires a proactive engagement to keep the body’s defences functioning well. Successful anti-cancer strategies are based on prevention, starvation and blocking by avoiding gene triggering contaminants, inhibiting blood vessel development and protecting the body from destructive ‘matrix metallo-proteinases’.

Organisational cancers are a constant threat. At best they slow an organisation, deflecting effort from addressing market needs. At worst the aggressive accounting cancers can bring about spectacular corporate failures such as with Enron and Worldcom. Once the disease is established, the corporate oncologists will struggle to contain it. Better to play the long game and establish the healthful organisation driven by a collective belief and commitment to offering superlative performance and customer satisfaction.

What corrupting processes are affecting your organisation today that, if left untreated, will emerge as virulent disease in a few years time?

What action will you take to protect your organisation’s health?

Contact Action Centred Health today to promote your health and that of your organisation.

©Paul Curran June 2011

Diamond in the Rough

Occasionally in life we meet someone who’s effervescing with enthusiasm for their chosen work. In them, aptitude and skill meet with passion and energy. They work in a Flow state (Csikzentmihalyi) and achieve great results. Moreover, they engender enthusiasm and confidence in others. Often they’re not aware of their gifts nor of how best to nourish and protect them. Life challenges everyone however, and in time their mettel will be tested. How can they be supported as they develop the depth of experience that will best serve them and their communities? How can such ‘diamonds in the rough’ best become the polished jewels so highly prized in their professions?

All the professional bodies run mentor programmes that pair learners with more experienced colleagues so that knowledge can be transferred and work related issues explored in their wider context.  Such mentoring relationships commonly grow well beyond ‘know-how’ focused dialogue to address wider issues of management and ethical development. The pairings inevitably prove valuable to both parties as the experienced partner is challenged to examine the basis of their ideas and so remains fresh.

Professional coaching and mentoring offer the opportunity for individuals to examine their lives in the round and, where appropriate, set directions for development. They can do so within a structured, experiential framework in which their learning becomes personalised. Such an environment emphasises their personal responsibility and control. The sky may be the limit but the coachee is responsible for navigating their journey and for providing the fuel to take them there. The coach acts as a trusted co-pilot constantly raising their awareness of themselves and the world around them so as to minimise ‘navigation instrument error’. Coaches love the challenge of working with such individuals whose typically rapid development is highly rewarding. Here it is relatively easy to polish the diamond, but elsewhere the task is much more difficult.

Every one of us has something about which we’re excited or enthusiastic. Every one of us responds to others who show a genuine interest in us. In our own way we’re each a diamond in the rough. Our communities are challenged to aid the ‘harder to help’ individuals struggling to meet the expectations of society. Their diamonds go unrecognised. Perhaps their diamonds don’t want to be discovered? Perhaps the layers of indifference, disinterest and segregation are so deeply ingrained that such individuals cannot be helped to meet society’s expectations? Might it be that such individuals contribute to society through their obstinacy? Are we are so infuriated by their seeming intransigence that we are uncomfortably confronted with our own intolerance? Could it be that these people are the mirror in which we see our own conditioning, privilege and deep intransigence?

Life seeks itself. As long as we draw breath we have life and are challenged to grow. At all levels of engagement there is an ability to improve, limited only by the latent talent and drive of the individual. In this sense the coach is a catalyst for life itself – urging, praising and reflecting progress wherever it occurs. It is very privileged work – as handling precious stones always is.

What diamond in your character remains unpolished?