Harbinger of Health

The word harbinger is generally associated with doom like some portent of evil or divine retribution. Perhaps it’s had a bad rap. Maybe it’s time to dispel negative associations and reframe it for the positive contribution it can make in our lives. The charge might equally be levelled at the GP’s blood sample which indicates how well a body is functioning. But given that blood samples are generally only taken from people who have presented with a health concern, the results often bear out their fears. At this point the patient can usually choose between doom and deliverance. Doom is easy; just continue on doing as before. You’re clearly on a trajectory that will aggravate your misery. Deliverance however, comes from changing established habits and growing in a more healthy direction. I constantly tell clients that the hardest thing any of us can do is to change our personal habits. Yes, it’s hard, but it’s certainly not impossible. Above all clients with a winning formula of determination and curiosity tend to make the strongest progress. They are prepared to look beyond the cultural norms and to challenge established thinking. They are open to new philosophies and to the potential for commercial interests to obscure the truth. They decline the ‘Quick Fix’ in favour of lifestyle changes that work instead of pharmaceutical remedies that can cause as many problems as they treat. Their central question is – ‘What natural process do I need to support?’ and ‘how do I facilitate them?’ The corporate equivalent of the quick fix is the external consultant, who with the dispassionate perspective of an accountant, sets about redefining processes and ‘rationalising cost structures’. It’s the world according to the consultancy group rather than the organisation employing them. All too often their efforts founder on a sea of apathy and disengagement by an ever more estranged and wounded workforce. So, how does one get an organisation behind a cultural change? My preference is to relate to an organisation as one would to an individual – with respect! Every teacher knows to build enthusiasm for learning by giving frequent praise for progress and gentle support. The organisation, just as for an individual, must retain responsibility for their process redesign and results. Over years an organisation’s workforce can become progressively demoralised in a blame culture where, if it occurs at all, praise is only heard at a lip-service annual appraisal. As with the individual, change happens most quickly when an organisation grows in its sense of joint endeavour and is encouraged in its efforts to grow healthily. There’s both a sense of purpose and of prevailing self-belief. It’s all possible. Perhaps the most limiting factor of all is the tendency to think small. We become so deeply encultured by the status quo that we accept other’s opinions on what’s achievable rather than aspiring to something more. As Henry Ford famously said “Whether you say you can or you can’t, you’re right.” Low aspiration in individuals leads to a chronic waste of talent. Low aspiration in organisations leads to entrenchment in bureaucracy and subservient compliance. For all its clever corporate communications the staff live a different reality. To break the cycle we need to stroll into our doctor’s office and ask for a health assessment – not wait until we’re struck down with illness. Corporations can genuinely get behind ‘Investors in People’ initiatives. Let us take satisfaction in every step to improvement. Let us dream big dreams and proactively make them happen. Let’s turn our personal blood chemistry or corporate dashboard performance profiles into Harbingers of Health; something to be really proud of. ©Paul Curran October 2014