The Corner of Symptom Street and Quick Fix Avenue
Try as you might, you won’t find that intersection on Google Earth, Bing or Tom Tom—these technologies simply aren’t programmed to know it exists. But interestingly enough, many companies operate from that location just the same.
To be fair, this isn’t simply a phenomenon of the business sector. It’s also true for people, cultures, governments as well as our educational, medical and religious institutions. The pull towards the symptomatic and the desire to quickly fix that symptom is both seductive and habitual. Add to that, that examining and considering things as a whole is rarely modeled. We have become conditioned to view and interact with much of life from the perspective of its separate parts.
When it comes to business, that tendency can generate chaos. Issues arise that are deemed problematic and if they are attended to, the issue is likely dealt with or “fixed” in isolation of its root cause. Disconnected from the true source of the problem, these “fixes” are oftentimes short lived, with the added liability of creating new symptomatic problems in a different area or down the road. It becomes a vicious cycle: like pulling a weed whose root is really part of an underground network. You can pull and pull and pull those weeds and never impact their spread.
Enduring solutions require intention and time.
Time to examine and explore beyond the superficial and nearer the core, time to identify, weigh out and administer the solution. Unfortunately, we often feel time is in short supply. It’s important to remember, that problematic “quick fixes” can generate their own time-consuming consequences. That, in itself, is worth a moment’s thought.
Beginning to see things in a business systemically, as a whole, is critical to identifying cures and not just fixes.
Such a perspective has the power to broaden and deepen both understanding and awareness. It helps connect the dots. Companies can begin by first gaining a sense of what the internal stakeholders of each business area are experiencing, both good and bad. When this feedback is laid out, connections and patterns will emerge. These patterns are the bellwether, they will tell a story, they will give clues and point in a needed direction. In most cases, discovering a root cause and its cure, need only be done once. The need for quick fixes, however, can go on forever.
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