As part of my Quest to resolve my psoriasis, I went to see the homeopath. One might ask why my first call wasn't to my GP. But here is exactly why.
The homeopath spent 90 minutes with me. She asked every question you could think of - likes and dislikes, food preferences, family history, stuff about my personality, my relationships, my sleep patterns, whether I prefer the heat or being cool, my imagination, my work...
Not once did she look at my skin, ask me to breath in and out, look at my tongue.
She isn't interested in symptoms. She is interested in causes.
Of course, at this point I can't tell you whether any treatment she prescribes does the job because she is sending the pills in the post and they haven't arrived yet! But I was impressed by the approach, perhaps because it reflects the approach we take to our work too.
Symptoms like team conflict, low morale, lack of clarity about roles and direction, email overload, waste-of-time meetings...you can't really solve any of them by treating them directly. Of course you can put up some flashy posters to try to perk people up, or you can set some rules about email or you can re-think your meeting agenda and, to an extent you will get results (I talk about some of these treatments in What's Wrong with Work? and I don't take any of that back!).
But that is a bit like a paracetamol or a steroid cream. It will reduce the symptoms but it won't address the cause.
In homeopathy, from what I understand, the root cause is always a problem with immunity.
In business, I believe the root cause is a problem with ownership. When people really feel ownership of the outcome, the results, the purpose of the business, many of the symptoms just go away. Of course there are always going to be some challenges - mistakes, wrong paths taken, personality clashes. But when everyone wants the business to succeed and sees the part they have to play in that, they are usually capable and inspired to find a way to make it happen, if that is at all possible.
It is much harder to treat the root cause. We will see if my homeopathic remedy actually works. But this thinking certainly makes me cynical about attempts to deal only with the outward symptoms.
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