"I'll Get Healthy When I Get Time ... "
Sick Care Versus Health Care In Organizations
In America it seems to me that we have “sickcare” - that is, where we treat diseases after they’ve appeared; and we have “healthcare” - that is, where we initiate action to minimize the chances of getting sick to begin with.
There was a time in my life when I went about everything-everyway-everyday in frantic attempts to “get it all done.”
It was the sickness of exhaustion. I was exhausted. I became a carrier - a kind of “Typhoid Mary”1 - of exhaustion, lack of meaningful achievement, worry, handwringing and sleep loss.
My family was exhausted. My friends and co-workers became exhausted. My relationships with others became so sick with the exhaustion that a few withered and passed on.
A long-trusted mentor noticed my persistent fearfulness - yes fearfulness - and asked, “Steve, you seem tired and anxious. What’s your plan?”
I replied that I didn’t know what my “plan” was, that I was “too busy” to think about or do anything about it.
“The last thing I need on my 'to do’ list is to sit down and think through a plan,” I told my friend. “But, as soon as I find the time I’m going to get me one of them ‘plans’.”
Yes, I actually said that out loud … “as soon as I find the time … “
It was only when the self-inflicted pain-swirl … the massive, life-devouring sickess of addiction to the gerbil wheel of tasks I had created for myself and others … became so debilitating to me and everything around me that I forced myself to get healthy.
You see, it was because I didn’t have a plan that I was I was actually causing an endless stream of non-productive busy work - the self-fulfilling prophecy stuff of emotional, spiritual and physical sickness.
It was also contaminating my relationships with others.
Likewise, far too many of my agency clients don’t have plans (the FIRST work of ALL supervisors).
They tell me, “We’re just too busy to take time to do proper strategic planning. As soon as things calm down a bit, we’re gonna get us one of them plans … “
Such agency cultures are consumed with self-inflicted symptoms of organizational sickness: busy work; putting out fires; urgent tasks hanging in space untethered to community-based objectives; a steady stream of “projects” and administrator “thought trinkets;” frustrated employees; dysfunctional delegation techniques; and so on … that no one can “find the time” to contemplate a plan for developing a healthy organization.
Promoting and perpetuating a “sick” organization is where too many senior decision makers and first line supervisors get their emotional payoff. Like the perverted media mantra, “If it bleeds, it leads,”2 too many administrators consume valuable resources hashing and re-hashing the problems they’ve caused or allowed rather than focusing on creating a healthy culture for their organizations.
They spend more time on the “numbers,” on counting the symptoms, collecting useless data, participating in sickness-affirming meetings to react to external and internal stimuli, portraying themselves and their entire organizations as victims rather than leaders than they do planning for a healthy, rewarding culture for the next generation and the next generation and the next generation.
I will tell you plain: the only people who profit from such organizational sickcare are guild attorneys, employees who shop for ‘yes’, counselors, divorce attorneys, substance abuse clinics, and, ultimately, morticians.
The public? The taxpayers? Not so much.
Choose.
Continue to spend on “sickcare” or invest in “healthcare” for yourself and your organization.
Should you choose to perpetuate “sickcare” please don’t whine that you don’t have a plan … but are too busy to get one. I have been there and that is not a sustainable lifestyle or business model.
Should you choose to perpetuate “sickcare” please don’t whine about employee burnout, recruiting problems or exhaustion … while simultaneously getting your emotional payoff from spending on your agency’s sicknesses rather than investing in your agency’s short- and long-term health.
BTW, you’ll never “get it all done …” There are only 24 hours in a day and no one can give you any more. Choose your consequences.3
Choose where to invest your finite quantity of time.
You’ll get done the things you choose to get done and you will get the consequences you chose. I am honored to help. Please consider registering for “How To Write Your Own Strategic Plan”. Until then, …
Lead like you mean it.
Better yet … Adult like you mean it. - s
Do you or someone you know need help with leadership coaching, organizational development, team building, strategic planning, communication, or creating a personal vision?
It's what I do.
I am always a phone call (541.806.1502) or an email (steve@theresultsgroupltd.com) away.
Also, check out my firm’s website for upcoming leadership training and …
Book a personal coaching session on my Personal Life Coaching Site, Mind Your 4 Peas.
You can always call me to schedule a tailored experience for you and your team!
(While I have your attention, please consider using the button, below, to share “It’s About The Future” with your friends and co-workers? Thanks!) – s
International Council for Media Literacy, If It Bleeds, It Leads: Crime Reporting, Jillian Reis, April 13, 2023
My article entitled, “Choose Your Inconvenience” right here on Substack!