Be conscious of the systems you serve.
Up until a few hundred years ago, humans followed the natural cycles of day, night, and the seasons to regulate their behaviors in accordance with nature. Then monks invented the clock to help them schedule their prayer intervals. Today we live by this clock system of “time” as if it were a fixed reality over which we have no control.
The current “healthcare” system originated on the battlefields of WW I and II. First morphine then other drugs were developed to “treat” pain to quickly get soldiers back into the carnage. We then perpetuated this system developing a very profitable universe of drugs we call medications, that bear little semblance to “functional” medicines intended to heal source issues. “Healthcare” providers are now obligated to dispense drugs as the sanctioned best practice in physical and mental health care, when in fact, this approach bears little relationship to healing. With healthcare now the most profitable sector in the U.S. economy, the momentum of this approach is formidable.
Organizations create systems, policies, and procedures that at one time may have served a useful purpose that today, may be counterproductive or at odds with currently espoused values. All too often we call this “reality,” when in fact we need to either change or withdraw our support from these systems.
Where in your organizational life or your business are you serving broken systems, ideas, or values as if they were handed down from the heavens? What could you do instead that would breathe new life into these networks?
Share your comments, questions, and insights below, and share this article with your friends.
Live into Courageous Leadership
Continuing Education Units: ICF offers 33 credit hours to certified coaches. Course Elective (3 units) for Sustainability & Leadership Master’s Program at Edgewood College.
Leave a Reply