At the beginning of my book, The Four Fundamental Forces of Leadership, I talk about how I progressed through a process to get me healthier from a 10-year case of high-functioning depression. As I started feeling better, I noticed I was able to not only handle stress and crisis more effectively, I was able to look past what was right in front of me to see what the root causes of the crisis were. This enabled me to address the disease in order to keep the symptoms from coming back with the same intensity or at all. Several years later, I had a conversation with someone at my alma mater, Hamline University, that reinforced the concept and gave me some additional clarity.
She told me a story about people along the banks of a river who regularly see people going downstream and drowning. They could jump in and try to save the people they can - a noble effort. However, they could also head upstream to the point where people are going in the water, figure out why they are going in and set up a system that keeps them from jumping in. A lot more lives would be saved with that mindset. Structures could even be set up whereby these people never even contemplate getting to the river to jump in a drown.
We look at crisis/stress management wrong
We, as a society, are so set on addressing the symptoms of illness or problem (with debatable effectiveness at times) when we can devote our energies to structures and cultures that put us on paths which avoid those issues in the first place.
For our children and young adults, we set up structures to support them when they have mental health issues or train them to identify potentially sensitive issues around drugs or sexual violence.
We bombard them with content about proper decisions for various situations, but we don't support setting up foundations to help them process and connect experiences, build resiliency through seeing the big picture and how we are all bound together. We give them information and we expect them to understand and utilize it with just that one exposure. We spend too little time helping them tie into their mind, body and spirit and support them to find their own potential.
As a leadership coach, I work hard to help clients establish structural foundations that support journeys towards greatness. I help break old, less than optimal, habits. For people of any age, I facilitate consistent, intentional work towards the new path. Rather than treating the illness when it arises, I help clients build the systemic pathways that fuel growth, inspiration, service, joy and success. Such efforts align organizations, reduce stress and reactionary tasks, increase capability and productivity and empower all to be the best they can be.
Challenge yourself to see things farther from how current reality is and make a real difference.