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Systemic Symptoms

Choice Awareness has extensive background experience in working with and delivering services to small business owners and employed individuals.

You will find here some of systemic symptoms that we have observed in our work with businesses and people. There is much published materials to support our experiences and observations.

This is not an exhaustive list. But, it is placed here to allow you the opportunity to consider how you lead your organization and/or how your people participate in your company.

Wisdom Sidebar: When reading each item, ask yourself if it is possible that any of these conditions occur within your organization? How were able to notice it happening? How many people in your group recognize these conditions beside you? Have they ever brought them to your attention?

What does it mean to your productivity, the morale of your people and your customers? What would your vendors say about you? If you concur that people are the primary assest of your business, what kinds of actions, words and processes would you need to put into place to allow your people and other staleholders to prosper and contribute at high levels of participation?

You may take the items below and place the word "What" to begin the sentence and it now becomes a question you can ask yourself, your employees and other stakeholders. Be prepared to be open for new ideas with their feedback.

Business Symptoms

Clear Purpose/Existence statements are either absent and/or under articulated throughout the business, units, departments, and individuals. For those defined, there is little current reliance upon them because they no longer apply in real situations within the business and/or individual (i.e. wall sticker statements, performance plans and evaluations are ineffective substitutes, while becoming bankrupt over time).
Active choices system supporting purpose/existence statements are unaligned with uneven commitment of people resulting in loss of high enrollment participation.
Processes are unaligned and/or ineffectively executed against beliefs system. There exists a focus upon critical and highly visible processes, yet many interrelated processes are left without integration (i.e. formal vs. informal, manual vs. automated, etc.).
There are inconsistencies prevalent throughout essential business processes from planning, through implementation and execution.
Faulty communications occur within/among internal and external stakeholders because the language supporting the stakeholder choices system does not match the overall company choices system: individual choices prevail and override especially during perceived stress and/or crisis conditions when challenges/issue/problems arise.
Problem resolutions and process adaptations are not pegged to systemic choices system and therefore ineffectively adjusted.
Unpredictable outcomes prevail with inconsistent measures for tracking and reporting excellence.
Team and Individual heroics characterize success, but are not scalable because of the subsequent problems.
Singular unaligned language and behaviors undermine productivity, demoralize people and thwart success.

Personal Symptoms

Choice Awareness has also observed and personally experienced some of the typical symptoms identified below, in many cases furthering the unhappiness and isolation identified in the study referenced in the footnote.

Employees are not usually closely aligned with their employer company Purpose/Existence statements but connect either with a reporting relationship(s), their choices system or associates and colleagues within a business, unit, department, etc.
Item 1 creates alignment with varying commitment levels upon the relationship(s) instead of the business: both are needed for growth and overcoming challenges/issues.
Processes within the business units and departments are not always articulated and/or associated with a high-level process, further disconnecting the units, department and individuals.

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