Prevention is Better Than Cure

How often have you heard the saying: “An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure?”

We’ve all heard this saying, time and time again. It’s basic common sense – invest a small amount of effort now to prevent any trouble/hardship later down the line.

How often do we skip out on the basic maintenance of our homes, cars, and businesses when everything is going well? Procrastination, complacency, and taking things for granted all play a role. We are all so very busy that we let things slide.  How often do we wish we would have told our loved ones we loved them or said that we are sorry before it's too late?

We don’t take care of maintaining our bodies and minds! How often have folks showed up at the doctor's, received bad news, and wished they had taken better care of their health? 

The same goes true for work and business. As leaders and entrepreneurs, we have opportunities to prescribe an ounce of prevention daily, but do we? We are so invested in living the “busy culture” that we lose sight of doing small things NOW that will eventually add up to the big things that we will have to deal with LATER.

In aviation, if a plane gets off course by one or two degrees, it can land miles away from its designated runway. The same goes for business; if you just let your business run from quarter to quarter, year to year without correction, your company will land way off course.

Gino Wickman has some great advice in his book, Traction – Get A Grip on Your Business. He talks about the valuable EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) tool to keep your business on track daily.

Prevention and People

I tend to focus on the softer side of prevention, and for me, that means people. You might have all of your balance sheets up to date, and profits are looking good - but if you are not invested in the happiness of your own workers, then you are being very short-sighted. Find out what’s going on with your team. Sit down with folks and have a cup of coffee. Nothing beats listening. Nothing beats connection and communication. Nothing beats honest and open conversation, where everyone can be vulnerable, open, and honest. 

Yes, sometimes telling (and hearing) the truth hurts. Oftentimes, wounds have to be opened to heal. I have found that the best way to heal a wound is to prevent it from happening. By simply opening up the channels of communication, we prevent the opportunity for hard feelings, misunderstandings, and miscommunications from festering. 

Look, we live in the real world. S*&t happens! You can do your absolute best to prevent negative situations from arising, and from time to time, they will still happen. Still, if we just talk about things, we create a much more authentic workspace and prevent small misunderstandings from becoming bigger problems that we have to deal with and that affect the culture of the organization. 

As leaders, sometimes we need to take a dose of our own medicine and remember that “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.” So, round up your troops and have those conversations.