The team “holistic” has been misapplied over recent years, and many of us now associate it with health, well-being, and even vaguely “New Age” principles. It’s easy to see why this happens, but it’s also to undersell the value of holisticism.

At its core, holisticism is a very simple — but very powerful — concept. The term “holistic” is defined as follows:

When thinking from a business perspective, we can disregard the “medicine” usage. The philosophical usage, however, is extremely beneficial. The “comprehension of parts of something as interconnected” is a useful way of describing a business; the “parts of something” are the different departments, and they form the whole— the company in and of itself.

How does a holistic business approach differ from standard business style?

Modern approaches have broken businesses down into sections. There’s the accounting team, the marketing team, the sales team… and so on and so forth. All of these departments operate distinctly from one another; they have their own management, their own staff, and usually their own separate part of the company building.

A holistic business would still be able to practice this separation — which is inherently useful — but it would also seek to see the overall, inclusive picture. Each department would be evaluated for their inner strengths and weaknesses, but also regarding how they relate to every other aspect of the company.

For example, the marketing department may be planning to launch a campaign. They are waiting for content production to send them the copy required for the campaign, but content production is lacking, so the marketing department’s efficiency is severely impacted. Standard business analysis would tell you that the marketing department is failing and that the content production department is failing. However, when viewed on a holistic level, it’s actually clear only one department is falling behind— content production. This means you can focus remedies and resources on the content production department and actually drive to the heart of the issue every time.

How can I introduce a holistic business approach?

• Bring together staff from across the company on a regular basis. You may already do this at management level — for example, with the heads of department — but it’s important for staff at all levels to spend time with colleagues from other areas.
• Use the appropriate technology. Department-relevant tech and software is all well and good, but you also need to introduce the likes of SAP Business One to oversee the operation as a whole.
• Respond to what you learn. If you discover an area of the business is lagging and impacting other areas, you have to take action to improve the problematic area by dedicating time and resources to finding a fix. Knowledge isn’t the be-all and end-all of holisticism; you then have to action what you have learned in an effort to improve the operations of the overall business.

In conclusion

Above, we have focused on negative aspects of a holistic business, but holisticism is also beneficial when things are going well. With the improved analysis and resource management that a holistic business affords, you can be sure of making the most of every business situation— which, in turn, should help to deliver the business growth and success you hope for.