COVEY’S SEVEN HABITS™ OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE
Use to identify a strategy for reaching your own aims and objectives and a philosophy for how you treat people along the way.
Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits™ model can be split into personal and interpersonal habits.
PERSONAL HABITS – WORKING ON YOURSELF – ARE:
Be proactive: Managers should aim to shape the events and environment in which they work and not just sit back and wait for things to happen.
Start with the end in mind: Managers should identify what they want to achieve. Once identified, they must avoid distractions and constantly work on activities that take them towards their goals.
Put first things first: Managers should prioritise those activities that will help them achieve their aims.
Sharpen the saw: Managers are human. They need time to rest and renew themselves and update their skills.
INTERPERSONAL HABITS – WORKING WITH OTHERS – ARE:
Think win–win: When dealing with staff, customers, suppliers and even competitors wise managers look for common ground and a solution that suits all parties.
Seek first to understand then try to be understood: Like doctors, managers should diagnose what the problem is before they prescribe the cure.
Synergise: Synergy occurs when the outcome is greater than the sum of the parts. A case of 2 + 2 = 5. Great teamwork can achieve this (see Section 5).
HOW TO USE IT
- To be proactive get off your backside and work towards the achievement of your aims. Don’t sit about waiting for things to happen. Look for opportunities to shape events and the environment you work in.
- Start with the end in mind by identifying your aims. What do you really want from life? Think about your earliest ambitions. What did you want to do when you were at school or just starting work? Now is the time to make your dreams concrete. Record them on paper as short (1 year), medium (2 to 3 years) and long-term (over 3 years) aims and tick them off as you achieve them.
- Put first things first and identify which work activities move you closer to achieving your aims. Sometimes you may have to do other work. That’s OK. But get back to the important stuff asap.
- Sharpen the saw reminds you to look after yourself. Find time to relax, enjoy some R and R and update your professional skills.
- When you deal with staff, customers and even competitors seek first to understand what they are saying. By listening you will gain an insight into what they really want.
- Once you understand their wants you can identify a win–win solution that satisfies all parties. This will build trust which leads to better outcomes when you deal with the same people in the future.
- The relationships that you have established on a basis of mutual respect and fairness will release synergy rather than competition and improve future results beyond expectation.
QUESTIONS TO ASK
- What do I want from life? What are my aims and ambitions?
- How am I going to achieve my aims and ambitions? What’s my plan?