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The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
A Summary of the Ideas of Stephen R. Covey
Nina Jensen, Bank Street College [email protected]
Underlying Coveys approach are fundamental principles or natural
laws that are part of every
enduring society. The root of human effectiveness is to be
guided by these deep principles suchas fairness, honesty,
integrity, respect for human dignity, service, excellence,
patience, potential
and its nurturance and encouragement, openness to difference and
change, and growth. Coveys
first three habits are focused on building strength from within
to form a strong, independent,principle-centered character. These
habits form the basis for habits 4 through 6, which focus on
effective interactions with others, or interdependence.
Collectively, these habits require you to
use your unique human endowments of imagination, conscience,
independent will, and self-awareness.
1. Be proactive. Through self-awareness and imagination,
resourcefulness and initiative,we have the freedom and power to act
in the space between stimulus and responseto
project ourselves into other or changed circumstances. When
confronted with afrustrating situation, shift from a reactive,
deterministic, blaming paradigm to a proactive
view. Focus your efforts within your circle of influence, the
areas in which you have theability to effect change (starting with
your own attitudes, actions, and habits). Increase
your circle of influence by compensating for deficiencies rather
than criticizing them,
developing strengths, being a better listener, a more
cooperative employee/team member.
2. Begin with the end in mind. We do most things twice, first in
our minds and then in
reality. Develop a personal mission statement, a proactive
statement of what you will beand do that is based on your deepest
values and principles, providing a moral compass
and giving a sense of purpose to your life. Consider the
important roles in your life andset goals for each role. Think
through your priorities. Envision your potential by
visualizing in your imagination how you will act in challenging
situations. Identify and
develop the understandings and skills you will need to match
your self-image, to achieveyour goals.
3. Put first things first. By practicing effective
self-management, we can live congruently
with our personal mission, vision, and values on a daily basis.
Organize and executearound priorities that are focused on
significant relationships and results. Every week, set
2-3 goals for each important role in your life and schedule time
for them on your
calendar. Keep a balance between your health, work, family, and
friends.
4. Think win/win. Win/win interactions are built on a foundation
of mutual respect and
trust, arrived at through cooperative negotiation, and lead to
mutually beneficial results.A win/win approach requires a mentality
of abundance (plenty for everyone) rather than
zero sum (fixed amount). Four key steps to arriving at a win/win
agreement are: 1) See
the problem from the other partys perspective and articulate it
back to them; 2) Identify
key underlying issues and concerns (not positions) involved,
especially goals and agendascommon to both parties; 3) Determine
what results would constitute a fully acceptable
solution; 4) Identify possible new options to achieve the
results.
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5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood. The ability
to listen empathically (toemotional as well as rational content) is
key to building effective interpersonal
communication. This must be done with integrity, building on an
existing foundation of
trust. Listen with your ears, eyes, and heart to understand from
the other persons
perspective. Be prepared to change your own perspective, to be
influenced by theinteraction. Avoid making judgments and talking
from your own perspective, motives,
and experiences, especially when emotions are being expressed.
Only after you have
thoroughly understood and the other person is ready to listen,
express your own ideaswithin the context of a deep understanding of
the other persons concerns and paradigms.
6. Synergize. Synergy is the essence of principle-centered
leadership, the culmination ofpracticing the previous 5 habits. In
a synergistic working relationship, the resulting
whole is greater than the sum of the contributions of the
individuals. When team
members value diversity and are open to each others differing
perspectives andcontributions, building on each others strengths
and compensating for weaknesses,
tremendous energy and creativity are released. Because of the
unpredictability of theprocess and results, a high degree of
personal security, trust among team members,
tolerance of ambiguity, and a spirit of adventure and discovery
are needed along withexcellent communication skills.Force field
analysis is a synergistic approach to problem
solving in which you identify restraining and driving forces,
determine which forces are
in your field of influence, and brainstorm ways to strengthen
driving or positive forcesand to weaken the effect of restraining
or negative forces. A win/win approach and
empathic listening skills are important elements to bring to
this process.
7. Sharpen the saw. Balanced self-renewal involves consistently
exercising all four
dimensions of our nature: physical (exercise, nutrition, stress
management); mentalreading visualizing, planning, writing);
social/emotional (service, empathy, synergy,
intrinsic security); and spiritual (value clarification and
commitment, study, and
meditation). Self-renewal is synergistic in that focus in one
area may have positiveresults in other areas, but no area can be
neglected. Self-renewal is the process that
allows us to move on an upward spiral of growth and change, of
continuous movement.
We learn, commit, and do on increasingly higher planes.
Covey, Stephen R. (1989). The Seven Habits of Highly Effecive
People: Restoring the Character
Ethic. New York: Simon & Schuster.
