The Principles
established in Stephen R. Covey’s book are supposed to help a person achieve
true interdependent "effectiveness". Covey argues this is achieved by
aligning oneself to what he calls "true north"—principles of a
character ethic that, unlike values, he believes to be universal and timeless.
The book presents the principles in four sections.
Paradigms
and Principles.
Here, Covey introduces the basic foundation for the creation of the habits.
Private
Victory. Here, Covey
introduces the first three habits intended to take a person from dependence to
independence, or one's ability to be self-reliant. You must be able to win your
private victories before you can start on your public victories. If you start
to win your public victories first, how can you feel good about yourself and
still work on habits...
Public
Victory. Here, Covey
introduces habits four through six which are intended
to lead to interdependence, the ability to align one's needs and desires with
those of other people and create effective relationships.
Renewal. Here, Covey
introduces the final habit which directs the reader to begin a process of
self-improvement.
1. Be Proactive
Principles
of Personal Vision
The word proactive means that we are responsible for our
own lives. Our behavior is a function of
our decisions, not our conditions. We
can subordinate feelings to values. We
have the initiative and the responsibility to make things happen. Highly proactive people recognize that
responsibility. The do not blame
circumstances, conditions, or social conditioning for their behavior. Their behavior is a product of their own
conscious choice, based on values, rather than a product of their conditions,
based on feeling. Proactive people are
still influenced by external stimuli but their response, conscious or
unconscious, is a value based choice or response.
2. Begin with the end in mind
Principles
of Personal Leadership
Begin today with the image, picture, or paradigm of the
end of your life as your frame of reference of the criterion by which
everything else is examined. Each part
of your life—today’s behavior, tomorrow’s behavior, next week’s behavior, next
month’s behavior—can be examined in the context of the whole, of what really
matters most to you. By keeping that end
clearly in mind, you can make certain that whatever you do on any particular
day does not violate the criteria you have defined as supremely important, and
that each day of your life contributes in a meaningful way to the vision you
have of your life as a whole. To begin
with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your
destination. It means to know where
you’re going so that you better understand where you are now and so that the
steps you take are always in the right direction.
3. Put first thing first
Principles of Personal Management
Habit 1 says that you are the programmer. Habit 2 says to write the program. Habit 3 says to run the program. Living it is primarily a function of our
independent will, our self-discipline, our integrity, and commitment—not to
short-term goals and schedules or to the impulse of the moment, but to the
correct principles and our own deepest values, which give meaning and context
to our goals, our schedules, and our lives. Organize and execute around
priorities.
4. Think win-win
Principles
of Interpersonal Leadership
Win/Win is a frame of mind and heart that constantly
seeks mutual benefit in all human interactions.
Win/Win means that agreements or solutions are mutually beneficial,
mutually satisfying. With a Win/Win
solution all parties feel good about the decision and feel committed to the
action plan. Win/Win is a belief in a
Third Alternative. It’s not your way or
my way; it’s a better way. And if a
solution can’t be found to benefit both parties they agree to disagree
agreeably—No Deal. Anything less than
Win/Win in and interdependent reality is a poor second best that will have
impact in the long-term relationship.
The cost of that impact needs to be carefully considered. If you can’t reach a true Win/Win, you’re
very often better off to go for No Deal.
5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood
Principles
of Empathic Communication
Listening with the intent to understand is called
empathic listening. Empathic listening
gets inside another person’s frame of reference. You look out through it, you see the world
the way they see the world, you understand their paradigm, you understand how
they feel. Empathy is not sympathy. Empathic listening involves much more than
registering, reflecting, or even understanding the words that are said. You aren’t just listening with your ears, but
also with you eyes and your heart.
Empathic listening is so powerful because it gives you accurate data to
work with. When you present your own
ideas be clear, specific, visual, and most important, contextual—in the context
of a deep understanding of the other person’s paradigms and concerns. You will significantly increase the
credibility of your ideas. What you’re
presenting may even be different form what you had originally thought because
in you effort to understand, you learned.
6. Synergize
Principles
of Creative Cooperation
Synergy is the essence of principle-centered
leadership. It catalyzes, unifies, and
unleashes the greatest power within people.
Simply defined, it meant that the whole is greater than the sum of its
parts. Without doubt, you have to leave
the comfort zone of base camp and confront an entirely new and unknown
wilderness. You become a trailblazer, a
pathfinder. You open new possibilities,
new territories, new continents, so that others can follow. The essence of synergy is to value
differences—to respect them, to build on strengths, to compensate for
weaknesses.
7. Sharpen the saw
Principles
of Creative Cooperation
Synergy is the essence of principle-centered
leadership. It catalyzes, unifies, and
unleashes the greatest power within people.
Simply defined, it meant that the whole is greater than the sum of its
parts. Without doubt, you have to leave
the comfort zone of base camp and confront an entirely new and unknown
wilderness. You become a trailblazer, a
pathfinder. You open new possibilities,
new territories, new continents, so that others can follow. The essence of synergy is to value
differences—to respect them, to build on strengths, to compensate for
weaknesses.
Sources:
- Stephen R Convey "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People"
- Alison Begley, University of Cincinnati, Ohio
