Stephen Covey wrote The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People as a leadership and personal development book, with its central theme being an approach based on principles to success.
Covey was an esteemed leadership expert, family expert, teacher, organizational consultant and cofounder of FranklinCovey. His son Sean now serves as Executive Vice President for Innovation with FranklinCovey.
1. Be Proactive
Highly effective leadership begins with being proactive. Being proactive means taking responsibility for one’s actions and decisions rather than placing blame elsewhere or on circumstances; also it means focusing on those within one’s circle of influence instead of dwelling on issues outside it. Unfortunately, many leaders fall short here by becoming overwhelmed with firefighting issues while neglecting more essential goals such as building stronger teams or businesses.
If you tend to be more reactive than proactive as a leader, conduct a 30-day proactivity challenge by setting small promises and then fulfilling them. This will increase integrity while teaching you to focus on what can be controlled or influenced rather than worrying about things beyond your reach. Prioritizing tasks more effectively and working to prevent problems before they arise may also help. Touch base regularly with team members about any challenges they’re facing so that you can assist. It also pays to stay current with industry trends so you can capitalize on opportunities.
2. Begin with the End in Mind
Begin With the End in Mind emphasizes visualizing your desired destination or outcome before taking any steps toward it. Covey asserts that all things are created twice: first in our minds and later physically. Physical manifestation usually follows mental creation like building from blueprints; without conscious effort on your part to define yourself and visualize who and what you want in life, other people and circumstances will define your path for you.
Integrating “Begin with the End in Mind” into your leadership style gives employees more agency over their lives and sets personal goals for success, rather than simply doing tasks based on clock or ego.
An effective way of practicing this leadership habit is to have each employee create a personal mission statement as a reminder of their goals. They can refer back to it throughout the day to make sure every action they take brings them closer towards achieving those desired results, giving each employee a sense of winning at work.
3. Sharpen the Saw
Woodcutters cannot tackle dense pieces of trees without sharpening their blade. Leaders must similarly invest time and effort in themselves so as to have a positive impact on team members and remain effective over time. This requires taking time for self-renewal in terms of physical health, social/emotional well-being, mental/emotional fitness and spirituality – or else their productivity may suffer and productivity will decrease substantially.
Covey’s book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, has been read and internalized by millions of people of all ages and occupations around the globe. This timeless classic has changed lives from presidents and CEOs, teachers and parents, as well as individuals living all around us – it deserves everyone’s consideration and consideration.
“Sharpen the Saw,” as the seventh and final habit, represents a commitment to lifelong learning and renewal. Leaders who prioritize sharpening the saw will continue to build character, confidence and skills – in turn fostering relationships and inspiring their team members more easily – which allows them to maintain a powerful leadership style over time.
4. Focus on the Big Picture
Establishing the habit of big-picture thinking can help keep you on the path towards reaching your goals. This leadership style allows for perspective by taking an expansive view, looking beyond details of a situation and strategizing for long-term goals. Big picture thinkers excel at visualizing projects as wholes, understanding relationships between tasks, foreseeing possible consequences of decisions made and prioritizing long-term goals over minor concerns.
Covey suggests considering what legacy you want to leave behind and encourages individuals to visualise their funeral, asking themselves how they’d like their loved ones to remember them. Doing this exercise will help focus your mind on what really matters in life while uncovering some core values.
Sean Covey is an award-winning New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of two critically-acclaimed books: The Speed of Trust and Trust & Inspire. In his role as Director of FranklinCovey’s Education Practice, Sean travels around the world training school leaders on transformative strategy and execution. Sean’s father Stephen R. Covey was known as an authority on leadership as well as family matters who wrote The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People book series; Sean himself serves on FranklinCovey’s Education practice training school leaders on training transformative strategies and execution techniques he taught his son in his own school leadership training practice – training school leaders on transformational strategy and execution techniques from an early age on in FranklinCovey’s Education Practice.
5. Make Time for Reflection
One of the key leadership skills is self-reflection. This involves taking time to analyze your leadership style, strengths and weaknesses, communication methods with others and your performance as a leader – essential parts of improving performance and speeding up growth as a leader.
At times, day-to-day activities can leave us overwhelmed, yet successful leaders make time for reflection regularly. Self-reflection provides valuable insight into motivations and goals as well as potential areas for growth.
Without proper reflection, leaders often find themselves in trouble. Relying on an endless cycle of acting and reacting can lead to frustration, micromanagement, and negative cultures – yet when leaders take time for reflection they’re able to pause and consider the decisions before they have an effect on others.
An effective way to engage in self-reflection is to establish a daily or weekly process that allows you to sit quietly and evaluate your leadership. This could include journaling, walking around outside for 30 minutes before going into the office early, or just arriving 30 minutes earlier so as to enjoy some quiet time alone. Experiment with different techniques until you find one that works for you best; consistency will come eventually!
6. Be Kind to Yourself
Covey advocates taking care to take good care of themselves; without self-care, he feels you cannot serve others effectively. He suggests healthy living habits like exercise, reading and spiritual renewal – as well as the value in combining one’s individual strengths with those of others for maximum efficiency.
This best-seller focuses on helping individuals focus on what they can control or influence rather than reacting to life’s unexpected surprises. This book has been read by presidents, CEOs, educators and parents – millions of people from various ages and professions all around the globe!
Stephen Covey’s leadership style has been described as “soft power”, or an approach that emphasizes kindness, empathy and servanthood as core values. Although this approach might not suit every leader’s style or organization, giving it a try could significantly transform your organization.
7. Don’t Take No for an Answer
Covey recommends as the second habit “Assume Responsibility,” meaning to take responsibility for everything that happens in your life. Although this concept may be challenging to grasp, taking on this role of an effective leader will significantly change your life: rather than reacting reactively to situations around you, you will focus on controlling and acting upon those areas where there can be change, in order to reach your goals more quickly.
Covey suggests an exercise to help develop this habit: envision your funeral and consider how you want your family members to remember you as. He states that this will give you an overview of your life while helping to identify key values.
Sean Covey is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal-bestselling author of two best-selling books: The Leader in Me and Trust & Inspire; he serves as executive vice president for innovation at FranklinCovey; travels the world teaching transformative strategy execution techniques to education leaders; his father Stephen is widely recognized for writing The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
