7 Habits Revisited – Part 1

In all my executive level trainings on leadership, I make a point to survey participants if they have read 7 Habits by Stephen Covey. Sadly, the findings are often disappointing, even amongst top management. And, the enthusiasm falls short, despite revealing that the e-book is freely available on the web.  

A true gem, 7 habits changed my life forever, personally and professionally. It heralded a new chapter in my learning curve, beyond the military indoctrination. To be honest, I did not intentionally seek the book, rather, it found me!. In 1991, 7 habits was a  mandatory reading for training on Total Quality Management (TQM). 
  

7 habits became a leadership compass, in steering and shaping my thoughts, feelings, behavior and actions. It was my companion, mentor and coach. My career perspective and path took on a new dimension, riddled with significant decision points at critical junctures.

For posterity, I have decided to revisit Covey's 7 habits. It is based on an article I did in 1998 for sharing on officers study day. And, to make it more palatable for the busy, I have condensed into 3 parts. I will share an anecdotal personal experience for each habit.   

Areas of Application

Just like all the other management gurus, Covey focuses his philosophical thoughts towards achieving quality status. Let me illustrate this by drawing your attention to the key words in the topic, i.e., habits, effective, and people. All three have a close and symbiotic relationship to the TQM phrase ‘Continuous Improvement’. It is best captured by Aristotle, “we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not and act, but a habit”. Effectiveness, deals with doing the right thing. Covey relates effectiveness using the Production/Production Capability principle. He draws upon the famous fable of golden goose. By this, he means not merely looking at the results but also at the capacity to yield results. Lastly, people represent the very basic yet dynamic resource that make things happen and not happen.

7 habits extends the function of quality to not only the products and services but rather to life and relationships. Total quality, then, is an expression of the need for continuous improvement in four areas :-  Personal and Professional Development; Interpersonal Relations; Managerial Effectiveness; Organizational productivity. It introduces a new level of thinking. It is a principle - centered, character based, ‘inside-out’ approach to personal and ‘interpersonal effectiveness’. ‘Inside-out’ means to start first with self, even more fundamentally, to start with the most inside part of self- your paradigm, character and motives.

Habits - Defined

Habits can be defined as the intersection of knowledge, skill and desire (KSD). Managers and trainers can relate this better to the famous Bloom's taxonomy of learning domain - Cognitive (knowledge), Psychomotor (skill) and Affective (Attitude). Creating a habit requires hard work in all three domains. This is essential because our character, basically, is a composite of our habits.

Maturity Paradigm

It pays to remind that habits are not piecemeal psych-up formulas that can be easily acquired after attending 2 days of 7 habits certified training workshop. These are highly conscious driven, incremental and highly integrated steps that has to be repeatedly performed and developed over time. In other words, it is progressive along a maturity continuum, ie dependence to independence and, thereafter, to interdependence. Habits 1, 2 and 3 deals with Self Mastery which falls under the umbrella of “Private Victories”. Covey believes that Private Victories must precede Public Victories. One must win the internal battle at the personal level before mastering the interpersonal or social level. Having worked on your character base you can then proceed to the personality – oriented ‘Public Victories’ which is the focus of habit 4, 5, and 6. Lastly, habit 7 talks of “Sharpen the Saw”, to indicate the renewal or continuous improvement that creates an upward spiral of growth.