This is the most important habit. If you can't assimilate and internalise it, then the others will have little value to you. This habit anchors your decision going forward, regardless of the circumstances you are in. Hence, I will cover more ground citing my own experience on how digging deep into it became a turning point in my career.
This habit invokes the
principles of Personal Vision.
Pro-active is more than taking the initiative or bull by the horn. It means only you are
responsible or accountable for your actions. Our behaviour is a function of our own decision,
not our surrounding conditions. The word responsibility is made of two
words - ‘response and ability’, implying one has the ability to choose
one’s response. Highly proactive people
recognize that responsibility and do not blame circumstances or the environment
conditioning for their behaviours and decisions. I strongly believe this to be one of the most
challenging paradigm affecting management and people. It is difficult to convince the naysayers, but, we must face up to the truth - we
alone decide our own destiny.
Honestly speaking, how many
people at work have found reason to put the blame of their own predicament, failures and inaction
on the prevailing system, culture and management. Covey proposes an
excellent way to increase our degree of pro-activity, ie by focusing and expanding the circle of
influence over the circle of control. Knowing what you cannot do is also important, but, it should not circumvent effectiveness to results. Many at times, I have coached demotivated and unhappy employees into acknowledging and realising that whatever happens to their career ultimately lies with them because it is still a matter of their own choosing. Is any employer or boss holding a gun to their head?. We all have the freedom of choice, either to end it or make good of it. That's what happened to me several times.
In 1998, after 21 years of military service, I decided quit. I thought graduating from Staff College on the Board list would showcase my future potential capabilities. But, that was not to be and I decided to deploy my plan B, which included the timely completion of my MBA study.
2 months after submitting my application for early retirement, the DOA-HR dropped the bomb in announcing that the government had frozen all optional retirement of civil servants. Malaysia was then suffering the backlash of the Asian financial crisis. I was not alone. There were 14 of us, all trapped in a foxhole. My hopes lost out. Having explicitly notified my intent to resign, I saw my future career black out !. However, 3 weeks later I got my break in exercising habit 1. A precedence was set when two Air Force pilots invoked the prerogative of their Service Chief. With stubborn persistence, I confronted HR and relentlessly bulldozed my case. I personally wrote and delivered my 3 page letter to the Chief of Army justifying the reasons why I deserve his approval. And, being a 7 Habits advocate himself, I centered my rationale on habit 1 - proactive.
2 days later I got a call from the ADC of the Army Chief, to come pick up my letter, duly approved. When the news got around, I had my 13 colleagues descending upon me, for a copy of my letter!. This experience also reflects on what the next habit is all about.
Habit 2 - Begin With an End in Mind
This means to start with a
clear understanding of your destination. It enables you to understand better
where you are now, so that the steps you take are always in the right
direction. Habit 2 is based on the principles of Personal Leadership. Leadership is not management. It is a mental
creation and top line focus ‘What are the things I want to accomplish’.
Management, on the other hand, is bottom line focus ‘How can I best accomplish
things’? In the words of Peter Drucker and Warren Bennis ‘Management is doing things right;
leadership is doing the right things’. I do not wish to speak further
about leadership, for you are the better authority and judge of it and how you
fit into that frame of work and reference. But I do hope whatever knowledge
gained today would work to improve your style and approach. The most effective
way to begin with an end in mind is to develop and write a personal mission
statement. It gives the vision and values to direct your life, in whatever
role you may hold or choose. Covey has identified there is a particular center
or core paradigm that affects the four influential factors of life – security,
guidance, wisdom and power. These are spouse-centered, family-centered,
money-centered, church or religion-centered, self-centered, principle-centered
etc. Principle-centered paradigm creates a solid foundation that puts all the
other centers in perspective.
Habit 3 - Put First Things First
Habit 3 - Put First Things First
This habit is associated
with the principles of Personal
Management. It’s the fulfilment, actualization and natural emergence of
habit 1 and 2. It deals with many of questions relating to "time management", something that Malaysians are international recognised for. But, here's the irony. First of all, we can't manage time. You can only manage the task, activities and projects within the time-frame - 8 (or more) hours of work, 24/7 and 12 months. So, the best
approach to time management is to organize and execute your activities and
events around priorities. In this way, if you don’t get everything done, at
least you get the important things done, because you put them first. But
remember, things that matter most must never be at mercy of things that matter
least. Habit 3 also advocates
commitment and accomplishments. All these loops back to habit 1, i.e transferring responsibility downwards to accommodate initiative and decision
making. But responsibility alone is not good enough. To be effective, certain amount of commiserative authority must be accorded, as well. By authority, I am referring to the resource power to take remedial steps when necessary to correcting sticky political situations that could interfere and stifle the progress of proactive actions by team members. One of my favourite quotes that I use to impress the duality of authority and responsibility “Authority without responsibility is harlotry;
responsibility without authority is masochism”. If one part is held back then it may impact the expediency of execution and desired effect or result.
For habit 3, I would share my failure experiences, which have cost me my job , not once but 3 occasions!. How do managers handle staff training. Do you see them prioritising and following the training cycle?. How many really take the time to start with the 1st step, i.e conduct Training Need Analysis. The root cause - managers are too busy to be bothered with this critical step. Besides, isn't it HR 's job?.
In most cases, training is often reduced to 1) The boss (who knows best) decides unilaterally what training an employee needs; or alternatively 2) Employees are given a form to fill their wish list of trainings they would like to attend. As a result, there is hardly any connection between the training, employee performance, improvement measurement, and expected results. In the end, training is ridiculed as ineffective and waste of money. The way I see it, it is a competency area lacking in management. I feel organisations could do well in sending managers to Training Needs Analysis workshops, in appreciating the priority of activities involved before investing in training of human capital.
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