Seven Habits
(Stephen Covey)

Leadership and Management. Explanation of Seven Habits of Stephen Covey. ('89)

The Seven Habits model of management and leadership guru Stephen Covey is a theory that is applicable to our personal life, our social life and our working life. However the Seven Habits framework is highly applicable for leaders and managers. According to Covey, our paradigms affect how we interact with others, which in turn affects how they interact with us. Therefore Covey argues that any effective self-help program must begin with an "inside-out" approach, rather than looking towards our problems as "being out there" (an outside-in approach). We must start with examining our own character, paradigms, and motives.

 

The Seven Habits of Covey

  1. Be proactive. This is the ability to control one's environment, rather than the opposite, as is so often the case. Managers need to control their own environment, by using self-determination and the ability to respond to various circumstances.
  2. Begin with the end in mind. This means that the manager must be able to see the desired outcome, and to concentrate on activities which help to achieve that end.
  3. Put first things first. A manager must manage his own person. Personally. And managers should implement activities which aim to achieve the second habit. Covey says that habit 2. is the first, or mental creation; habit 3 is the second, or physical creation.
  4. Think win-win. This is the most important aspect of interpersonal leadership, because most achievements are based on shared effort. Therefore the aim needs to be win-win solutions for all.
  5. Seek first to understand and then to be understood. By developing and maintaining positive relationships through good communications, the manager is understood by others, and he can understand the subordinates.
  6. Synergize. This is the habit of creative cooperation: the principle that collaborating towards attaining a purpose often achieves more, than could be achieved by individuals working independently.
  7. Sharpen the saw. We should learn from our previous experiences. And we should encourage others to do the same. Covey sees development as one of the most important aspects for being able to cope with challenges, and for aspiring towards higher levels of ability.

In his 2004 book: "The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness", Covey introduces an additional eighth habit:

  1. Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs. Striving towards "greatness", means to act with integrity as an individual and to help others to do the same. According to Covey, this habit represents the 3rd dimension of his model. Greatness is the overlap of:
  • Personal greatness. Applying the 7 habits in the forms of: vision, discipline, passion and conscience.
  • Leadership greatness. Applying the 4 roles of leadership, which are modeling the 7 habits:
    • Path finding. Creating the blueprint.
    • Aligning. Creating a technically elegant system of work.
    • Empowering. Releasing the talent, energy, and contribution of people.
    • Modeling. To build trust with others. The heart of effective leadership.
  • Organizational greatness. This is greatness turned into a vision, mission and values. This brings clarity, commitment, translation, synergy, and enables accountability.

Book: Stephen Covey: Seven Habits of Highly Effective People -

Book: Stephen Covey: The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness -

 

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Recent User Comments
 - India Seven Habits: Reprogram your Mind "It's never late to learn and apply the seven habits of Covey, because these habits are the only tool to reprogram your mind to travel the path to success."    1
 - India Value of TIme "Accountability of time in comparision to the output of workforce is to be monitored very strictly in order to achieve the goals."    3
Amedzo Martin - Ghana Extra Habit: Enthusiasm "I believe the world belongs to the people of enthusiasm. It is our enthusiasm that reflects on our future output."    10
Muhammad Asad - Pakistan Perfect Management "It's good to see the 7 habits of Mr. Covey. Gives a lot of knowledge."    4
Omengski - Philippines Tools for being Proactive? "How to effectively control one's environment in a proactive way?"    8
Best User Comments
Horizon - Germany 7 habits "Success starts first in the mind, all other steps are simply the embodiment of ingredients that made up this very first mental image. Think success, then it will follow..."    15
MJDL - Philippines I say : "Emotion clouds reason . To be an effective decision maker, a person should put truth and betterment of others above himself."    10
Taran - India Habits inhibit Freedom? "I feel the 7 habits inhibit the freedom to act spontaneously as perceived by the Zen Management approach which demands "Being In The Present"."    10
Amal - Sri Lanka Seven Habits: Followers? "I wonder, can there be habits for followers as well?"    10
badwy - Egypt Seven Habits: Sharpen the saw? "What is the meaning of: Sharpen the saw?"    8
Phil Maboe - RSA Extra habit: Emotional Intelligence "I think the best way to have a successful and influential leadership is to add another habit: Emotional intelligence as a habit."    6
Priscilla - UAE Be proactive "The first approach was very good"    5
waleedbadran2007 - Egypt Extra Habit? "Can I add another habit: The attitude to work hard. I find that hard work is one of the most important habits, not found in all persons..."    -10
Nick - UK 7 Habits "It is admirable for us all to aspire to these habits but the world would not function if we all succeded!"    -113

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  ●  (India) Time and Goals "Time vz Goal is a peculiar thing. The time for all people in this world is no doubt equal. But, what I do in an hour, my son does in half an hour. Of course without compromise in quality. Time is more about planning and prioritization. One should know the time to take for a particular task. Time management is, as often said, not clock management!"
  ●  (USA) Trust the workforce "One must value and trust the workforce, not turn it around to "forcework"."

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  ● evprabhu (India) I Applied the Thoughts "My REACTION immediately after reading, I started from my soul to write the 7 habits of STEPHEN COVEY and 8th one also in my diary and applied then in my work place and life."
  ● Hugh (UK) What were the results? "Evprabhu that's interesting... What were the results? Can you share some tips on how to apply Coveys habits?"

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  ● Wanglidan (Singapore) How to be Proactive "Be motivated. Be oppositive. Be self-conscious."

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  ● Prasant Rout (INDIAN) Human Relations "Very true. Everything is created twice. First in the mind and then in the reality"
  ●  (India) Seven Habits "I have read the seven habits. I like so much. I want to go indeep."

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  ● MFR (Philippines) I agree "It is also a premise that the decision maker has already developed himself to be enable him to be objective about the situation."
  ● The Objective Historian (USA) It depends, does it not ... ? ""Betterment of others"; but what if you are inadvertently making better the lives of those who are surreptitiously doing horrific harm to the weak, (relatively) innoncent, and defenseless? One must be careful; everyone lies."
  ● FDB (USA) Emotion Clouds Reason "I agree with both MJDL and MFR that effective leadership requires objectivity and truth, these equal integrity. But I think our colleague The Objective Historian is a bit cynical in stating that "everyone lies". I believe a great leader puts others before himself/herself regardless."

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  ● Justin (United States) Do the Habits inhibit Freedom? "Although the very basic idea of this theory would assume to be correct, I must respectfully disagree for the purpose of this context. Spontanaity would be inhibited if one's actions were based around physical habits such as always going to the same restaurant/table/chair everyday and ordering the same beverage/meal each time at the same time. These habits have developed into a routine, which inhibits spontanaity. Some habits, such as these seven/eight, exhibit the ability to be successful. Which enables one to have the ability to be spontanious in the long run."
  ●  (Denmark) 7 Habits "I find your statement interesting. Where does spontaneity stem from in your view? I believe that we have two sets of spontaneity responses: the first set is immediate and based on emotions. The second is reflective and based on evaluation/analysis. Act too early, and you will always act in the emotional realm..."

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  ● Clarity Nthonyani (Malawi) Habits "They say every body is a manager and therefore evrybody can be a CCEO"
  ●  (Sri Lanka) Seven Habits "Win - Win thinking is of the best to achieve best results, peoples will get open mind and clear in their thoughts."

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  ● Sai Sriram (India) Sharpen the saw "It means keep ugrading the skills so that one can be upto date. It can be in terms of keeping intouch with news, technology, enrolling to new programs or getting certifications etc"
  ● Geert (Netherlands) Covey 7. Sharpen the Saw "Covey means that, just as you need to sharpen the saw now and then, or just as you need to brush your teeth to keep them white and healthy, you also need to invest time and effort at regular intervals to keep your body and mind in good shape. They are your tools. Managers who (think they) are too busy to do some exercising or take a break can indeed easily fall into a trap of working with poor 'tools'."
  ● Dileep (UAE) Sharpen the Saw "Its simply means to improve your knowledge through CONTINOUS LEARNING"
  ● Edgar (Colombia) Sharpen the saw "My friend, this quote means: prepare yourself to deserve that better things come to your life."
  ● mokhtar (ALGERIA) Sharpen the saw "I think, my friend,it means that you have to use what you've learnt before and you have to "use" even the mistakes you've made... Simply don't lose what you've aquired during your life."
  ●  (Sweden) Sharpen the Saw ""It's about finding balance in life""
  ●  (Flanders) Take some time to Sharpen your Saw "Ever worked for hours with an unsharp saw?
Now and then you should take some time to reconsider if what your are doing is still effective and appropriate for what you want to achieve."

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  ● Hitham (Egypt) Emotional Intelligence "By emotional intelligence you can lead your subordinates, you can gain their respect and love. Briefly, you will be able to acheive the difficult formula of having subordinates obeying you while they also are adoring and respecting you."

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  ● Norm (Canada) Work hard? "I respect what you say...but wouldn't it be better to say Work Smarter not harder?"
  ● Syed (India) Extra Habit "By hard work you can get paid... but with SMART WORK you can reap!"
  ● Nagy (Canada) Harder / Smarter! "We are talking about results ... So working harder is walking or running faster or stronger or more energetic. Working smarter is about making sure you are in the right direction... It's about putting your ladder on the right wall."
  ● Décio (Brazil) Harder doesn´t mean better "My father had a compulsion to work. He could not stay idle. He worked througout his life, but he was always so poor. He was not able to accomplish anything. Working hard doen´t mean anything. Rather you must do the right things for yourself and for the people you love to be happy and live a fruitful life. That is all that matters."
  ● Anneke van Waveren (Netherlands) Extra Habit? "Work harder means 'being involved' in my opinion. Work not only with your mind, but also love your work, work with your heart and go for it. Be involved with the things you do, and of course basicly think before you act."
  ●  (UAE) Extra Habit "I partly agree with your statement. But want to add: Hard and SMART Work would pave the way to become SUCCESSFUL!. "

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  ● Doug (USA) 7 Habits "Success is measured differently by each person and success for you does not equate to success for me. We are all on different levels as well, so if we are all succeeding we're all moving up a notch so we're never all really equal."
  ● Shannon (US) 7 Habits "I would disagree with this comment. The book was written to inspire us all to succeed. There is enough room for each person to be successful in their own sphere of influence."
  ● Arvin (US) 7 Habits "Your theory is wrong .....on this world but correct somewhere else."
  ● Hyde (UK) 7 Habits "I have been inspired by the Covey books and regularly go back and dip in to reasses my life - in fact it changed the way I strived for success which meant along the way I maintianed and invested in the relationships along the way - my own success could have been so different and empty - I would like to think that the world would be a better place if these principles were adopted - lets face it its a pretty desolate place at the moment"
  ● Phoebe (ZA) 7 Habits "Greatness and success is unique to everyone of us. The 7 Habits focus on continuous improvement for self, family/society and the workplace. If more of us practiced these habits/principles/values, imagine the world that can be."
  ● David (US) 7 Habits "I agree that the world would not function if we all succeeded in the same way, i.e., if "success" brought us all to the exact same level of awareness and capacity. But this is not the case. First of all, we are all unique, with different gifts. Secondly, no one has to fail for someone else to succeed. We can all get better. After this, the only question is whether society is willing to risk allowing evil genius to self-actualize."
  ● Gary (Canada) 7 Habits Effectiveness "The full title is "7 Habits of Highly Effective People", not "7H of Highly Successful People." Effective means achieving a high level of trust with people you choose to have a relationship. Success is a measure of the environment surrounding you and, therefore, cannot be controlled by you. You can only control your own behaviour and that's all! Too often we read or hear the stories about successful people in the professional world who have gone through 2 or 3 marriages in their personal lives."
  ● Joshua (Canada) Be positive "We don't all aspire the same success, so it will work. Be positive."

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