The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
“Decide what you stand for and then stand for it all the time.”
3 Main messages:
Proactive, successful people are driven by internal values rather than external identity
“Management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right thing.”
We win big by working with others
We are all bombarded with information on a daily basis at work. There is always a new technology, a new buzzword or a new philosophy and it can sometimes be hard to see the wood for the trees. In 2017, my Senior Team and I, along with many other school leadership teams from our local area, attended professional training which transformed the way we worked. We were told, amidst all the noise, news and constantly changing goals, that “the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
This wisdom came from John Yates, now retired, who was a Covey devotee, referring to him and his teachings frequently. He correctly predicted the UK Government’s drive to make every school part of a trust and he encouraged us as school leaders to remain true to our calling and develop strong, kind and effective teams.
I have intended to read Covey ever since. It is a large and unappealing book which, as my Uncle pointed out on a call recently, “Looks pretty boring.” It isn’t. It is the foundation stone upon which so many other leadership books are now built. Each of the seven habits in themselves have earned new thinkers and authors many followers, likes and book sales as they take Covey’s ideas and repackage them in a different format. But it is the seven habits, in order, and all together which, when practised, will make you a ‘highly effective person’.
The new addition of the book includes a foreword by Jim Collins and fresh insights by Stephen’s son, Sean. It was wonderful to read about how Stephen lived by his word and to get some examples of how he put his teachings into practice in daily family life. The story of how he handed responsibility of the garden to his son by telling him he wanted it to be ‘clean and green’ and then meeting with him for weekly reviews is an excellent simple example of how to set clear goals and expectations and ensure they are carried out.
The basic format of the book is to support the reader in working from the inside out - with the first three chapters focusing on our own values, goals and habits and then the next three focusing on external behaviours of perspective, empathy and teamwork. The final chapter reminds us of the importance of looking after ourselves physically, mentally, spiritually and socially and is entitled ‘Sharpen the saw’ and is perhaps even more relevant today than it was when the book was first published in 1989.
Habit 1 is to be proactive and to take responsibility for our actions. As Crowded House sang - “You always take the weather with you” and proactive people are driven by values, rather than feelings, circumstances and their environment. As someone who is naturally happier when the sun is shining, I am still learning not to let the weather make or break my day.
Building on this, the second chapter tells us to make sure our ladder is against the right wall. Covey gives a simple metaphor of a team chopping their way through a jungle and the leader climbing a tree and shouting that they’re in the wrong jungle. It doesn’t matter how hard our teams work if we’re working towards the wrong objective; to be effective we need to be making daily small steps towards the right goal and it is the leader’s job to identify this goal and ensure their team remains on course, regardless of the route taken.
Perhaps the most simple and significant message in the book is in chapter three where we are shown how to prioritise tasks so that we can avoid burnout, ineffectiveness or short term focus. Covey reminds us to prioritise relationships and gives a clear and simple planning tool for how to organise our weeks in order to be most effective.
The following three chapters are all about working with others, developing empathy, synergy and creating solutions where everyone wins. Not for the first time, we are told that schools are the starting place where children start to value competition over cooperation and that this win/lose mentality results in us not fulfilling potential or finding solutions which are mutually beneficial and promote synergy.
There are so many valuable takeaways, snappy quotes and useful tools in this book that a short review such as this cannot do it justice. Probably the most important message is that success boils down to relationships - both with ourselves and fostering positive relationships with others. While Covey tells us to put the first things first, I would agree with John Yates; that this book should be the first on your leadership reading list. I wish I had read it years ago!
