7 principles of Stephen covey for project mangers to tackle risks
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=== 7 principles of Stephen Covey === | === 7 principles of Stephen Covey === | ||
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Covey talks about circle of concern and circle of influence and shows two approaches of an individual to a problem or a situation and if they are to be either a reactive person or a proactive person. A reactive person focuses on responding to external forces after they have transpired. He would also complain or worry about the circumstances and the consequences of any event good or bad. Whereas a Proactive person would take responsibility of any event that has transpired or will transpire. He focuses on the things he can control and is in a constant strife to learn from and more importantly take action for both internal forces that they can change and external forces that are out of his control. A quote from Amelia Earhart shows the mindset of a successful person who is proactive, she says, “Some of us have great runways already built for us. If you have one, take off! But if you don’t have one, realize it is your responsibility to grab a shovel and build one for yourself and for those who will follow after you.” | Covey talks about circle of concern and circle of influence and shows two approaches of an individual to a problem or a situation and if they are to be either a reactive person or a proactive person. A reactive person focuses on responding to external forces after they have transpired. He would also complain or worry about the circumstances and the consequences of any event good or bad. Whereas a Proactive person would take responsibility of any event that has transpired or will transpire. He focuses on the things he can control and is in a constant strife to learn from and more importantly take action for both internal forces that they can change and external forces that are out of his control. A quote from Amelia Earhart shows the mindset of a successful person who is proactive, she says, “Some of us have great runways already built for us. If you have one, take off! But if you don’t have one, realize it is your responsibility to grab a shovel and build one for yourself and for those who will follow after you.” | ||
Revision as of 16:24, 17 February 2022
Abstract
Risks are inherent to any organization. Risks are challenges to any organization, which dealt proactively, can prove to be an asset with respect to managing the threats and opportunities that come along with risks. Uncertainty of external and internal events are faced by all organizations. A sound business strategy that realizes a set of objectives and risk management is a great tool in the arsenal of organizations to tackle these uncertainties. Stephen covey in his book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” talks about what are the principles a person can follow and adhere to being successful. This book has been revered by many organizational professionals and they apply the principles of the book to develop themselves and produce effective results that lead to success. In this article we take a closer look at risk management concepts and principles while elucidating the opportunities and threats that come with risks by comparing them with the principles of Stephen Covey from his book. The purpose of this article is to present a fundamental manuscript for managers or organizations to refer to when managing risks effectively and also be efficient in doing so.
Introduction
The book ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People” written by Stephen Covey is success book for individuals trying to build a character for their problem solving and decision making capabilities. Covey first published this book in the year 1989 by researching the predeceasing 200 years of “success” and how people perceived themselves in different workplace scenarios to achieve successful results. According to the book Covey talks about how people should be able to change themselves and their perceptions towards a situation and the demand for change of that situation. In studying literature for almost 200 years, Covey noticed a trend shift in how people viewed change and identified success. In earlier times, the foundation of success rested upon the “character ethic” (things like Integrity, Humility, Fidelity, Temperance, Courage, Justice, Patience, Industry, Simplicity, Modesty etc.) But the trend that Covey noticed in the later years was that the way people looked at success gravitated towards “personality ethic” (where success is a function of Personality, Public image, Attitudes and Behaviors etc.) Covey in the essence of the book says that both approaches are fundamentally important. "The way we see the problem is the problem," Covey writes. And this is where he puts forth the 7 habits to talk about the importance of both approaches.
- Habits 1, 2, and 3 are focused on self-mastery and moving from dependence to independence.
- Habits 4, 5, and 6 are focused on developing teamwork, collaboration, and communication skills, and moving from independence to interdependence.
- Habit 7 is focused on continuous growth and improvement and embodies all the other habits.
Covey also writes “People can only experience true success and endure happiness as they learn and integrate these principles into their basic character.” By this he inferences that the character is where you sow the seeds of success and it can’t be faked. Success is as robust as the character developed which is extremely crucial for managers or groups.
7 principles of Stephen Covey
italic Principle 1: Be Proactive. Covey talks about circle of concern and circle of influence and shows two approaches of an individual to a problem or a situation and if they are to be either a reactive person or a proactive person. A reactive person focuses on responding to external forces after they have transpired. He would also complain or worry about the circumstances and the consequences of any event good or bad. Whereas a Proactive person would take responsibility of any event that has transpired or will transpire. He focuses on the things he can control and is in a constant strife to learn from and more importantly take action for both internal forces that they can change and external forces that are out of his control. A quote from Amelia Earhart shows the mindset of a successful person who is proactive, she says, “Some of us have great runways already built for us. If you have one, take off! But if you don’t have one, realize it is your responsibility to grab a shovel and build one for yourself and for those who will follow after you.”
Principle 2: Begin with the end in mind. With this principle, Covey elucidates the importance of goal-setting. He mentions that a successful outcome either for a short term or a long term goal depends what the perceived outcome is. These principles can be identified with an individual like how Covey says, we can use our imagination to develop a vision of what we want to become and use our conscience to decide what values will guide us. The summary of what he wants to say is that we need to set goals in turn set control on doing things before someone else or something else takes sets the control. Rabrinath Tagore, a successful Indian author/poet had a really interesting quote that describes the character definition of a man who sets goals and thinks with the end in mind. The quote goes something like this – “Reach high, for stars lie hidden in you. Dream deep, for every dream, precedes the goal.” The value of setting goals is not what we learn from the results but by what we achieve and learn by the journey. Covey conveys that we need to set a direction by dreaming big and not let anyone keep us from achieving it – especially us.
Principle 3: Put first things first. Covey says “The challenge is not to manage time, but ourselves” and “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule but to schedule priorities.” Through these statements Covey talks about the importance of time management and scheduling tasks. The first two habits or principles focuses on self and how an individual’s mind set should be to achieve success. This third habit talks about personal time management and what defining the drive a successful individual. To being successful we need to be able to categorize tasks based on their urgency and importance which in turn gives us the ability to prioritize these tasks. Covey even suggests a matrix to help individuals to categorize tasks and each of these quadrants have a detrimental effect on how things are to be done in which priorities. They can even incite other principles like the “Pareto Principle” if used efficiently.
Principle 4: Think Win-Win.
In this fourth principle, Covey moves from an independent habit to an interdependent habit where he observes the commitment patterns of individuals. The observations have shown us that there are six paradigms to human interactions and they are:
i. WIN - WIN: both people win. Agreements or solutions are mutually beneficial and satisfying to both or all parties. ii. WIN - LOSE: Win – lose people are prone to use their higher position or power or credentials or even stronger personality for gain and don’t really care for the benefits of others. iii. LOSE – WIN: These people are quick to please and appease. They do not have a strong will to get their way and they usually tend to gravitate towards seeking strength in popularity or communal acceptance. iv. LOSE – LOSE: In this case no party gains anything. More often than not the individuals who do get these results are determined, stubborn and/or ego-invested. This situation is the least favorable v. WIN: People with this mentality do not necessarily require anybody else to lose because that is irrelevant. To them the thing that matters most is their profit or gains and what they want. vi. WIN - WIN or NO DEAL: In this case the parties either want both or all of the involved parties to mutually benefit or they don’t work it out at all. There will be no deal if they don’t agree upon the terms set by each other. Based on the consideration factor and the courage factor we can say that the best possible outcome for any interaction would be “WIN – WIN” paradigm. Any other paradigm would mean that another person has to lose something in order for the other person to gain something which in the short run may give one person an advantage but at the cost of a relationship in the long run. The “WIN – WIN or No Deal” paradigm can be considered an alternative for “WIN – WIN” because it liberates an individual from the need to manipulate people and push their own agenda. People can be open and really try to understand the underlying issues.
Principle 5: Seek to understand and then to be understood Every human has an opinion and all of them want to be heard because every opinion is valid. An individual must consider that every person jumps at the opportunity to provide solutions or their understanding of a situation without considering that others too have a say in that situation. Usually people tend to prescribe a solution before they diagnose the problem. A person must be willing to truly understand other perceptions on a problem or a situation without any of their own biases and agendas effecting them to project their own perceptions on the same problem or a situation. People should be or practice becoming an empathetic listener and have the ability to listen with the intent to “understand” and not “reply.” It is hard for an individual to have a different frame of reference than that of their own and it takes time to shift their focus from self to others. But time and perseverance are the answers in becoming an empathetic listener. Covey has this to say about empathetic listening “Empathetic listening takes time but it doesn’t take anywhere near as much time as it takes to back up and correct misunderstandings when you’re already miles down the road, to redo, to live with unexpressed and unsolved problems, to deal with the results of not giving people psychological air.”
Principle 6: Synergy The next step for the 4th and 5th habits would be to synergize with others. By understanding and valuing the differences in other people’s perspective, an individual has the opportunity to create synergy, which in turn allows people to enter new levels of openness and creativity. Synergizing gives an individual the ability to overcome obstacles they would never have done before because they have adopted all the other habits of independence and interdependence. “The key to valuing differences is to realize that all people see the world, not as it is, but as they are.” Says Covey. By this he means that when a person adopts the habits 4 and 5 people automatically pool subjective desires of individuals to tackle a problem together with different ideologies. It is difficult to win wars with just one weapon but with an arsenal of weapons, no war is too difficult. The versatility and the adaptability that comes with different perspectives is the reason why people or organizations do projects with multidisciplinary teams.
Principle 7: Sharpen the saw Covey talks about the last habit is for the people who have implemented and/or practicing the previous 6 habits. This last habit is all about renewal and keep persisting on getting better. It is not unlikely that a lot of effort and time is taken up by adopting the previous habits into one’s life but it is a precedent that one should not be swallowed up the failures and still continue to develop themselves. Covey says that one must devote themselves to renewing oneself physically, spiritually, mentally and socially to be effective. All the previous habits need to be constantly improved and developed and in some cases there might even be failure and that is okay, but what is not okay is to give up. People need to focus on the developing themselves by this mentality “You either win or learn.” One of the most acknowledged physicist of the modern world, Albert Einstein had this to say about him achieving success – “It’s not that I’m so smart, It’s just that I stay with problems longer.”
