Implementing the 7 habits of highly effective people for successful leadership

IMPORTANT: Obviously not the finished product and havent done my sources correctly yet.

Abstract

For a project to be successful, the project manager must have the correct skills and competence, on a technical level, but also being a good leader. Some important leadership traits are being optimistic and supportive, collaborative, managing relationships and conflicts, paying attention to the workers through asking questions and really listen to the answers, being result and action orientated, and most important of all: create a good environment at the workplace.

These skills and implementation of them are discussed in “The 7 habits of highly effective people for successful leadership”. The 7 habits of highly effective people for successful leadership is a book written by the American author, educator, keynote speaker and businessman Stephen Covey. The book is a personality development tool about business and self-help and covers an approach to being effective to principles based on character ethic. He presents 7 habits to help progress from dependance, through independence, to reach interdependence. This progression is referred to as the maturity continuum. The 7 habits are:

1. “Be proactive” 2. “Begin with the end in mind” 3. “Put first things first” 4. “Think win-win” 5. “Seek first to understand, then to be understood” 6. “Synergize” 7. “Sharpen the saw”

These habits can be divided into subcategories, where the first three are designed to help achieve independence, the next three to achieve interdependence, and the final habit to help maintain the earlier achievements.

This article will focus on these 7 habits and how those can be connected to being a successful leader in project managements.

The 7 habits of highly effective people for successful leadership

The 7 Habits is a concept that examines and alters a person's personality, motivations, and behavior. The idea of how you should perceive the world and connect with others is at the heart of its knowledge. Overall, the 7 habits encourage you to manage your time and goals, define your character, and form effective connections, all of which are valuable abilities to have in the workplace, both as a leader and as an employee. The concept is designed to be a process of development and progress rather than a quick remedy.

Political, philosophical, religious, economical, generational, gender, and lifestyle distinctions do not apply to the 7 habits. They are universal and timeless, independent of personal, interpersonal, and organizational effectiveness and may be applied in any context or environment.

Jim Collins, business thought leader and author of the New York times seller Good to great summarized the habits, in his foreword to the 25th anniversary to the book:

“There had been hundreds of years of accumulated wisdom about personal effectiveness…but it was never assembled into one coherent, user-friendly framework. Stephen Covey created a standard operating system —the “Windows®”—for personal effectiveness and he made it easy to use…. The ideas embedded in the framework are timeless. They are principles. That is why they work, and why they speak to people in all age groups around the globe…. But, I think the most important aspect of the 7 Habits—what makes it not just practical, but profound—is its emphasis on building character rather than “attaining success.” There is no effectiveness without discipline and there is no discipline without character. …I have come to a personal belief…that great leadership begins first with character—that leadership is primarily a function of who you are, for this is the foundation for everything you do.”

As mentioned in the abstract, the first 3 steps are designed to take you from dependence to independence. Going from being completely dependent on someone else, to be independent on your own – a personal victory. Steps 4-6 are taking you from independence to interdependence, transferring your independence into teams and being able to cooperate with different people, with different backgrounds – a public victory. While the 7th step is maintaining and renewing the previous habits.

Following is a short description of the habits, and their main principle/principles:

1. Be proactive Habit 1 is about taking responsibility for where you end up. People are responsible for their own choices and are free to make choices in accordance with their own values, and not their current mood/conditions. Focus on the things you can change and influence, don’t blame others for your situation.

2. Begin with the end in mind The 2nd habit is about vision, planning and purpose. Have a plan. To be highly effective you need to set goals for their life, weeks, days, and any project, small or big. Don’t live day to day without a clear end goal in mind.

3. Put first things first Prioritization, organization, and discipline are the key words for the 3rd habit. Spend time on what’s most important and plan around it. Say no to the less important things, make a schedule, and follow it with discipline. Work first, then play. A tool to help define what’s important is the Eisenhower matrix, a tool made by earlier US president Dwight Eisenhower. The matrix focuses on what’s important, and what’s urgent, and how you should the different actions. The order of the quadrants is important. The first quadrant should be handled first and the 4th last, moving from left to right (urgent and important, not urgent and important and so on).

4. Think win-win Habit number 4 is about thinking interpedently (dependent on each other). Seek win-win solutions for all the parts and not win-lose (selfish) or lose-win (martyr). Consideration, courage, mutual benefit, and fairness are points one must consider. This mindset can lead to better relationships with your partners and a better exchanging of different knowledges, in the present, but also in the future.

5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood Start of by being a good listener. Listen to the other persons feelings, ideas, motivation etc. Then, by taking your counterparts thoughts in mind, express your thoughts and feelings with respect. By doing this, one will achieve respect, mutual understanding, and empathy which will lead to deeper relationships with higher trust, with a safe space for feedback.

6. Synergize Habit number 6 is all about “teamwork makes the dream work”. It focuses on the principle that a team can produce results no one could have produced alone. By combining and respecting different strengths, perspectives, opinions, different backgrounds and ideas there is a higher chance of achieving creative cooperation (1+1=3), instead of compromise (1+1=1/2) or merely cooperation (1+1=2)

7. Sharpen the saw For a saw to stay effective, it needs to be sharpened from time to time. The same goes for humans. The 7th habit is all about taking time for self-care and self-renewal, especially in 4 areas: body (physical), mind (mental), heart (social/emotional), and spirit (spiritually), in order to stay balanced, and thus effective. Keywords to take away from the 7th habit is renewal, health and wellness, continuous improvement, and balance.