Seven Habits of Highly Effective People:Seven Habits of Highly Effective People:restoring the character ethicrestoring the character ethic

Kim KennedyLynne McDowell

Mary Ann RomeroAlexi Seabourn

Habit 1: Be ProactiveHabit 1: Be Proactive

Proactive People– Behave based on values– Do not blame others or circumstances for

their behavior– Take initiative– Use proactive language such as “I choose”

or “I will.”

Being proactive “means that as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions” (Covey, 1989).

(Covey, 1989)

Circle of

Influence

Circle of ConcernCircle of Concern

•Situations or items in life that we have no control over•Examples: Somebody else’s weaknesses, weather

Circle of Influence•Situations or items in life that we can control

•Example: Being more cooperative, personal attitude **Proactive people

focus on the Circle of Influence versus reactive people worrying about what they can’t control in the Circle of Concern

Habit 2: Begin with the End in MindHabit 2: Begin with the End in Mind

• Mission Statements– Easiest way to

accomplish Habit 2– Types of mission

statements• Personal • Family• Organizational

• Benefits of Mission Statements– Clarify what is

important– Provide focus– Guide decision making– Provide purpose

Beginning with the end in mind literally means to think about how you want your life to turn out. “By keeping that end clearly in mind, you can make

certain that whatever you do on any particular day does not violate the criteria you have defined as supremely important, and that each day of your life

contributes in a meaningful way to the vision you have of your life as a whole” (Covey, 1989).

(Covey, 1989)

Reflection of Habits 1 and 2Reflection of Habits 1 and 2• How do these habits apply to the school library field and coursework?

– "Don't just play the game to get ahead."   That will produce temporary gains but we are going for long term effect.  We don't just want to help teachers and students achieve the standards, we want to affect their life long behavior as learners.  When we develop and model character ethic we determine our teaching/learning environment.  It's these foundational characteristics that help create that positive atmosphere where everyone succeeds. 

– Be proactive. When working with teachers and their many different teaching styles and personalities, a teacher librarian can become frustrated. It is important to stay focused on what you are trying to accomplish. You may not be able to collaborate with all the teachers, so focus on the ones you can.

– Have the end in mind. I think having a three year plan, like the strategic plan we are developing, will help direct the teacher librarian toward what needs to get done to accomplish the media center goals.

– "Be proactive" applies to school librarians because it is there job to initiate collaboration, and "sell" the library and its resources to the students and staff. There is much within an organization that cannot be changed like the demographic of students, but there are other things that can be changed and librarians need to focus on that and make the most of it.

Habit 3 Put First Things First: Principles of Personal Management

The Time Management Matrix

Urgent Not Urgent

I Activities

Crises

Pressing Problems

Dead-line driven projects

Results I:•Stress•Burnout•Crisis management•Always putting out fires

II ActivitiesPrevention

PC Activities

Relationship building

Recognizing new opportunities

Planning

Recreation

Results II:•Vision•Perspective•Balance•Discipline•Control•Few Crises

III ActivitiesInterruptions

Some calls, mail, reports, meetings,

Proximate pressing matters

Popular activities

Results III:•Short term focus•Crisis management•See goals and plans as worthless•Feel victimized, out of control•Shallow or broken relationships

IV Activities•Trivia, busy work•Some mail•Some phone calls•Time wasters•Pleasant activities

Results III &IV:•Total irresponsibility•Fired from jobs•Dependent on others or institutions for basics

Imp

ort

ant

No

t Im

po

rtan

t

(Covey, 1989)

Managing in Quadrant II“The objective of Quadrant II management is to manage our lives effectively—from a center of sound principles, from a knowledge of our personal mission, with a focus on the important as well as the urgent, and within a framework of maintaining a balance between increasing our production and increasing our production capability.” Stephen Covey

Quadrant II Tools

Coherence: Harmony between vision and mission, roles and goals.

Balance: Balance time among profession, health, and family.

Organization: Don’t prioritize schedule, schedule your priorities.

People Dimension: Keeping schedules is subordinate to effectiveness with people.

Flexibility: Planning tool tailored to your style and needs.

Quadrant II Principles

Identifying Roles: Write down your key roles.

Selecting Goals: Select two or three important results you would like to accomplish for each role during the next seven days.

Scheduling: Look at the week ahead with goals in mind and schedule time to achieve them.

Daily Adapting: Prioritize activities, respond to unanticipated events, relationships, and experiences in a meaningful way. (Covey, 1989)

Habit 4 Think Win/Win: Principles of Interpersonal Leadership

Six Paradigms of Human Interaction

Win/Win All parties feel good about the decision and feel committed to the action plan.

Win/Lose Authoritarian approach: “I get my way; you don’t get yours.”

Lose/Win No standards, no demands, no expectations, no vision. “I lose, you win.”

Lose/Lose When two Win/Lose people get together and let stubbornness and egos get in the way and no one wins.

Win Doesn’t want someone else to lose, necessarily. All that matters is getting what he/she wants.

Win/Win or No Deal If we can’t find a solution that would benefit us both, we agree to disagree- No Deal

(Covey, 1989)

Five Dimensions of Win/WinThe principal of Win/Win is fundamental to success in all our interactions. It involves the exercise of self-awareness, imagination, conscience, and independent will in our

relationships with others. It involves mutual learning, mutual influence, mutual benefits.

Character: Is the foundation of Win/Win and everything else builds on that foundation.

Integrity: Develop self-awareness and independent will by making and keeping meaningful promises and commitments.

Maturity: When a person can express his feelings and convictions with courage balanced with consideration for the feelings and convictions of others.

Abundance Mentality: The paradigm that there is plenty out there for everybody. It results in sharing of prestige, of recognition, of profits, of decision making.

Relationships: Relationships are based on trust and respect each other. Focused on the issues, not on personalities or positions.

Agreements: Create an effective way to clarify and manage expectations between people involved in any interdependent endeavor. Desired results, guidelines, resources, accountability and consequences are made very explicit.

Systems: Win/Win can only survive in an organization when the systems support it.

Processes: First, see the problem from the other point of view. Second, identify the key issues and concerns. Third, determine what results would constitute a fully acceptable solution. Fourth, identify possible new options to achieve those results. (Covey, 1989)

• How do these habits apply to the school library field and coursework?

– As a librarian it is best to work out of quadrant II on the chart.

– The time management piece is key to success in the library. There are so many small and large tasks that need to be taken care of and it can be easy to get bogged down and lose focus on your priorities

– A huge part of the librarian's role these days is relationship building which is clearly identified as an activity in quadrant II

– Librarians must be driven by schedules but need to remain flexible. You should look at priorities and goals from week to week. There are different demands each week so your priorities or goals could be different each week depending on library, student, or staff needs. I have seen the need for this through my interview with the librarian.

– For the win-win mentality to work, everyone who is working in the same area or on the same project needs to be on the same page.

– The key to the library being highly used and successful you need of foster relationships and the win-win model explains how you foster relationships that people want to be part of.

Reflection of Habits 3 and 4Reflection of Habits 3 and 4

So often when we listen we take in what people are saying and se it through our own personal bias, beliefs, and experiences. Instead, we need to listen to their personal story to understand their life before we judge. When we judge first we never really understand.

4 Autobiographical Responses:

1. Evaluate: we agree or disagree

2. Probe: ask questions for our own frame of reference

3. Advise: give advise based on our own experiences

4. Interpret: try to figure people out and explain their motives based on our own behavior and motives

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood

Then seek to be understood…

Once you remove yourself from your listening you can focus on the actual problem and the true needs of the person you are talking to. This allows you to provide more effective advice.

What to avoid: Offer advice before we truly understand the problem.

(Covey, 1989)

Habit 6: Synergize“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

Creative CooperationIn order to bring synergy to discussions

and teamwork we must:

•Apply effective problem solving

•Apply collaborative decision making

•Value differences

•Build on divergent strengths

Fishing for the Third Alternative

•When making a compromise there is usually a third alternative. •Synergistic third alternatives usually offer a better solution than the first two alternatives •Looking for their alternatives is a shift in mentality from an either/or perspective•This is an extension of habit 4 “Think win/win”. This habit takes it from a practice to a philosophy.

High

Levels of Communication

Low

High

Low Cooperation

Tru

st

Defensive (Win/Lose or Lose/Win)

Respectful (Compromise)

Synergistic (Win/Win) Achieving synergy requires high trust and high cooperation and can lead to better solutions than an individual. Synergy is possible only when we have the support of all five previous habits.

(Covey, 1989)

Habit 7: Sharpen the SawPrinciples of Balanced Self-Renewal

Pro-actively taking care of ourselves regularly and consistently in wise and balanced ways

4 Dimensions of Renewal

Social/EmotionalService, Empathy,

Synergy,Intrinsic Security

SpiritualValue Clarification &

Commitment, Study &Meditation

MentalReading, Visualizing,

Planning, Writing

PhysicalExercise, Nutrition, Stress Management

Physical, Spiritual, and Mental

Quadrant II activities to bring Daily Private Victory: dedicate atlong term results least one hour per day for renewal

(Covey, 1989)

PhysicalHabit 1: development of pro-activity

• Minimum 30 minutes of exercise per day• Builds endurance, flexibility, and strength• Raise sustainable heart rate to 60% of

maximum pulse rate• {(220 - age = max heart rate) x 60%}• Training effect: max heart rate x 72-87%

SpiritualHabit 2: your center, your values

• Leave the “noise” of daily living• Refocus daily on what is important• What motivates me? What is my

motivation?

MentalHabit 3: Effective self-management

Social/EmotionalHabits 4,5, and 6: centered on the

principles of interpersonal leadership, empathetic communication, and creative

cooperation

• Formal/Informal education

• Read broadly

• Expose yourself to great minds

• Journal thoughts, experiences, and insights to promote mental clarity, exactness, and context

• Exercised through our daily interactions

• Remember to:

consider paradigms

understand

listen empathetically

WIN/WIN solution(Covey, 1989)

Sense of Personal SecurityHighly related to success in habits 4,5, and 6

• Comes from accurate paradigms within and correct principles deep in our own

mind and heart• Living a life of integrity in which our daily

habits reflect our deepest values• Service: influence, not recognition,

becomes the motive• Scripting others: see people in terms of

their unseen potential

(Covey, 1989)

The Upward Spiral

• Renewal is the principle – and the process – that empowers us to move on an upward spiral of growth and change, of continuous improvement

• Conscience is the endowment that senses our congruence or sidparity with correct principles and lifts us towards them

• To grow and develop on an upward spiral we must continue to LEARN, COMMIT, and DO on increasingly higher planes

(Covey, 1989)

Reflection of Habits 5,6 and 7Reflection of Habits 5,6 and 7• How do these habits apply to the school library field and coursework?

– Empathetic Listening: This is the type of listening that librarians must use not only with teachers who are using the library but also with the students. Librarians must truly listen to and understand the needs of the users. For example, if a student comes into the library to find a book for a project, the librarian must really listen to what the project is about, what types of resources are needed, and what the student is ultimately looking for before making a good book recommendation

– Synergizing is collaborative decision making. This plays perfectly into the school library as librarians collaborate with classroom teachers to put together lessons for the library that focus both on curriculum standards and information literacy standards.

– Achieving high trust and high cooperation with a school principal will make the library a thriving environment within the school. We have discussed that librarians need to be leaders in the school and that cannot be achieved without trust and relationships with your staff.

– The idea of balanced self-renewal is incredibly important in all professions, especially education.  Each day at school you need to give so much and it can be draining.  It is important to take time to renew yourself and take care of yourself. When we let ourselves get run down we cease to be as innovative and dynamic as we could be.  Everything starts to suffer from the services we provide to students and staff to the positive feelings we have abut our library. 

– Librarians can sharpen their minds by continuing education and partaking in all of the conferences and workshops based on the field. Social interaction is important in the library and should be taken advantage of. Relationship can be built with other staff and with the student users. I feel that the concluding slide really pulls together all of the concepts that were discussed in the 7 habits and each person can reach their potential as a student, as a librarian, and as a member of society in general by following these guideline.

Conclusion: Inside-Out AgainTake advantage of the gap between stimulus and response- Examine your program- Re-script yourself- Manage your life to create time for Quadrant

II activities

Become a transition person- A link between past and future- Your own change affects many other lives- Empower others with the freedom to rise

above negative scripting

Real change comes from striking at the root of our thought, the fundamental, essential paradigms, which give definition to our character and create the lens through which we see the world

By centering our lives on correct principles and creating a balanced focus between doing and increasing our ability to do, we become empowered in the task of creating effective, useful, and peaceful lives…for ourselves and for our posterity.

(Covey, 1989)

Stephen R. Covey

•The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was named the #1 Most Influential Business Book of the Twentieth Century •International Man of Peace Award •National Fatherhood Award (father of 9, grandfather of 44) •MBA from Harvard, doctorate degree from Brigham Young University •Co-founder and vice chairman of FranklinCovey, the leading global professional services firm with offices in 123 countries •International Entrepreneur of the Year Award •Awarded eight honorary doctorate degrees

(https://www.stephencovey.com/about/about.php)

Reference

About Stephen R. Covey. Stephen R. Covey. Retrieved from https://www.stephencovey.com/about/about.php

Covey, S. R. (1989). The seven habits of highly effective people: restoring the character ethic. New York: A Fireside Book by Simon & Schuster.

Discussion Questions

1. Which of the 7 habits best align with the position of teacher librarianand why?

2. As a teacher librarian how can you utilize the 7 habits to improve your leadership skills? How can this benefit your library?

3. As a teacher librarian how can you utilize habit 2, “Begin with the end in mind” while still being flexible with your time?