The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Reviewed by Craig Donaldson

STEPHEN COVEY’SThe 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was first published in 1990. Since then, it has become one of the most popular self-help books on the market. The book details seven principles which, if turned into habits, help individuals become more effective in all areas of their lives.

Based on the book, Franklin Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective Peopleis a three-day course that helps participants identify their highest personal and professional priorities, and work out how the seven habits can assist in achieving them. The program is designed to accommodate entire employee teams, with a strong focus on effective leadership and teamwork.

Prior to attending the course, participants undergo a benchmark profile (essentially a 360 from work managers, peers and reports) to identify specific strengths and weaknesses. This allows attendees to focus on areas immediately in need of improvement, and also serves as a baseline for long-term behavioural change. This also underpins a fundamental tenet of the course: the busiest people are not necessarily the most effective people. In order to be effective at work and be more productive, it helps enormously if individuals first get their personal act together.

The course content is presented at a good tempo. The instructor blends personal presentation with pre-recorded excerpts from talks by Stephen Covey. These are interspersed with group talk and exercises that allow participants to drill down into the seven habits and how they can apply them to their own priorities.

For companies, the course will work best if executives and managers lead change in the workplace. As such, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is great for those line managers who typically have great technical skills, but lack the necessary skills for good people management. For such managers, the course comes back to personal habits and how they can improve effectiveness by delegating to and empowering their direct team members, as opposed to micromanaging them.

HR professionals can also benefit from the course. A common issue HR practitioners face concerns building effective business cases for finance, operations and other functional heads. The fifth habit – seek first to understand then to be understood – is based on the principle that communication and influence will be easier if you first know and identify with the other person’s issues, before communicating your own. At senior levels of the HR profession, influencing skills are particularly important, and the course examines a number of techniques in this area. This concept can go a long way in business generally, but for HR, this point has historically been one of the most fundamental challenges for practitioners.

Business benefits aside, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People course provides time for individuals to take a breather from the crazy pace of day-to-day business and consider their purpose in life. Work takes up a major part of many people’s lives but still the concept of being happy and fulfilled at work is one that is hard to grasp for some. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People teaches participants that it is possible to have your cake and eat it too.

Participants also receive a Franklin Covey planning system (available in a paper-based planner, Microsoft Outlook compatible program or Pocket PC/Palm handheld organiser) which includes tools for capturing and committing to goals and objectives. Also included is a participant manual (with DVD and CD), the original Seven Habits of Highly Effective People book, audio cassette or audio CD, post-course seven week contract to meet goals and a unique talking stick for active listening in meetings.

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Next courses: 4-6 April, 15-17 May. Cost: One participant $1,830. 2 to 3 participants $1,608. 4 plus participants $1,390. For more information, call Franklin Covey on 1800 786 346, email [email protected] or visit www.franklincovey.com.au.