Steve Covey is a writer and teacher who has had a tremendous effect on the psyche of UK and US managers. His article Principle-Centred Leadership (1992) was a New York Times bestseller for 220 weeks. His characteristics of principle-centred leaders (see box) and his seven habits (see below) are much quoted in management and leadership training courses. Again, his focus is on inner leadership, that is, on how to be rather than on what to do.
EIGHT CHARACTERISTICS OF PRINCIPLE-CENTERED LEADERS
- They are continually learning.
- They are service oriented.
- They radiate positive energy.
- They believe in other people.
- They lead balanced lives.
- They see life as an adventure.
- They are synergistic.
- They exercise for renewal on all four dimensions of human personality – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.
Covey’s organization runs workshops and programmes underpinned by a humanistic self-development approach. Unlike Bennis, he does not advocate revisiting your childhood to overcome difficulties, but encourages us to focus on visualizing a positive outcome and working with energy and enthusiasm towards it.
Covey’s seven habits (Covey, 1989) connect the leader’s outer habits with the inner capability, which he labels endowments:
Habit 1: Be proactive. Know what needs to be done, and decide to do it. Do not be driven by circumstances. (Needs self-awareness and self-knowledge.)
Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind. Have a clear sense of what you are trying to achieve in each year, month, day, moment. (Needs imagination and conscience.)
Habit 3: Put first things first. This is about organizing how you spend your time in line with Habit 2. He talks about looking at level of urgency and level of importance of activities, and comments that we spend too much time responding to urgent issues. (Needs willpower.)
Habit 4: Think win–win. Manage all interactions with the assumption that mutually beneficial solutions are possible. (Needs an abundance mentality.)
Habit 5: Seek first to understand, then to be understood. Be prepared to clarify what other people are getting at before you put your point across. (Needs courage balanced with consideration.)
Habit 6: Synergize. Value differences in people and work with others to create a sum that is greater than the parts. (Needs creativity.)
Habit 7: Sharpen the saw. Avoid the futility of endless ‘busyness’. Make time to renew. Covey says, ‘Without this discipline, the body becomes weak, the mind mechanical, the emotions raw, the spirit insensitive, and the person selfish.’ (Needs continuous improvement or self-renewal.)
STOP AND THINK!
Identify the top five inner leadership strengths that you believe the headmaster or headmistress of an underperforming school needs to have. Use the ideas of Bennis and Covey in the section above, and consider also Goleman’s emotional competencies. Justify your choices. How could these areas be developed if they were lacking?
Reflect on your own leadership using Covey’s seven habits. What are your strengths and weak areas?
Imagine you have just been asked to lead a cultural change programme in a 10,000 strong organization based throughout Europe and the United States. The organization is a microelectronics company which has grown through acquisition and now wants to strengthen its unique culture as one organization emphasizing commercial applications, customer service and innovation. Using the ideas presented in this chapter, describe the approach you would take to leading this initiative and explain why.