I’m a huge fan of Stephen Covey. His book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, is well founded. Today, I received an email from my friend Paul Redhead. Each day he forwards a quote of the day and as if by fate, today’s is by Stephen Covey:
“ There are three constants in life ‐ change, choice and principles”
Stephen R. Covey
I’d like to focus on the “choice” part of his quote. Great segue, right? You have a choice. You can change your life, focus on proper priorities, learn to say no, spend time bettering your life and improving the lives of your coworkers, and have a better chance of reaching those levels of success that are measured by what really counts.
This book is about evolution. It is about making changes for the sake of yourself, your team and your organization. Here’s how to start.
First, reflect. You need to get your head in the right place! When you listen to flight attendants’ briefings you may have noted the suggestion that to be truly effective you need to put on your oxygen mask first. If you don’t take care of yourself you won’t be able to take care of your family, your team members or your customers.
Next, observe. You need to know what is going on with your team members and your customers. What are their perceptions? What are their expectations? It may not come as a surprise to you, but some organizations with whom we’ve worked say they do not want to know where they stand. We’ve had organizations say that since the benchmarking shows them below average they don’t want to know any more of the “science.” We walk away from those relationships. Here’s a great quote to support this concept:
“If there is an elephant in the room, introduce it.”
Randy Pausch
Finally, Improve. This is a time for being smart and balanced instead of panicked and scattered. Use a process; it doesn’t need to be complicated, but you should execute it rapidly and then work toward having a more productive life.
