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Habit 8: Effectiveness to GREATNESS
Habit 8: Effectiveness to GREATNESS
Content
In the 8th Habit, Covey’s idea is that we able to move from “Effectiveness” to something even better: “GREATNESS”! This means we seek true fulfilment in what he calls “The age of the knowledge worker.”
Bear in mind that the first 7 habits got a book between them. Habit 8 gets a book on it’s own. The book is divided into two sections. The first focuses on “finding your voice” and the second on “inspiring others to find theirs”. Here is a very short summary of both parts:
1. Finding your voice.
The essence of this habit is that you will find your voice when you can say you are 100% involved with what you are doing in your life, so that your body, mind, heart and spirit are all engaged in whatever is important to you. To find your voice, you need to examine your natural talent, what you absolutely love to do, what really interests you. And you must listen to the confirming inner voice of your conscience that tells you what is the right thing to do. We can discover our voice because of the 3 gifts we are born with:
Gift 1: The freedom to choose
Gift 2: The natural laws or principles that dictate the consequences of behaviour. Positive consequences come from fairness, kindness, respect, honesty, integrity, service and contribution
Gift 3: The four intelligences – mental, physical, emotional and spiritual. (Built on H7)
Covey talks about great achievers expressing their voice by using their 4 intelligences well:
• Their mental energy into vision
• physical energy into discipline
• emotional energy into passion
• spiritual energy into conscience – their inward moral sense of what is right and wrong and their drive towards meaning and contribution.
2. Inspiring others to find their voice.
When you have found your voice, you can begin inspiring others to do the same – this is really about leadership. Great leaders have always inspired people to be self aware, to find themselves and to find their voice – that is the essence of greatness.
People and organizations who have truly found their voices go on to become great. Leadership greatness is about 4 things:
• Modelling the First 7 Habits
• Path-finding: The process of finding “One Voice”, a shared common vision and strategy, common values, the ability to create order without demanding it of others
• Aligning: The values and strategy that have been agreed are consistently executed without the leader needing to be there.
• Empowering: The empowering role of leadership is to create agreements about goals that align with the common strategy and goals, and then holding people accountable for the results. Empowerment comes from both personal
and organisational trustworthiness. This enables people to identify their potential and unleash it in a safe environment. Too many organisations are over-managed and under-led.
Organizational greatness comes from a vision, mission and values that bring clarity, commitment, translation, synergy, enabling and accountability.
Covey says that an organization with great leaders (who live the 4 leadership roles of modelling, path finding, alignment and empowering) and great people (who have discovered their gifts and their voice) has hit the “sweet spot” – where the greatest expression of power and potential happens.
He leaves us with 4 essential disciplines which, if practiced consistently, can vastly improve our ability to focus on and execute our top priorities:
1. Focus on what is important – focus only on a few crucial goals
2. Create a compelling scoreboard – people play differently when they are keeping score
3. Translate goals into specific actions – weekly and daily tasks
4. Hold each other accountable, all the time.
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The person who owns this badge…
- ...has explored their strengths, passions, and values to discover their own voice.
- …is able to align mind, body, heart, and spirit in meaningful actions and decisions.
- …recognises their potential and actively works to express it in their work with young people.
Tasks
Task no.1
Evidence verified by: one activity organiser
How can I discover and express my own voice (in my work with young people)?
How can I support and empower others to find and express their own voice?
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Pathways to Creative Youthwork
BeasilyCreated on Youth Work Pathways
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