FROM SUCCESS EDUCATION COURSE
Audio

INSPIRED BY STEVEN COVEY

Stephen Covey has written several great books and audio seminars including the “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” and “Principle-Centered Leadership.” We highly recommend both of these for your continuing education.

In his “Principle-Centered Leadership” he discusses the ten dilemmas of professional managers, the distinction between the law of the farm and the law of the school, the four levels of natural law, and the power of turning your company mission statement into a constitution. We’ll be summarizing those for you here.

Ten Dilemmas of Professional Managers

Like being a leader, being a business manager can be frought with challenges and opportunities. According to Mr. Covey, there are ten dilemmas of professional managers.

1. First, how do you achieve a healthy balance between work and family? How do you achieve balance and peace of mind in the middle of constant change, stress and crisis? How many years can you endure before this balance is achieved?
2. Second, how do you unleash the creative talents from the vast majority of people who have more talent than their jobs allow? How do you overcome the blocks to personal and human development that have stifled the creativity and productivity of most of your associates and co-workers?
3. Third, how do we uncover the hidden agendas in ourselves and become trustworthy? How do we achieve peace in a culture with so much conflict, rivalries and jealousies? How do we learn to trust each other and create a safe space to tell the truth?
4. Fourth, how do we emerge into the new paradigm of principle-centered leadership and not slip back into the old authoritarian hardball approach?
5. Fifth, how do we have security in an insecure world? What is the wisdom of insecurity? Can we embrace change, flexibility and adaptability and still meet our security needs? Can I have security in the middle of constant change and thrive?
6. Sixth, how do we invoke a deep sense of commitment to the project or business, to invoke a commitment to the strategy of those who founded it? How do we create a sense of ownership and equity, social, psychological and financial?
7. Seventh, how do we internalize the qualities of excellence and performance when so many people are cynical, fatigued and disillusioned? How do we continue to maintain and improve quality?
8. Eighth, how do we facilitate respect and the value of diversity without prejudice clouding our perceptions? How do we get away from pre-judgment and keep an open mind to new ideas and people?
9. Ninth, how can we turn a mission statement into a constitution that everybody can get on board with?
10. Tenth, how do we maintain control yet give people the freedom and independence to be effective and fulfilled in their work?

Law of the Farm

Under the natural Law of the Farm, you cannot procrastinate and still expect to eat. You either get the seeds in on time, when the conditions are right, or you miss the harvest. You must work within natural law or go hungry. On a farm, you cannot fake it. Nor can you pretend to be strong and work hard every day plowing the fields. When it comes to natural things, or principles, there’s no fudging it.

The Law of the Farm requires having a long-term goal that is, making the harvest. Natural laws are self-evident and not arguable. There is no debate, except amongst fools. Natural law is universal in all religions and societies throughout the ages. Reality is based on natural laws. The natural Law of the Farm is in contrast to the Law of the School.

Law of the School

But the Law of the School is different. You can procrastinate for weeks in class not doing your homework, then cram for the exam, memorize lots of facts and still get the grades. You can fake it. You can fudge the tests. You can pretend to know things that you really don’t know. You might learn it today, but then forget tomorrow because you’ve never applied it. It’s an artificial simulation of the real world, and reality may not be anything like what you’d expect once you’ve graduated.

The Law of the School is about short-term goals, making it through the test, or tenth grade.

If your goal was to get a degree, instead of getting an education, then school could work for you. But dare you apply what you learned in school on the farm if you were faking it? I dare say not.

The Law of the School is based on social agreements, norms and economic values relative to getting a job or developing a career or business. These are relative and change from society to society, and from time to time. You cannot count on social values to remain the same. Trends will change and you must change with them. Reality may appear to be based on social values as projected by the media, but they are always subject to natural law.

Be aware, that what works in school may not work on the farm. Do not confuse the Law of the Farm with the Law of the School.

Four Levels of Natural Law

The four levels of natural law include the personal, interpersonal, managerial and organizational. All these systems of natural law are integrated with each other and must be present for a successful project or relationship.

Personal – Trustworthiness

The personal level of natural law is based on trustworthiness. Are you trustworthy? Do others experience you as trustworthy? If you are unscrupulous in your character or double-minded with hidden agendas, then you will sabotage your projects or relationships with others.

If you have integrity and are in alignment with higher virtues and values, then you will prosper in your projects and relationships. Whenever someone in a business, or family, undermines trust, then it sabotages your best efforts to succeed. True security lies in the adherence to principles of natural law and trusting your own abilities. This develops independence, character, competence and skills that are integrated into your personal and professional life.

Interpersonal – Trust

The interpersonal level of natural law is based on trust. Do you trust other people? Do they trust you? If there is no trust, then communications and relationships are not possible. But we’re not talking about blind trust, or trusting people who are not trustworthy. Trust must be established and earned.

Having trust in other people yields empowerment and teambuilding for your projects, or in your families when it is established and earned. Teambuilding builds trust in the family or the company. When trust is high then communications is more effective. People will compensate for each other weaknesses with their strengths. Your project or business will have a greater likelihood of success.

To be a leader on the interpersonal level means making emotional deposits in other people. Build people up, don’t tear them down. This develops interdependence and strong relationships that can bend like the oak during the toughest or the best of times.

Managerial – Empowerment

The managerial level of natural law is based on empowerment. Your delegations of tasks or assignments to others will work if the trust is strong and you have empowered them with your management style. People first become independent, then interdependent. Then they are empowered to create and complete their responsibilities with the minimum of authoritarian oversight and control.

When there is no trust or empowerment in an organization, then the managers must use control systems, and follow-up and check-up on everybody. This takes an incredible amount of energy to accomplish. And fear and intimidation become the methods for enforcing company policy instead of common sense.

But will these command and control systems produce the world-class project or business that can compete in an emerging market? Treat your people the way you’d treat your customers. And you know what happens if you treat your customers badly. They go elsewhere.

Under principle-centered leadership, you do not manage people, but things like money, information, and time. Managers empower people to be their own leaders and let them do what they do best.

Organizational – Alignment

The organizational level of natural law is based on alignment. You can make change after change in the organizational structures and protocols, rules and procedures, guidelines and incentives and not achieve the desire result of any organization, that is, alignment. When all the people, stakeholders and joint venture partners in your organization are in alignment, then things just work. Stakeholders include investors, management, staff, customers, suppliers and the government when necessary.

Of course, quality in the spirit of continuous improvement and service, and excellence are a necessary part of a successful project or business.

Integrating all these levels of natural law is the true test of whether or not you’re willing to play in the new paradigm of leadership. Remember, leadership is about being effective, not just efficient.

Mission Statements Into Constitutions

Mr. Covey suggests that every individual, every department, and every branch office author their own mission statements along with the overall company mission statement. This process creates a powerful tool for alignment of the organization on every level.

These mission statements cannot be coerced, but must originate from the free will and autonomy of the individuals involved. They must be able to interact freely, be safe and secure from persecution or being fired, and be advised of the realities of the challenges and problems in each department. Covey asserts that if given the opportunity, people will step up to the challenge and arrive at goals and values that everybody will hold in common. Natural law will prevail.

Peter Drucker studied the managers of America’s largest business institutions. After much analysis and study, he arrived at the conclusion that “Executive ability seems to have little correlation with intelligence, imagination, or brilliance.”

Rather, he found that effective leaders do four things:

1. They practice conservation of time
2. They have an eye fixed on new developments
3. They build on the strengths of their colleagues
4. They starve the problems and feed the opportunities.

In summary, according to Steven Covey, principle-centered leadership involves:

1. Understanding and resolving the ten dilemmas of professional managers
2. Understanding the Law of the Farm versus the Law of the School
3. Four Levels of Natural Law including personal, interpersonal, managerial and organizational and their corresponding principles of trustworthiness, trust, empowerment and alignment
4. How to turn Mission Statements into Constitutions
5. Becoming an effective leader.

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