Dr. Covey is best known for his book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” His books have sold more than 20 million copies in 38 languages and “Forbes” named the 7 Habits book one of the top 10 most influential management books ever written.

“Dr. Covey’s life’s work has been to teach principle-centered leadership and that is a key part of what we do here at the Huntsman School of Business,” Anderson said. “We know the work we will do with him will leave a legacy in the lives of our students.”

  Dr. Covey said, “Because of its deep commitment to the long-term promotion of universal, timeless principles of success in life and business—principles such as integrity, trust and service—I’m absolutely thrilled to associate myself with the Huntsman School. They understand that by instilling in today’s students a principled, new mindset and skill-set—one equal to the complex demands and challenges of today’s new global, economic, societal reality—they will produce generations of leaders who will not only serve and lead their families and communities with greatness.”

To read my article, please go to www.stephencovey.com. By becoming a member of my free online social community, you will be able to access my article and the self-quiz “How Good Are You at Getting Along?”

You will also be able to access an audio track on The Indian Talking Stick, which is one of the most powerful communication tools for building empathic listening and understanding. The power of true understanding and respect comes when people are prepared and willing to really listen to each other. Using Indian Talking Stick principles and skills, I have helped countless numbers of people to listen and successfully create third alternative solutions—ideas or solutions that neither party originally thought of.

I invite you to grow your self-awareness and determine how you can improve yourself when it comes to getting along with others. It is so vital that we communicate with respect and work on ourselves to reach understanding, especially in difficult situations. Our ability to get things done and create trust depends on building respectful relationships not on our ability to dismiss or tear down other people’s point of views. You already know that, yet it’s often difficult to put it into practice. But practice is the key; keep trying. Work on your circle of influence or the things you have control over—and that’s always YOU!

So will you take the self-quiz and commit to improving the way you get along with others? Share your thoughts and how you did or what you will do specifically to improve.

Author: Stephen R. Covey

Maybe this happens to you all the time.  Maybe if I were quicker to extend trust it would happen more often to me.  But as it currently stands, sometimes I feel like I don’t know enough about a person—their character and competence—to trust.  Sometimes a person has behaved in ways that have broken trust.  Regardless, it is rare for me to trust an entire room full of people.  And it felt great!  You’ll laugh, but I felt tears spring to my eyes when I thought about it.  It didn’t mean I agreed with them on everything or that the meeting was easy, but things were easier to achieve because I assumed good intent.

I had worked with everyone in that room for at least three years and with some for over a decade.  I trusted them because they had kept commitments, they had talked to me straight, and they all delivered results.  Does this happen to you often?  Or never?  What else builds trust for Executive Mamas? 

Author: Jennifer Colosimo, Chief Learning Officer at FranklinCovey

In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey describes Empathic Listening as reflecting what a person feels and says in your own words to their satisfaction so they feel listened to and understood.  Empathic Listening is  not listening to advise, counsel, replay, refute, solve, fix, change, judge, agree, disagree, question, analyze, or figure out. Whether you are familiar with The 7 Habits and are looking for a refresher or new to them all together, here are a few tips to remember when using Empathic Listening.

It is best to use Empathic listening when:

• Emotion if high.
• The other person does not feel understood.
• You do not understand the other person.
• Trust is low in the relationship.

Here are a few Empathic Listening starters, these should help you get started using Empathic Listening.

• So, if I am understanding you correctly you are saying…
• What I’m hearing is…
• You seem…
• You must have felt…
• You feel…about…

What tips have you learned as you have used Empathic Listening in your life at home or at work? We would love to hear from you.

Test this for yourself. Think of the person you trust the most. What is it like to work with or be with that person? Do they have influence on you because you trust them? Does it speed up business to work with them? What IF? What if, everyone on your team had that level of trust? At worst it would be a lot more energizing to work together. At best trust makes the playing field really fast and becomes a performance multiplier that has a ripple effect on the results of your team and your organization.

Author: Greg Link, The Global Speed of Trust Practice Leader at FranklinCovey

 

One of the great opportunities this downturn has created is the selling of how to do something in a crisis.  I get many emails a week offering to educate me on how to do something I thought I knew how to do, but no apparently do not because we are in a crisis and everything is different.  ‘How to lead in a crisis’, how to project manage in a crisis’, ‘how to sell in a crisis’, ‘how to buy a car in a crisis’, ‘how to make French onion soup in a crisis’ (well, that one wasn’t real).    While everyone is on the bandwagon, they are with good cause.  The crisis demands at times new actions for new challenges.  However, at other times, what it demands is a recommitment to what has always worked, but was less understood in good times.  This is the case with leadership.

Given that our job as leaders is ultimately to get results through our teams, and given that declining results are one of the big problems in this economy, then our problem to solve is results.  And, given that we need to achieve results through people, our challenge is to help a group of people who are bombarded daily both in the workplace and the press with dour forecasts for the future, feel motivated, energized and engaged. 

The good news is not only is it possible, it is probable if the leader does the right things.  A crisis sets the stage for the leverage and changing of the most powerful force over behavior in an organization – culture.

Culture is at work every moment.  It is the influence that causes us to behave one way or another, consistent with direction, or against it.  If we want to lead in a crisis, we need to understand that everything we say, ask and do will be processed through this filter called culture.  There is no way around it, and no way to force your way through it.  Culture will have its way with you. 

That does not mean you can’t affect it.  In fact, you affect it with everything you do.  Understanding it, and leading in a way that positively impacts it will create the most significant impact possible. 

On our webcast, which you can access for free at www.franklincovey.com/webcasts, we discussed 10 ideas for positively impacting culture.  They grouped into four main categories – imperatives in fact – that a leader should observe if they want to lead effectively.  They are:

• 1. Building trust
• 2. Clarifying purpose, both long range and near term
• 3. Aligning the systems of the company to help everyone get their job done
• 4. Unleashing the talent there is there, today, in your organization, ready to help.

I encourage you to listen to the webcast and try out at least one of the ideas mentioned to help your team help you on through the crisis.