"The seven habits of highly effective people" by Stephen R. Covey: a summary

Résumé du document

Among the seven habits that are supposed to help a person achieve true interdependent "effectiveness", I have chosen to highlight three that are of interest to me as a sales manager:
- Being proactive and acting or re-acting on things in a responsible way, in contrast with being reactive and enduring things thinking we have no choice about things that happen outside our willingness and that we cannot control.
- Synergize; or the idea that we can produce far better results as a team that we could individually bringing all personal experience and expertise to the table.
- Sharpening the saw, which means "being at ease in one's shoes" by renewing the four dimensions of our nature - physical, spiritual, mental and social/emotional.

Extraits

[...] I truly believe that successful managers are proactive because they know that they don't dominate their environments. They know that no matter how successful they have been in the past, they are always at the mercy of changing circumstances. They need to generate a constant stream of new initiatives because they can't make things happen at will. Often, managers could fail by being too proactive and thinking that everything is due to them and that they can control everything and everyone. [...]

[...] The process of cutting dulls the blade. So the solution is to periodically “sharpen the saw”. The woodcutter can take vacations and take a rest doing nothing but the woodcutter can become even more productive by sharpening the blade, studying new woodcutting techniques, working out to become stronger, or learning from other woodcutters: in other words, being active. For managers and their sales force, I think it is exactly the same stake: attending a weekend seminar, reading an inspiring book, or having an interesting conversation might help to get back in shape If you were a Sales Manager, what application would you see for yourself of for your sales force? [...]

[...] "The seven habits of highly effective people" by Stephen R. Covey: a summary 1. Identify three points the book makes Among the seven habits that are supposed to help a person achieve true interdependent “effectiveness”, I have chosen to highlight three of them that are of interest to me as a sales manager: - Be proactive and act or re-act on things in a responsible way, in contrast with being reactive and endure things thinking we have no choice about things that happen outside our willingness and that we cannot control. [...]

[...] That is why in order to be effectively proactive, they need to synergize. Synergize : Synergy requires empathetic listening (Habit “Seek first to understand”) and beginning any activity with a win/win outcome goal (Habit “Think win The habit of synergy is about how people work together to solve problems and to cooperate to accomplish the mission of the enterprise. For sales force managers and their staffs, it is crucial: managers and sales forces should work for goals that benefit the enterprise, not just their own department or territory; for at the end of the day, there is only one profit or loss figure. [...]

[...] The Sales force manager has to be accessible. To facilitate synergy, the best way is to educate your staff to play together in a non professional dimension (Sports, lectures, seminars In order to sharpen the saw here are some applications for both sales managers and sales forces: Physical : The sales manager can organize sports activities with his/her team Spiritual : Meditation can be a good way to relax Mental : o Educate yourself and your team (read, listen to audio programs) o Learn a new skill (organize seminar for your sales force to improve or learn new skills and learn to work and enjoy together as a team) o Set some new goals or review/update your old goals and the ones of your team o Ask for your team to interact on their thoughts, experiences, and insights is also beneficial Social : Create and join a club, organize some events with the team in order to promote the company but also to allow your force to work together, organize lectures outside the professional environment. [...]