Key Messages
The 8Th Habit: Unfolding Your True Potential And Finding Your Voice
If you are looking to unlock your true potential and find your voice in the workplace, then The 8th Habit by Stephen R.
Covey is a must-read book for you.
In this book, Stephen will guide you on how to develop your four intelligences that will help you find and use your unique voice in any situation or working environment.
He’ll also explain how exercising freedom of choice in order to make decisions is vital for allowing us to be the greatest versions of ourselves in our work.
Finally, Stephen will detail how establishing mutual trust with colleagues and friends can also lead to helping us strive for success.
With all this advice, The 8th Habit serves as a wonderfully impactful self-help manual to truly help you become the best version of yourself while at work!
Unlocking The Potential Of The Information Age Through The 8Th Habit: Finding Your Voice
The 8th Habit is all about helping people find their own way to greatness in today’s Information/Knowledge Worker Age.
Rather than relying on a top-down, domineering style of management, organizations need to create an environment that encourages employees to unleash their potential as individuals.
In this new era of work, individual productivity and quality can be vastly different from person to person—a great programmer might be 1000 times more productive than an average one!
Therefore, it is essential for organizations to recognize the value and importance of each employee’s unique talents and strengths.
The 8th habit involves creating a workplace in which everyone feels respected and significant.
When employees are allowed to freely express themselves and use their creativity, they are well on their way to finding the inner voice that will help them reach greater levels of success.
The Power Of Our Freedom Of Choice And The Gifts Of Intelligence Give Us The Ability To Find Our Own Voice
When it comes to finding your true voice, the gifts you were given at birth can be a great place to start.
These include the gift of freedom to choose and the might of developing your IQ.
Each of these, when used wisely and with care, can help get you closer to understanding who you truly are.
Take the gift of freedom, for example.
While we may not always have control over what happens in our lives, having the choice on how we react to life’s challenges is yours and yours alone.
And with that choice comes the power of finding solutions that will best serve you and your growth .
Or take intelligence –your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual intelligences– cultivating each one can help discover your talents and passions which will then guide you towards your aspirations.
Physical intelligence is about your body functioning independently; mental intelligence expands upon this by allowing for abstract thinking; emotional intelligence calls for empathy so that communication is effective; lastly but certainly not least spiritual intelligence that helps give meaning in life through thought-provoking exploration.
These are vital pieces in the journey of finding yourself – so make use of what has been gifted to you!
What Makes A Good Leader? Four Roles And Four Intelligences To Achieve Individual And Organizational Greatness
Leadership is more than just managing and controlling others; it’s about helping them find their own voice and recognize their potential.
In Stephen Covey’s book, The 8th Habit, he explains that true leadership requires four core elements.
The first element is having a vision and strategy to guide your organization in the right direction.
This will give employees something to strive for and get inspired by, rather than feeling like they are being given vague instructions or arbitrary tasks just to pass the time.
Second, great leaders also set an example by executing their own ideas in a disciplined manner – this creates an example of excellence for everyone else to follow.
Third, cultivate a passionate atmosphere that fosters communal spirit across the organization, promoting trust between colleagues and making everyone feel involved.
Finally, create structures within your company so that employees understand what they need to do in order to achieve success.
By following these four roles plus enlisting all of our intelligences – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual – we can become great leaders who inspire others to reach their personal best -and help them discover their inner power along the way.
Stop Waiting For Change And Start Taking Action To Make It Happen
In The 8th Habit, the book emphasizes that you shouldn’t just sit around and wait for your old habits to change.
Instead, you should choose to be proactive and do something about it.
It all starts with acknowledging that there is a choice, and you don’t have to continue feeling like a victim stuck between a rock and a hard place.
There are times when there are clear opportunities to take initiative and be responsible for either making changes or adjusting how you respond to certain situations.
For instance, if your job doesn’t give you the freedom to interfere in certain decisions but you’d still like something to change, then use your voice in other ways, such as by providing feedback on what could be improved.
Realizing that it’s superior to take action rather than just waiting for things to improve gives an incredible responsibility over life; because only you can make yourself feel better and work towards creating your own ideal life story!
How To Inspire Trust And Give People A Sense Of Their Own Value
Mutual trust is the key to meaningful personal and business relationships, and it’s something that can be easily achieved.
In The 8th Habit, Stephen Covey emphasizes the importance of being true to one’s word in earning others’ trust.
It’s important to remember that this is a two-way street; not only have people come to depend on you holding up your end of any agreement, but you must also grant others the benefit of the doubt and show your faith in them as well.
Being kind, friendly, and saying thank you when applicable goes a long way in forging trusting relationships.
What’s more, it’s worthwhile to take the time to apologize when it is due; an honest apology when mistakes are made can repair any damage done.
Furthermore, by freely expressing your confidence in someone’s abilities, you can encourage them to succeed.
By taking heed of Covey’s advice and establishing mutual trust with those around you, your relationships – both professional and personal – will reap the rewards.
The Key To Resolving Conflict Is Compassionate And Empathetic Listening
When dealing with conflicts, it’s crucial to be able to compromise.
Too often we get caught up in our own perspectives and perspectives of others that a third, mutually beneficial solution is hard to come by.
But when we are truly able to listen and understand the other person’s opinion, it makes coming up with a compromise much easier.
The 8th Habit Book encourages us to become better active listeners, so that a third alternative can arise from the conflict.
This involves not just hearing what the other person is saying, but trying to understand the semantics behind their words – grasping what they truly mean and how they see things.
Once you’ve done this, you can explain your own point of view without getting into an argument.
By discussing both sides and being open-minded about finding a middle ground between them, an ideal solution may present itself.
If it doesn’t though then coming to a mutual understanding and agreement where neither party loses out is key.
Compromising shows respect for yourself as well as respect for your colleague – this way both parties will leave feeling satisfied with the outcome!
Ensuring Employee Alignment With Core Values Is Essential For Business Success
When it comes to running a successful business, having a clear central value system is a must.
It’s important for employees to be able to align themselves with these core values in order to ensure that everyone in the company is on the same page.
For example, imagine asking the CEO of a company about its core values.
Chances are they might talk about cooperation as being one of them but if you look closer into what is actually happening within the organization, there could be other elements such as competitiveness which works against the core value of cooperation.
This can easily confuse employees and lead them off course.
To avoid this situation, leaders should give feedback that encourages their workers or team members to stay aligned with the set values of the organization.
Setting up monthly team meetings can provide an opportunity for employees to get feedback from leaders as well as from each other on how well they are all doing towards achieving these set goals.
The importance of having an overarching value system cannot be stressed enough for organizations looking for long-term success and growth through their workforce so make sure that your company has set this firmly in place!
Allow Workers To Take Charge And Reap The Rewards: The Benefits Of Ceding Control In Organizations
Leaders have traditionally been the ones responsible for planning and evaluating tasks in organizations.
But if they run an overly tight ship, it can be detrimental to staff morale and to the company.
This is because employees who don’t have the freedom or responsibility to work with passion and use their talents don’t feel motivated.
Fortunately, leaders can empower employees by allowing them greater control over their work.
For example, if a cleaning company has unmotivated workers, they could give employees more responsibility and trust them to evaluate their own results.
Staff might be given the opportunity to try out different vacuum cleaners and then judge which works best.
Allowing workers more autonomy isn’t easy; it requires people in power to let go of a little of that power.
But when you do this, you recognize that each employee has something valuable to contribute – both on individual and organizational levels – and encourage them to find their own passions within the organization.
Doing this can make all the difference in terms of motivation among your team members, which will result in better work being done overall.
Wrap Up
The 8th Habit is a great read for anyone interested in learning how to be a leader and thrive in any part of life.
The key message throughout the book is that if you want to succeed, you must find your voice and inspire others to do so as well.
Leaders have a special role to play in this: by investing more trust into their employees, communicating clearly and giving up some control, they can unlock the full potential of their team.
This succinctly summarizes the main take-aways from the book: leaders should give up some of their power in order to empower their staff, help them grow personally and professionally, and ultimately create an even more effective organization as a result.
