Question of the Week
Connection to Covey?
Q: I’ve been to a lot of business training programs, but I’ve never seen any others that discuss the levels of happiness. Do you see any connection between the curriculum you’ve devised and other respected programs, like Steven Covey’s work? Is your approach unique, or is there overlap?
A: (from Fr. Robert Spitzer) I wouldn’t use the word overlap, but I do see complementary approaches. For example, if you take Steven Covey’s wonderful Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, he lists seeking the win-win as one of those habits. The win-win presumes that you already have what I call the first three commitments of leadership.
- I’m going to make a contribution to you or the organization before I look for ego-comparative advantage.
- I’m going to look for the good news in you before I recognize the bad news.
- I’m going to look for the who before the what.
I don’t think you can have a win-win without those three commitments, which is why I believe Steven Covey presumes what we’re talking about. If you don’t have these commitments firmly in place – if you talk about the win-win but you don’t bring people to a Level 3 empathy for others – the win-win is very hard to implement.
It will sound good and it will seem to make sense, but it won’t stick. When times get tough, people will revert to a win-lose mindset unless they have the underlying personal identity and desires that are commensurate with the win-win philosophy Covey promotes. You really need a Level 3, contributive identity.
By the way, the win-win is very smart approach. I use it all the time.