7 Habits--Sharpening the Saw

Ok so this one is a little late.  My bad.  But I'll get right into it.

Basically Sharpening the Saw is a vital habit for leaders, Army officers especially.   It is not enough to learn a skill once, or to be in peak physical shape once.  Our skills and habits must constantly be practiced and honed.  If a soldier does not sharpen his saw, he will be less effective to his unit.  Marksmanship skills must be constantly practiced to maintain.  You have to constantly work out and pt if you hope to attain and maintain physical standards.  Those do not just stay with you without putting effort towards it.  

But most importantly, soldiers train.  They know the basics, but they constantly train to keep that edge gleaming.  Without proper training, proficiency, discipline, and skill slips away.  Mistakes are made that could potentially be deadly to the unit.  Keeping that skill saw sharp is vital to the function of an Army unit.  If the basics are well trained, then soldiers can react when things go wrong.  And that is an important ability.

7 Habits--Synergy

The first thing I thought of when Covey began discussing synergy was the team that is the Army.  A synergized team becomes greater than the sum of its parts; I cannot help but think of a squad in this case.  Alone, each soldier is a rifleman, easily surrounded, suppressed, and defeated.  But together, the squad is a fluid unit with the flexibility to adapt and the strength to succeed in any situation.  Synergy on the squad level allows the soldiers to function as a single unit, with seamless communication and action.  But this does not come easily; it requires cooperation, time and effort for a unit to attain true synergy.  But that is especially important for Army units.  The squad is only the most basic of these units.  The strength of the US military relies on synergy throughout its unit levels, starting at squad synergy, which allows for a cohesive platoon, which encourages teamwork on a company level, etc.

I was also struck by the section about Lilienthal and the Atomic Energy Commission.  He took the time to have his group get to know each other before they got down to work.  In the short run this delayed results; however, in the long run it was much more effective because his group had true synergy and was very creative.  For a group to attain maximum effectiveness, its members must be close on a personal level.  This is still true of the Army.  A close unit with strong relationships will be more cooperative, work harder, and sacrifice more for each other.  Synergy is the lifeblood of the Army and as future leaders, is a principle we must master.

7 Habits--First Understand

This chapter was very straightforward.  Seeking first to understand then to be understood is probably simplest of the principles, but the hardest to master.  It requires a major shift from the paradigm we usually use to 'listen' to others.  Putting yourself in someone else's shoes and really understanding their point of view is the best relationship builder you can do.  Nothing else shows that you care and understand them as much as that.

This principle is useful in any situation--with family, friends, superiors, subordinates, and peers.  As an action that can be applied in every interpersonal interaction, it is of course vital for a strong leader to be able to do.  A leader must really seek to understand his subordinates, to build on the bond of trust that his personal principles originally instilled in them.  He must understand his superiors, in order to carry out their orders to the best of his abilities.  

Understanding first is really the interpersonal display of the first three personal principles.  Once you understand yourself, you can extend that understanding to other people.  But without that strong personal base, it will seem a shallow attempt to manipulate.  If the win/win is a business attitude, understanding is a personal one, and probably the most important principle so far.

7 Habits--Win/Win

I was a little confused about this chapter.  I recognize that win/win is the best out of all the human interaction paradigms, but I was unsure as to how it could apply to a military hierarchy.  Covey gives a lot of examples about how it applies to the business world.  However the military doesn't really function like that.  If an order from a superior is given, the expectation is that it is carried out, regardless of whether you like it or not.  There is no real negotiation involved.  Having a win/win mentality does not really work when you have choice about what you do.  And of course, No Deal is not even an option.

I guess thinking win/win can apply to cooperating with ones peers.  If someone is thinking win/lose because they want a promotion, it can affect the stability of a unit.  In all the books written by soldiers I have read, the biggest problem is when someone cares more about their career than their unit.  They are thinking win/lose, or perhaps just win.  Either way, win/win would be much more desirable in this case because it makes everyone look good instead of one person looking good compared to everyone else.

7 Habits--Interpersonal Leadership

In this chapter, Covey prepares the reader of the interpersonal principles.  He discusses the Emotional Bank account.  To have a healthy relationship with someone, you must 'make deposits' into the account in the form of trust and relationship building actions.  Relationship damaging actions are 'withdrawls.'  To have a healthy relationship, the deposits must outweigh withdrawls.  This is important in any aspect of life, but especially applied to the military.

To be a good leader, one cannot simply give orders.  A leader has to invest in his people, to assure them that they really matter.  If the leader does not work to build that trust, then your people will not function as effectively as they would working for a leader they both trust and like.  Personal connections make all the difference in an industry when people's lives depend on trusting each other.  A true military leader has both the skill to command and the compassion to motivate his men.

7 Habits--Put First Things First

In this chapter, Covey talks about how prioritizing and putting effort towards what is truly important is both a vital and rare skill.  What struck me in this chapter as being relevant to ROTC and the military was his differentiation between leadership and management.

"While leadership decides what 'first things' are, it is management that puts them first, day-by-day, moment by moment.  Management is the discipline of carrying it out."

This really reminded me of the duties of the officer and NCO teams.  The officer is the leadership aspect of the team, concerned with putting the first things first, making sure that the platoon has its mission priorities clearly in order.  The NCO is responsible for disseminating those priorities to the platoon and ensuring that the mission is carried out.  The officer provides the vision and desired endstate, and it is up to the NCO to make sure that action is taken to make those reality.

Understanding the difference between officer and NCO roles is a vital part of our training and careers.  It is also at times difficult to concretely separate the responsibilities.  But this distinction between leadership and management parallels the officer/NCO relationship and I think it is a good summary of the team's different responsibilities.

7 Habits--Begin with the End in Mind

Beginning with the end in mind is a very simple yet deceptively difficult task.  Picturing who you want to be at the end of your life is easy; becoming that person is the hard part.  We are either a products of our own design or the creation of other people's agendas.  

To do this, to capture that self awareness that allows us to dictate or own path, we must first find leadership.  Last semester, we discussed the difference between leadership and management, and Covey expresses similar thoughts.  "Management is doing things right; Leadership is doing the right thing."  While both are very important traits for an officer to have, one cannot be effective without being a leader first, manager second.

Also part of this task is finding your center.  This section calls to mind the scene from "Mulan" where Captain Li Shang sings "once you find your center, you are sure to win!"  While it is true that being a correctly centered person is vital to effective leadership, it is not so simple as to be solved in a quick montage.  The real search for center is a long difficult journey that never really is finished.

The section that really struck me as important to aspiring soldiers was visualization and affirmation.  Astronauts and athletes use this process to remain calm in intense situations and think clearly under stress.  Arguably there is no more intense and dangerous job than that of a professional soldier; visualizing yourself calm and collected in the middle of a hectic ambush will help you be just that if such an event were to occur.  Creating an "internal comfort zone" by visualizing the situation clearly and relentlessly will familiarize the event.  This struck me as a good way to prepare for combat action, an additional process to aid in readiness that goes beyond battle drills and training.  Coolness under pressure is a skill combat leaders need to survive, and anything to help develop that is worth pursuing.

7 Habits--Being Proactive

I will admit that to me, being proactive appears to be a difficult task.  The whole idea that you can choose your reaction to a situation is hard to wrap my mind around.  I tend to be frustrated when things do not go as I had planned on, and I'm often exasperated by uncooperative/annoying people.  Clearly, this is a reactive approach to life.

Reading the section about reactive language caused me to furrow my brow in puzzlement.  Phrases like "he makes me so mad" and "I don't have enough time" never struck me as reactive; they just seemed like human phrases, and never really struck me as being environmentally deterministic.  I always figured that if you don't have enough time it was because you used your time ineffectively.  I suppose a truly proactive person would say something like "I will use my time efficiently to achieve this goal in addition to my other goals."  I dunno.  I'm not sure I have ever seen/heard anyone like that.  

Something I am better at doing is working within my circle of influence.  I have always been effective at discerning things I can influence and things I have no control over, and never really stressed about that.  It is a problem I see in many people, however.  Stress management is an incredibly important skill, the one most people lack.  Life, especially as an Army officer, is full of stressors.  Dealing with them in a productive way is vital to maintaining mental health.  Determining whether something is inside or outside your influence is a good way to do so.  Work on what you can do, don't worry about the rest.

Something about proactivity stumped me: how does it apply in a military setting?  In the army we have to follow orders whether we think the mission is stupid or not.  Proactivity supposedly puts you in control of the situation, but isn't that just an illusion in a military hierarchy?  We can choose our attitude toward the mission sure; a positive attitude towards the mission will disseminate to the troops making them (hopefully) more combat effective.  But we are not truly in control of the situation.  For example, I was put on a color guard on Feb 14.  Being Valentine's Day, I would much rather be spending the time with my girlfriend, but this is not to be.  Even if I have a positive attitude, this situation is still not ideal.  What is the best way to be proactive in this situation?

7 Habits--an overview

Covey continues to elaborate on his "Habits" program in this chapter.  It is interesting to read about how we are a composite of habits; I am learning about much the same thing in my psych class right now.  Habits are something we tend to do in a situation.  A group of habits forms a trait.  And traits are the foundation of human personality types.  Covey is all about changing negative aspects of personality beginning with habits.  If habits change, which he assures the reader is possible if difficult, the whole personality will shift as a result.

It was intriguing to read about dependence, independence, and interdependence.  Nowadays, the American ideal is to be independent, and island unto ones self.  Covey points out though, that our obsession with "asserting ourselves" and "doing our own thing," really reveals dependencies like being subject to the emotional weakness of others.  I have never thought about that.  Letting go and breaking off ties really reveals an internal weakness to others, not a personal strength.  It certainly is a break from the self-serving, cover-your-own-back "independence" drivel that we are usually fed.

Interdependence is how the world really functions, Covey says.  This becomes clear upon even minor reflection.  Especially in the Army, interdependence is extremely important.  In order for a unit to function effectively, it has to work and flow like a unilateral body, a team in which everyone contributes their all for the betterment of the whole.  However, a unit cannot function effectively if it is strictly dependent.  Everyone in the unit has to know everyone else's job and how to react to certain situations.  For example, equipment accountability cannot be neglected because a squad leader or a psg is occupied with something else.  Personal responsibility and teamwork have to meld into interdependence for the unit to function.

Also, it is important for one to distinguish between the production and the production capability.  They must be in balance for the situation in question to have a desirable efficient outcome.  If soldiers are the PC, then the mission is the P.  The mission must be accomplished, but if the soldiers are run into the ground, their maintenance (both physical and mental) neglected, then they will not be as effective on subsequent missions.  Their production would decrease to an undesirable level.  One has to find the balance between outcome and method in order to be an effective leader, or to have a desirable result in anything, for that matter.

7 Habits ch1

This book is very interesting so far.  Already Covey challenges his readers to go beyond the quick fix and really delve deep into the source of the problem.  Besides being a 'paradigm shift,' as Covey refers to this new method of thinking, I think that this idea is refreshingly countercultural.  Our society is so obsessed with the quick fix and is happier thinking that they are not responsible for their problems.  Covey says otherwise.  We need to be the ones to fix our problems, starting first with fixing ourselves.

I really connected with the anecdote about Covey's problems with his supposedly underachieving son.  My younger brother has always had trouble in school with his ADD and dyslexia.  That Covey's attempts to fix his son in truth assumed that there was something wrong with his son struck home with me.  Both myself and my parents, in trying to help my brother through school, took something of the same approach.  Though my brother certainly has improved, I feel a different method could have been vastly more beneficial to his learning experience.  I am now eager to try a 'paradigm shift' of my own.  

Though Covey's challenge appears difficult, I do not think that it asks too much of any person who is willing to try and better themselves for the long run.  The 7 Habits are the 'eat less exercise more' solution to social weight loss in a world of quick solution 'magic pill' diets.  I apologize if this comparison is confusing.  It may not even make sense but it sounded good in my head.

Bons