Did you ever study the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and did it have a positive influence in your life and career?

This Stephen Covey quote has hung in my office for years and it has helped me to motivate myself and to give good advice to others especially in times of change like we are going through today.?

Early in my career I was fortunate enough to participate in a 7 Habits of Highly Effective People for Managers in a live multi day workshop presented by Stephen Covey, the author of?The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. At that time, I was a top producing loan officer that had recently been promoted to sales manager and I didn't yet really understand my role and the importance of teamwork. We really dug into the 7 habits in this workshop and how to effectively apply them in working with others.

This is where I learned how working proactively within a team produces much greater results than I could accomplish working on my own.

?I continue to use the principles from the 7 Habits all the time.

1.???Be proactive

2.???Begin with the end in mind

3.???Put first things first

4.???Think win/win

5.???Seek to understand first, before making yourself understood

6.???Learn to synergize

7.???Sharpen the saw

The pre-work for the workshop consisted of a detailed self-assessment questionnaire and an assessment from 3 peers, 2 managers and 3 people who reported to me, the assessments were put in sealed envelopes and sent directly to the workshop. My associates assumed that their assessment would be kept confidential but that is not what happened. On the first day of the workshop, we opened and read all the assessments and I learned a lot both good and bad about myself.

This book and this workshop helped me to be a better employee, manager, friend, husband, and a better father than I otherwise would have been. I am grateful that my employer selected me to participate in this program, I am also grateful for the honest assessments from my associates because they helped me learn things about myself that I may otherwise never know.

Tim Allen, CMB?