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Transformational Leadership Insights The 8th Habit:
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I commend to you this simple way of thinking about life: a whole person (body, mind, heart and spirit) with four basic needs (to live, to learn, to love, to leave a legacy) and four intelligences or capacities (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual) at their highest manifestations (discipline, vision, passion, conscience), all of which represent the four dimensions of voice. |
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Stephen Covey |
In The 8th Habit, Stephen Covey states that the older models of leadership, born out of a command-and-control Industrial Model, are no longer effective in the new Knowledge Worker Age. This new Age calls for leadership models that engage the whole person-body, mind, heart and spirit. When leadership discovers, expresses and helps others find their voice, they tap into the creative talent of each individual within the organization. The ensuing result, then, will be a competitive market advantage.
Mental, physical and emotional intelligence are intelligences embraced by the business culture. Covey boldly states, however, that, "Spiritual Intelligence is the central and most fundamental of all the intelligences because it becomes the source of guidance for the other three" (53). Covey clarifies and defines the Spiritual Quotient as "conscience, " suggesting the following important characteristics: enthusiasm, intuitiveness, responsibility, morality, wisdom, integrity, servant-hood, humility, fairness, ethics, abundance, compassion, respect, and cause-orientation (57). Although The 8th Habit is rich with these and other ideas, I choose to reflect on those which relate to the following Sales Growth Specialists concepts: Identity Clarity, Accountability, and Goal Alignment.
Identity Clarity or 'Discovering your voice"
Covey adds definition to the Identity Clarity/Discover-your-voice concept by expanding the four dimensions of voice:
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What does Scripture say about living life from your talents, passions, the world's needs and the conscience? Although Christ-followers would replace "conscience" with "walking in the Spirit" (Gal 5:16), there are still parallels. In Romans 12, Paul challenges his audience to offer their whole lives (body, mind, spirit, heart) to God as a living sacrifice. He then explains what living-sacrifice looks like on a day-to-day basis. First, he instructs them to be modest. Second, they are to recognize that they are each a part of one body, each with a different function. He admonishes his audience to "use our different gifts in accordance with the grace that God has given us" (Rom.12: 6a). Covey, in his discover-your-voice concept, is expounding on how we practically execute this Biblical principle to use our talents, passions, the world's need and our conscience (Rom.12: 4-8).
Accountability
Accountability can be defined as a willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's own actions. Great personal, team or organizational leadership, according to Covey, is founded on the acceptance of the fact that we are "response-able," with the freedom to choose: "The power to choose is your greatest gift. This power and freedom stands in stark contrast to the mind-set of victimism and culture of blame so prevalent in our society today" (41). The ability to be accountable to others and to hold ourselves accountable assumes that "response-ability". Covey proclaims that the Blame-Game, first utilized by Adam and Eve in the Garden, or that habit of passing the responsibility to others, only sabotages our effectiveness.
Covey also suggests that leaders develop the discipline of accountability within individual and corporate actions by creating: systems that formalize both strategy and principles, goals that support the vision, values and strategic priorities, and regular feedback from the marketplace and the organization regarding how well needs are met and value is delivered (233). Adam and Eve were clearly given God's vision, expectations and consequences for his overall purpose and design of humanity, which they chose to obey and pass the responsibility from themselves. They experienced first-hand the ability to choose for themselves, the meaning of being held accountable, and the consequences for their actions. Accountability within an organization should follow this clearly aligned plan to maintain effective responsibility.
Goal Alignment
Ideally, Goal Alignment calls for aligning the purposes of the individual with the purposes of the organization. Prior to this degree of alignment, both the individual and the organization need to do the work of Identity Clarity to understand their own voice and the decision to be accountable to each other.
What happens if the organization hasn't done this hard work? Covey states: "When trustworthy people work within structures and systems that are not aligned with the organization's espoused values, the untrustworthy systems will dominate every time" (234). This is a challenge to leaders and managers to take steps to create cultures that are based on an empowering model that is more attractive to the new Knowledge Worker Age…that of engaging the whole person: identity, responsibility, accountability, faith and goal alignment simultaneously.
How might we "install" the Kingdom of God into our business in order to provide healthy, redeeming, fulfilling places for people to serve the world? As Christ-followers, we have an excellent model to follow in aligning our personal and corporate lives in Jesus. When asked which commandment is the most important of all, Jesus replied with crystal clear alignment: the most important commandment is to love God. The second is to love your neighbor (Mark 12:28-34). All of scripture is perfectly aligned around these two commandments.
Our challenge, then, as business leaders in the new Knowledge Worker Age, is to align our leadership practices with these commands, including the second commandment to love our neighbor. When our leadership engages the whole person…body, mind, heart and spirit and helps employees discover and express their voice, we are fulfilling our mission as business leaders.
Download this reflection paper in Microsoft Word format:
Transformational Leadership Refection Paper #2: 8th Habit
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