Chapter 6: Inspiring Others to Find Their Voice: The Leadership Challenge

Beginning with The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, leadership development is at the essential core of all of Dr. Stephen R. Covey's books.  He takes us step by step through self-mastery, then interpersonal effectiveness and self-renewal, and every last word of it is about leadership.  In Chapter 6 of The 8th Habit he provides a definition: 

"Leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves."  

In my leadership studies, that is new and different - and it merits some parsing.

We all operate every day in an organizational context, sharing goals with others at work or at home. Our whole lives are therefore facilitated (or not) by leadership. Because all organizations are comprised of human beings, understand the nature of humans is critical to effective work within them. Efficiency is out. The whole person (body, mind, heart and spirit) paradigm is in.  To influence others effectively we need more character than technique. It's not about psyche-up slogans and rah-rah. It's about principles: integrity, respect, fairness, etc. It takes effort and will to embody those things - but we must if we are to develop ourselves as leaders and unleash the potential of our organizations.

Dr. Covey relates common chronic problems experienced in organizations to the four human endowments: 

1. Spirit - Low trust.
2. Mind - No shared vision or common value system
3. Body - No alignment
4. Heart- Disempowered people 

Any of these underlying conditions can become acute problems that threaten entire enterprises and make the people in it unhappy and unable to accomplish group goals. Short-term fixes might temporarily resolve the crisis du jour but effective long-term solutions must address the spirits, heads, hearts and bodies of the people involved.
Those looking for a leadership solution in organizations must decide to embrace the 8th habit and inspire others to find their voice. They must adopt the "four roles of leadership":

1. Model trustworthiness,
2. Find a path to a shared vision
3. Ensure alignment around goals, and 
4. Empower individuals. 

 Here is a little table I created to help myself get this picture together.

 

Human Endowment	Chronic Organizational Issue	Acute Symptoms	Leadership Role
Spirit	Low Trust	Back-biting, In-fighting, Victimism, Defensiveness, Not Sharing Information	Modeling (Trustworthiness)
Mind	No Shared Vision or Values	Ambiguity, Hidden Agendas, Political Games, Chaos	Pathfinding
Body	Misalignment	Interdepartmental Rivalry, Co-Dependency, Clear Hypocrisies, Resolvable Misalignments	Aligning
Heart	Disempowerment	Apathy, Moonlighting, Daydreaming, Boredom, Escapism, Anger, Fear	Empowering

Of course, none of us can develop our leadership potential until we develop ourselves individually. One can't model trustworthiness, for example, with a poorly-formed conscience. Knowledge of how to do this, together with the correct attitude and ongoing skill building is the essence of what it means to adopt a habit. And a habit, to Covey, is something one earns first through study and then through application of principles. There are no quick fixes.  That's why I am spending a year working my way through this book and associated others.  I'm learning something new everyday.