Meeting Of The Minds - Teague & Covey

Success comes from structure. Every successful individual and organisation has become so through organised, repeatable actions which have moved them forward at a faster rate than their peers and competitors.


Too many people and companies are focusing on old style improvement techniques. In leadership for example they focus on competencies and seek to improve attitudes and behaviours.


If you want to make minor improvements work on attitudes and behaviours. If, however, you want to make quantum transformation, work on paradigms. A paradigm is a mental model, an assumption or a route map to an ambitious destination.


We are gradually waking up to the fact that every single one of us not only has the right, but also has the capability of reaching our full potential and that potential can be to reach ‘impossible’ goals.


Since the beginning of time we have seen a significant shift in human evolution. We have travelled through the ‘hunter/gatherer age; the farming age; the industrial age and now we are firmly in the knowledge age, where the true power of the human mind is being discovered and we are unleashing a rate of progress faster than ever before believed possible.


Consequently we have achieved more in the last 5 years than in the previous 50, more in the previous 50 than the preceding 500; and more in that 500 than the previous 5000. At a time when the top 10 in demand jobs in 2010, did not even exist in 2004, one has to wonder what will be the next stage of our evolution. And how quickly will it be upon us?


The sad fact is that 90% of people (particularly those ensconced in corporate ‘bubbles’) are still adopting ways of managing, doing and thinking that belong in the industrial age.


Dr Covey highlights 5 fundamental traits belonging to each era:


Industrial age

Job Descriptions and competency profiles
Employees and subordinates
Hierarchical and Controlling mindsets
Focus on Developing weaknesses and performance plans
Managing things and tasks that don’t have the power to choose.


Knowledge Age



Unique Contributors

Partners/associates

Collaborative, synergistic, tribal (Body, mind, heart and spirit mindsets)

Unleashing talent. Focusing on strengths only.

Leading people who have the power of choice.




Leadership, in particular, is no longer about control. It’s about unlocking an individual’s ultimate power within themselves, unleashing their talent, enabling them to reach their own worthwhile goals and reaching their full potential. The leader is now a supporter, helping to clear a path for the individual to explore.


Supervision is an obsolete concept. If it continues, people leave either by choice or because the company’s strategy is placing its own performance into decline and therefore people have to leave.


Today it’s essential to create an environment where people are empowered. The leader will have tapped into their ‘voice’, playing the team to their strengths in a culture where everyone believes in their own worth and potential and can nurture growth physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.


Leaders do whatever is necessary to help people magnify their own potential.
This is a paradigm shift - one that’s essential to success.


So if you are now looking for answers as to how to achieve such a seismic shift you don’t need to look any further than these three real life examples:


· Country
· Company
· Individual


Country:


When Ghandi captured the imagination of 200 million people was it through the use of force? Did he have an army of men at his disposal?


No. He possessed a unique quality of humility and persistence that won over men’s hearts and inspired them through visualisation of an India that could prosper through internal collaboration, synergy and mutual care.


In short, the people began to dream impossible dreams. And now they are fast becoming one of the emerging global leaders in the knowledge era:


· The top 28% of people in India with the highest IQ’s exceed the total population of North America
· They have more honours graduates than the total population of all the graduates in the UK and USA put together!
· In the time Dr Covey was on stage 60 babies were born in the USA, 244 in China and 351 in India.
· In India they know, understand and apply family values that transcend into workplace ethics and entrepreneurial traits.


The world will be a very different place in 5 years time thanks to the vision of one man.


Company:


Take a look at the Central American small airline company Copa Airlines. A business transformed by setting out a clear purpose and goal from the bottom up. In 1991 they ran just 8 routes and less than 50% of their planes arrived on time.


They asked their customers what was the one most important thing above all else that they wanted. The answer – “to leave and arrive on time, every time”.


Every associate of the company was asked how they thought such an ‘impossible’ goal could be achieved. Every single ‘transaction’ from the initial purchase of tickets, loading of baggage, finding and checking in every passenger, right up to the time when they leave the baggage reclaim area happy and stress free, was measured. If you can’t measure it you can’t improve it says Jorge Garcia, Vice President of the Commercial Department.


Their stats speak for themselves:


· A culture where everyone knows the vision and no 1 goal is to be the best for on time arrival.
· Synergy, whereby everyone knows the role they have to play and works together to achieve the desired outcome for passengers.
· Significant business growth going from 8 routes to 36 and on time arrivals from below 50% to the current industry leading figure of 91.5%
· Average aircraft turnaround times down from 58 minutes to 35 minutes – the fastest in the industry.
· An unrivalled reputation for reliability.


Everyone has become accountable for the culture. The sandwich is out!


Individual


I recently saw Christopher Howard in action at the Millionaire Entrepreneur Bootcamp at the O2 Arena. Here is a man who has made it from the depths of financial despair to the ‘big time’ through the power of right thinking, using philosophies which have unleashed the power of the mind within. This power exists in each and every one of us and has been written about by countless philosophers such as Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Einstein, Haanel and Napoleon Hill.


Originally only available to the few, these earth shattering truths are being explored by millions of entrepreneurs through books like The Secret. Strangely, those in corporations are being shielded from its power. If they only knew of the opportunity and potential, they would demand a shift towards knowledge leadership, which staid old HR managers are ignorant, unprepared or too afraid to deliver.


Chris has a goal in life to help thousands of people to find a way of unlocking their full potential. He takes you on a journey of discovery to see the bigger picture and the crucial role you have to play. Exploring our earliest memories of things we did well and as a result loved doing. Finding the structure that inspires us to stretch, excel and discover our ‘voice’.


Summary


Dr Covey offers the following words to sum up the situation many people are experiencing as they seek to find their ‘voice’ and their own personal fulfilment in the knowledge society. Maslow refers to it as self actualisation. I call it simply achieving your hopes, dreams and aspirations.

Knowledge Age

Overall Philosophy - Unleash Talent
Leadership - Mentor and coach. Servant leader
Culture - Complimentary team. Orchestra.
People - Primary asset. Leveraged. Voiced.
Motivation - Internally inspired
Management - Culture is responsible for results

So, how possible is it to change a culture, both that of an individual damaged by ‘failures’, a corporation stuck in its ways or a country spoilt by bad decisions?

This change in culture can happen very quickly. Remember the human mind can achieve anything it sets out to achieve. Nothing is impossible – but it all begins with you.

I met Dr Covey and made sure he signed the copy of his new book entitled The 8th Habit. Perhaps this would be a good starting point for us all.