In the midst of continuous adjustment to our new work culture, our HR department presents a much-needed training for the Hubton team on how to adapt using the 7 habits of highly effective people approach.
July 2020 was our fifth month of working fully remotely and the month when this training took place. Just like our regular HR training, this one aims at improving our productivity and morale. Led by our Human Capital Manager, the training looks at Stephen R. Covey‘s 7 habits of Highly Effective People and how it can help us navigate through the new work culture where we do our job separately from each other.
Habits are behaviors that we do repeatedly without fully thinking about them as they are part of our everyday life. Our habits are formed as a combination of our knowledge, willpower, and abilities. From the approach used in this training, there are seven habits that can be practiced in the workplace, which target increased productivity and effectiveness. What follows is the seven habits discussed in the training, which can help you stay on top of your game regardless of the new challenges.
1. Be Proactive in Respecting and Protecting Yourself and Your Team
One of the main characteristics of successful people is to be proactive in determining what you want to achieve and trying to find some ways so that these goals can be achieved. Proactive people recognize a sense of responsibility very well. They don’t blame the circumstances or situations for their behavior. It’s the principle of personal choice of people who choose the brighter side of things.
The behavior of proactive people is a product of their conscious choices and based on values. So, instead of blaming genetics, circumstances, and conspiracy during the pandemic, proactive people tend to accept the situation very well and seek to provide an effective response that will benefit both themselves and others.
2. Begin with the End in Mind using Efficient and Focused Planning
Having a vision early on is crucial to sort out a set of action plans. By determining our goals, we are going to be able to forecast what will likely happen and decide what to do. This is also important to identify possible risks and curate strategies to avoid those.
Once we have a clear vision of what we are going to do, the next step would be planning. At our training, we practice using a time management matrix by breaking down a hypothetical goal into actions. The actions are then grouped accordingly while taking into account our current work culture.
From this grouping of actions, we get the bigger picture of the steps necessary to reach our goals and prioritize.
3. Put First Things First by Using the Right Method that Suits Your Workflow
Upon using the time management matrix above, you will have a set of actions with a clear status of:
- Important and urgent
- Important but not urgent
- Urgent but not necessarily important
- Not important nor urgent
Putting first things first is the principle of integrity and execution. At Hubton, we manifest this principle using the SCRUM. With a little adjustment on doing it virtually, this Agile framework has greatly helped us track our projects during the quarantine. In addition, it’s our mission to apply it on a personal level. Maybe not as complicated, but simply to make sure we always put the most important things first. Setting priorities have a big impact on making the journey of reaching our goals easier.
4. Think Win / Win by Being Cooperative in Every Coordination Session
A win-win mindset is a mindset that pays attention to ALL. It is about winning over multiple egos because losing admittedly never feels good. A win-win mindset is a frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks mutual benefit in all human interactions. With a win-win solution, people will try to accept things better and feel happy with whatever decision that others make. Win-win sees life as a cooperative and not as a competitive arena.
5. First Understand, Then Be Understood by Showing Patience
Putting the effort to understand first before expecting to be understood is the principle of mutual understanding. The habit of trying to understand first surely applies to our social life. However, this habit is also a great tool to create meaningful progress at work.
One of the main challenges in seeking mutual understanding when working remotely is communication. The solution to this problem may come in different forms to everybody, but the most important thing is to recognize that we need to put more effort into communication when working remotely.
6. Synergize by Understanding Your Team’s Strength
Synergy is an understanding that it is very important to have love and harmony within diverse environments. People with different backgrounds provide a wide range of ideas that paves the way for more creative and profitable solutions.
7. Sharpen the Saw by Utilising and Maximising Learning Opportunities
This habit deals with the principle of balanced self-renewal and will help increase our abilities and knowledge. Stephen Covey illustrates this habit with an illustration of a person sawing a large tree. He spent hours sawing without making any significant progress. He kept on sawing without stopping and without realizing that the saw was blunt. If only he had taken the time to sharpen his saw, then it would be easier and faster for him to cut down the tree he was sawing.
Sharpening the chainsaw is about practicing physically, mentally, and spiritually. It is also about how we try to continuously do what we can and self-evaluate. Although this may sound contradictory, enjoying at-home entertainment, doing fun physical activities, working on hobbies, and such can also help refresh and energize amid our daily routine, which is also beneficial for sharpening our chainsaw that is working daily.
New Work Culture, New Story
Those are the things covered in our HR training. As specified at the beginning of this article, we also boost morale in this event by having simulations, case studies, and just enjoy each other’s company. From this training, we take important lessons and get ourselves more ready to face whatever it is that the future holds.
