Covey's 4th Habit - Win/Win: Shared Time, Energy and Attention

This is part of my Guru Talk series, deciphering Stephen Covey’s 7-Habits of  Highly Successful People.  Covey's 4th Habit, Think Win/Win,  is really about tapping an underutilized resource for Global Creatives: people. If you truly want to contribute/lead in a big way then you must get others onboard. The success of the lone wolf tinkering in his garage is an entrepreneurial myth. Think ofWin/Win as an investment with big dividends.

Covey refers to three character ‘traits’ when addressing Habit 4:

Integrity: sticking with your true feelings, values, and commitments

Maturity: expressing your ideas and feelings with courage and consideration for the ideas and feelings of others

Abundance Mentality: believing there is plenty for everyone

ADHD will throw a wrench into developing and honoring each of these traits. Rarely are Global Creative’s thinking Win/Win when they are in the middle of crisis management, and yet for the Global Creative, teetering on the edge of overwhelm, they are often operating in the middle of a firestorm.

Let’s recognize that the firestorm is partly their own doing. Remember the laser focus of Global Creatives when adrenalin is onboard, and we know stress can induce adrenalin. Hyperfocus in this situation can obscure resources, namely others who may be able to help move a project in a quicker and more creative direction.

Integrity  suggests consistency. To elicit attention and eventually traction, Global Creatives often strive for a tipping point between boredom and mayhem, tapping emotional energy for all it’s worth and shuffling commitments to keep things lively – not the makings for a consistent approach.

Maturity requires identifying potential collaborators, clarifying their roles and finally direct communication to enroll identified resources. All of this takes time, attention and persistent cultivation.

Abundance Mentality requires space and vision, and yet establishing a reactive posture to firestorms robs us of space and vision.

Clarifying commitments and communicating effectively only happens when we make use of strategic thinking time. Strategic thinking time (time to review and sort options and identify resources) will only happen when we shift our perspective on time and this idea of abundance. Global Creatives think this has to be a comprehensive GTD style review. Not so.

Strategic moments can be exactly that – a moment.

When we pause and take the posture of asking proactive questions we are making time for Smart – Smart questions, Smart choices, Smart resources. From this perspective, Win/Win becomes a viable option. When we get to apply shared resources to a project such as time, energy and attention, the Global Creative wins in a big way.