7 HABITS OF HIGHLY

EFFECTIVE PEOPLE

Stephen Covey

Seven Habits • Plan is in the form of a personal mission

statement.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence
• Consider our various roles.
then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Aristotle
Seven Habits
“A habit is at the intersection of knowledge,
Habit 3 - Put First Things First
skill, and desire.”
•Developing a priority system - saying yes to
Covey
something means saying

no to something else.
Seven Habits
•Different from time management.
Habit 1 - Be Proactive
• To-do lists which focus on things and time.
• More than just taking initiative.
• Personal Management
• Taking responsibility for our lives.
• Manage ourselves focusing on relationships
• Behavior is a function of our decisions not our and results.

surroundings. •Useful tool is Covey’s Time Management Grid.

•We are in control not being controlled.

Seven Habits

Seven Habits Time Management Grid

Habit 2 - Begin with the End in Mind

• Everything we do is examined within the

context of

the whole.

• First, we must know our destination.

• Second, we must formulate a plan to take us

there.

• Otherwise, others will tend to shape our

agenda.
 • Think Win-Win isn’t about being nice, nor

is it a quick-fix technique. It is a

character-based code for human

interaction and collaboration.

• Preferable to the alternative where one or

more parties lose.

•Develop a deep understanding of the

situation and the individual.

Seven Habits

Habit 5 - Seek First To Understand, Then to Be

Understood

• Listening with the intent to understand.

• Practice listening twice as much as speaking.

HABITS 1, 2, 3 Seven Habits

•Habit 1 - Be Proactive Habit 6 - Synergize
•Habit 2 - Begin with the End in Mind • Synergy occurs when the whole is greater
than
•Habit 3 - Put First Things First
the sum of the parts.

• Creative process which unleashes the best in

people.

• Through our individual paradigms we each see

the world differently.

• Creates a learning opportunity whereby

differences are considered an asset not a

liability.

Seven Habits Seven Habits

Habit 4 - Think Win/Win
Habit 7 - Sharpen the Saw

• Preventive maintenance and

self-renewal.

• Effectiveness lies in the

delicate balance between

production and production

capability.
 SWOT Analysis

What is SWOT Analysis?

 Acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

 Technique is credited to Stanford University in the 1960s and 1970s.
 Planning tool used to understand Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, & Threats involved in a
project / business.
 Used as framework for organizing and using data and information gained from situation analysis
of internal and external environment.
 Technique that enables a group / individual to move from everyday problems / traditional
strategies to a fresh perspective.

What is SWOT Analysis?

 Characteristics of the business or a team that give it an advantage over others in the industry.
 Positive tangible and intangible attributes, internal to an organization.
 Beneficial aspects of the organization or the capabilities of an organization, which includes
human competencies, process capabilities, financial resources, products and services, customer
goodwill and brand loyalty.
 Examples - Abundant financial resources, Well-known brand name, Economies of scale, Lower
costs [raw materials or processes], Superior management talent, Better marketing skills, Good
distribution skills, Committed employees.

What is SWOT Analysis?

STRENGTHS

Characteristics of the business or a team that give it an advantage over others in the industry.

Positive tangible and intangible attributes, internal to an organization.

Beneficial aspects of the organization or the capabilities of an organization, which includes human
competencies, process capabilities, financial resources, products and services, customer goodwill and
brand loyalty.

Examples - Abundant financial resources, Well-known brand name, Economies of scale, Lower costs [raw
materials or processes], Superior management talent, Better marketing skills, Good distribution skills,
Committed employees.

OPPORTUNITIES
Chances to make greater profits in the environment - External attractive factors that represent the
reason for an organization to exist & develop.

Arise when an organization can take benefit of conditions in its environment to plan and execute
strategies that enable it to become more profitable.

Organization should be careful and recognize the opportunities and grasp them whenever they arise.
Opportunities may arise from market, competition, industry/government and technology.

Examples - Rapid market growth, Rival firms are complacent, Changing customer needs/tastes, New
uses for product discovered, Economic boom, Government deregulation, Sales decline for a substitute
product .

WEAKNESSES

Characteristics that place the firm at a disadvantage relative to others.

Detract the organization from its ability to attain the core goal and influence its growth.

Weaknesses are the factors which do not meet the standards we feel they should meet. However,
weaknesses are controllable. They must be minimized and eliminated.

Examples - Limited financial resources, Weak spending on R & D, Very narrow product line, Limited
distribution, Higher costs, Out-of-date products / technology, Weak market image, Poor marketing skills,
Limited management skills, Under-trained employees.

THREATS

External elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business - External factors,
beyond an organization’s control, which could place the organization’s mission or operation at risk.

Arise when conditions in external environment jeopardize the reliability and profitability of the
organization’s business.

Compound the vulnerability when they relate to the weaknesses. Threats are uncontrollable. When a
threat comes, the stability and survival can be at stake.

Examples - Entry of foreign competitors, Introduction of new substitute products, Product life cycle in
decline, Changing customer needs/tastes, Rival firms adopt new strategies, Increased government
regulation, Economic downturn.

Aim of SWOT Analysis?

 To help decision makers share and compare ideas.

 To bring a clearer common purpose and understanding of factors for success.
 To organize the important factors linked to success and failure in the business world.
  To analyze issues that have led to failure in the past.
 To provide linearity to the decision making process allowing complex ideas to be presented
systematically

Who needs SWOT Analysis?

 Management
 Business
 Company

How to conduct SWOT Analysis?

1. Analyze Internal & External Environment

2. Perform SWOT Analysis

& Document

3. Prepare Action Plans

Benefits & Pitfalls of SWOT Analysis

 Knowing the Competion

 Reviews a company's competitors & benchmarks against them to configure strategies that will
put the company in a competitive advantage.
 Decision Making Tool
 Provides well-rounded information that prompt
 well-informed decisions.
 Forecasting
 Provides a variety of information critical to forecasted variables. Threats, for e.g., can impact a
business's forecast. By understanding the company's advantages & disadvantages, forecasts will
be more accurate.

Besides the broad benefits, here are few more benefits of conducting SWOT Analysis:

 Helps in setting of objectives for strategic planning

 Provides a framework for identifying & analyzing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats
 Provides an impetus to analyze a situation & develop suitable strategies and tactics
 Basis for assessing core capabilities & competencies
 Evidence for, and cultural key to, change
 Provides a stimulus to participation in a group experience
Pitfalls of SWOT Analysis

 Can be very subjective. Two people rarely come up with the same final version of a SWOT. Use it
as a guide and not as a prescription.
 May cause organizations to view circumstances as very simple due to which certain key strategic
contact may be overlooked.
 Categorizing aspects as strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats might be very subjective
as there is great degree of uncertainty in market
 To be effective, SWOT needs to be conducted regularly. The pace of change makes it difficult to
anticipate developments.
 The data used in the analysis may be based on assumptions that subsequently prove to be
unfounded [good and bad].
 It lacks detailed structure, so key elements may get missed.

Brainstorming & Prioritization in SWOT Analysis

Output from Brainstorming exercise is Prioritized

Begin brainstorming by asking the following questions:

What opportunities exist in our

external environment?

What threats to the institution exist in

our external environment?

What are the strengths of our

institution?

What are the weaknesses of our

institution?

At the end of the Brainstorming exercise:

Reduce the list of strengths & weaknesses to no

more than five distinctive competencies and
debilitating weaknesses

Strengths that are distinctive competencies

Weaknesses that are debilitating

Reduce threats and opportunities to the five most

critically important of each.

Tips & Exercise

Do’s
Be analytical and specific.

Record all thoughts and ideas.

Be selective in the final evaluation.

Choose the right people for the exercise.

Choose a suitable SWOT leader or facilitator.

Think out of the box

Be open to change

Don’ts

Try to disguise weaknesses.

Merely list errors and mistakes.

Lose sight of external influences and trends.

Allow the SWOT to become a blame-laying

exercise.

Ignore the outcomes at later stages of the

planning process.
 RESPONSIBILITY MATRIX ASSIGNMENT

RESPONSIBILITY VS ACCOUNTABILITY

RESPONSIBILITY

Having an obligation to complete a task or oversee the output of others that you are directly in charge
of.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Is the acceptance, good or bad, of your personal actions that contributed to attaining or failing to meet
an intended goal.

USING RESPONSIBILITY MATRIX IN THE FIELD OF OPERATIONS

RACI USED IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES

RACI USED IN LEAN SIX SIGMA PROJECTS