Page 198 - Stephen R. Covey - The 7 Habits of Highly Eff People.pdf
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other people. The more we can see people in terms of their unseen potential, the more we
                 can use our imagination rather than our memory, with our spouse, our children, our co-
                 workers or employees. We can refuse to label them --we can "see" them in new fresh ways
                 each time we're with them. We  can  help  them become independent, fulfilled people
                 capable of deeply satisfying, enriching, and productive relationships with others.

                 Goethe taught, "Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can
                 and should be and he will become as he can and should be."

                 Balance in Renewal

                 The  self-renewal process must include balanced renewal in all four dimensions of our
                 nature: the physical, the spiritual, the mental, and the social/emotional.

                 Although renewal in each dimension is important, it only becomes optimally effective as
                 we deal with all four dimensions in a wise and balanced way. To neglect any one area
                 negatively impacts the rest. I have found this to be true in organizations as well as in
                 individual lives. In an organization, the physical  dimension is expressed in economic
                 terms. The mental or psychological dimension deals with the recognition, development,
                 and use of talent. The social/emotional dimension has to do with human relations, with
                 finding meaning through purpose or contribution and through organizational integrity.

                 When an organization neglects any one or more of these areas, it negatively impacts the
                 entire organization. The creative energies  that  could result in tremendous, positive
                 synergy are instead used to fight against the organization and become restraining forces
                 to growth and productivity.

                 I have found organizations whose only thrust is  economic  --  to  make  money.  They
                 usually don't publicize that purpose. They sometimes even publicize something else. But
                 in their hearts, their only desire is to make money.

                 Whenever I find this, I also find a great  deal  of negative synergy in the culture,
                 generating such things as interdepartmental rivalries, defensive  and  protective
                 communication, politicking, and masterminding. We can't effectively thrive without
                 making money, but that's not sufficient reason for organizational existence. We can't live
                 without eating, but we don't live to eat.

                 At the other end of the spectrum, I've seen organizations that focused almost exclusively
                 on the social/emotional dimension. They are, in a sense, some kind of social experiment
                 and they have no economic criteria to their value system. They have no measure or gauge
                 of  their effectiveness, and as a result, they  lose all kinds of efficiencies and eventually
                 their viability in the marketplace.

                 I have found many organizations that develop as many as three of the dimensions -- they
                 may have good service criteria,  good  economic criteria, and good human-relations
                 criteria, but they are not really committed  to identifying, developing,  utilizing,  and
                 recognizing the talent of people. And if these psychological forces are missing, the style
                 will be a benevolent autocracy  and  the  resulting culture will reflect different forms of
                 collective resistance, adversarialism, excessive turnover, and other deep, chronic, cultural
                 problems.

                 Organizational as well as individual effectiveness requires development and renewal of
                 all four dimensions in a wise and balanced way. Any dimension that is neglected will

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