Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
Just before the Memorial Holiday, I took a class through work officially called “Effective Leadership” but it was actually “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Managers” and it was taught by an instructor from FranklinCovey. I went into the class not thinking that it would be very good, but left knowing that I could change how I handled some things that would not only make things better for me, but for those that I work with. I’ve been focusing on what other people have been doing to make things difficult for me, but I have only recently been focusing on what I can do to make things better. Not only for me, but for the people I work with. In other words, I need to be committed like the Pig.
By the name, you can guess that the class was based on The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I hadn’t been officially introduced to the Seven Habits before, but as we went through them, I had heard most of them in one form or another. Some items I probably won’t do in the near future, but others I have always done and with good success. And I won’t be buying a Franklin planner anytime soon!
The instructor we had was especially good — he was personable, energetic, and honest about things from his past experiences. He kept the class at a fast pace but also kept it very interactive. The interaction between my co-workers was my favorite part. When you work for a large company like I do, you don’t get much exposure to other departments. But this class was company-wide — not just IT. In fact, there was only one other person besides me in IT that took the class. The rest was from many other departments. Hearing fresh perspectives on our problems, and hearing validation on the problems we see, was all good. Of course, I had to relate this all back to being a better ScrumMaster. What can I do to make my role as a ScrumMaster better? Here are some points:
- Asking for feedback and what I am doing. And lately I haven’t even had to ask for it.
- Planning my meetings better. We waste a lot of time in our meetings. The class gave us some tools for making our meetings better.
- I’ve never really struggled with being proactive, but am trying to improve my goals. But, no, I’m not planning on writing a personal vision statement anytime soon.
- Put First Things First.
- I’m working hard to get our team to Synergize more.