Developing the true "North"- by Stephen Covey

True North

When managing in the wilderness of changing times, a map is of unlimited worth. What’s needed is a moral compass.

When I was in New York recently, I witnessed a mugging skillfully executed by a street gang. I’m sure that the gang members have their street maps and common values, the highest being “don’t fink or squeal on each other”. But this value, as interpreted and practiced by the gang does not represent “true north”- the magnetic principle of respect for people and property.

They lacked and internal moral compass.

Principles are like a compass. A compass has a true north that is objective and external, that reflects natural laws or principles, as opposed to values that are subjective and internal. There is little disagreement on what the constitutional principles of a company should be when enough people get together. I find a universal belief in fairness, kindness, dignity, charity, integrity, honesty, quality, service and patience.

Consider the absurdity of trying to live a life based on opposites. I doubt anyone would seriously consider unfairness, deceit, baselessness, uselessness, mediocrity or degradation to be a solid foundation for lasting happiness and success.

People may argue about how these principles are to be defined, interpreted and applied in real life situation, but they generally agree about their intrinsic merit. They may not live in total harmony with them, but they believe in them, and they want to be managed by them. They want to be evaluated by “laws” in the social and economic dimensions that are just as real, just as unchanging and unarguable, just as the law of gravity in the physical dimension. The degree to which people in a society recognize and live in harmony with them moves them toward either survival and stability or disintegration and destruction.

In a talk-show interview, I was once asked if Hitler was principle-oriented. “No,” I said, “but he was value-driven. One of his governing values was to unify Gremany. But he violated compass principles and suffered natural consequences. And the consequences were momentous- the dislocation of the entire world for years.”

Just as the laws are fixed, so too are consequences. In my seminars I ask audiences, “when you think of your personal values, how do you think?” Typically, people focus on what they want. I then ask them “when you think of principles, how do you think?” They are more oriented toward objective law, listening to conscience and tapping into eternal verities. Principles are not values.

The German Nazis, like the street gang, shared values- but violated basic principles.
Values are maps. Principles are territories. Correct maps will impact our effectiveness far more than our efforts to change attitudes and behaviors. However, when the territory is constantly changing, when the market is constantly shifting, any map is soon obsolete.

A compass for the times.

Why is a compass better than a map in today’s business world?
The compass orients people to the coordinates and indicates a course or direction even in forests, deserts, seas and open, unsettled terrain. As the territory changes, the map becomes obsolete; in times of rapid change, a map may be dated and inaccurate by the time it’s printed.

Inaccurate maps are a source of frustration for people who are trying to find their way or navigate territory.

Many executives are pioneering, managing in uncharted waters or wilderness, and no existing map accurately describes the territory. An accurate map is a good management tool, but a compass is a leadership and an empowerment tool. People who have been using maps for many years to find their way and maintain a sense of perspective and direction should realize that their maps may be useless in the current maze and wilderness of management. My recommendation is that you exchange your map for a compass and train yourself and your people to navigate with a compass calibrated to a set of fixed, true north principles and natural laws.

Strategic Orientation

Map-versus-compass orientation is an important and strategic issue. We are locked into certain mindsets or paradigms, locked into management by maps, locked into and old model of leadership where the experts at the top decide the objectives, methods and means.

This old strategic planning model is obsolete. It’s a road map. It calls for people at the top to exercise their own experience, expertise, wisdom and judgement and set 10 year strategic plans- only to find that the plans are worthless within 18months. On the new environment, with speed-to-market timetables of 18 months instead of 5 years, plans fast become obsolete.

If our planning is centered on an overall purpose or vision and on a commitment to a set of principles, then the people who are closest to the action in the wilderness can use that compass and their own expertise and judgment to make decisions and take actions. In effect each person may have his or her own compass; each may be empowered to decide objectives and make plans that reflect the realities of the new market.

Principles are not practices.

Practices are specific activities or actions that work in one circumstance but not necessarily in another. If you manage by practices and lead by policies, your people don’t have to be experts; they don’t have to exercise judgment, because all the judgment and wisdom are provided them in form of rules and regulations.

If you focus on principle, you empower everyone; they will then understand those principles to act without constant monitoring, evaluating, correcting or controlling. Principles have universal application. And when these are internalized into habits, they empower people to create a wide variety of practices to deal with different situation, no matter how uniquely challenging each of them are.

Leading by principles as opposed to practices requires a different kind of training, perhaps even more training, but the payoff is more expertise, creativity and shared responsibility at all levels in an organization.

If you train people in the practices of customer service, you will get a degree of customer service, but the service will break down whenever customers present a special case or problem because in doing so, they short-circuit the standard operating procedure system.
Before people will consistently act on the principle of customer service, they need to adapt a new mindset. In most cases, they need to be trained- using case-studies, role plays, simulations and some on-the-job coaching- to be sure they understand the principle and how it is applied on the job.

The president of a major corporation recently asked me to meet with him and his management team. He said the corporate mission statement had no impact on their style. These executives felt that the mission was for the people “out there’ who were subject to the law, but that they were above the law. The idea of moral compassing is unsettling to people who think they are above the law. Because the constitution, based on principles, is the law; it governs everybody, including the president. It places responsibility on individuals to examine their lives and determine if they are willing to live by it.

We must deal with people/ culture issues to improve implementation of strategy and to achieve corporate integrity. We must be willing to go through constitutional convention, if not revolutionary war, to get the issues out on the table, deal with them, and get deep buy-in on the decisions. That wont happen without some blood, sweat and tears.

Ultimately, the successful implementation of any strategy hinges on the integrity people attach to the governing principles and on their ability to apply those principles in any given situation using their own moral compass.


By Stephen R Covey, taken from The EDGE Msia Nov, 27 2006

Law

Awesome piece on life..

The Law in These Parts

Never lose your self-respect. Let your integrity be the true standard of all your actions. Your self-assessment should be stricter than the laws that govern human behavior. You should avoid evil because of your own strict standards over and above mere laws.

“In these parts, I am the law.”

It’s a classic western line. One man stand between a cowering town and a gang of hostile outlaws. And while the town has certain laws in the books, the sheriff makes it clear in no uncertain terms that he has the authority to do whatever is necessary – law or no law- to protect the ones entrusted to his care.

Each of us has on obligation to protect the parts that have been assigned to us- hands that are tempted to steal when no one is looking, feet that treathen to take us places we ought not go, ears eager for malicious gossip, eyes that gaze on things better left unseen. There are laws that draw lines between what is permitted and what is punishable, et those laws don’t always slice cleanly between the right and wrong.

Regardless of what laws are in the books, YOU are the law in your parts. YOU have the final say on what is and not allowed.

We can spend our lives searching for loopholes to allows us to cross certain moral lines while remaining within the law. But is that really how we want to determine our actions? If so, life become more a matter of “getting away with stuff” rather than living according to principles we believe in our hearts to be good, right and true.

We would do well to forget the code of the rest. What matters more is the internal code of conscience that keeps us focused on integrity.

So when your temptation assemble and threaten to do damage to your reputation, immediately call up your ‘law-yer’ and plan a counter attack in compliance with The Book of Law.

A Race

The Race -from canaanland devotions

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
2 Timothy 4:7

There is much satisfaction in finishing something you have begun! The success of a race is determined not only by how well you begin but also by how well you end. Many athletes can begin a race impressively, but if they stumble or are injured or lack the stamina to finish, their good start is useless. Paul rejoiced that he had not only begun the race; but he had also finished it. His prize was a robust faith in God and a life filled with God's powerful presence.

The Christian life is not easy.

Some mistakenly assume that once they become children of God, their struggles are over. Many Christians begin their walk with Christ enthusiastically; but as the pressures mount, they lose heart and abandon their pilgrimage.

Paul described his Christian life as a battle. There were times when he struggled, and only through perseverance could he continue. It may surprise us to know that the great apostle had to struggle at times to be faithful to God. Paul faced persecution, misunderstanding, betrayal, and death threats. His Christian life was anything but easy, yet he persevered.

Our faith in God is not proven by beginning the race but by enduring to the finish. Publicly announcing your commitment to Christ in your church does not compare with a lifetime of devotion to His cause.

Use Paul as your model.
Live your life in such a way that you can one day conclude, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith!"

Notes: Peacekeeping

Leaving some notes here as the Friendster blog..i think.. is too exposed. This is is resevered specially for more serious stuff.

Peacekeeping

Definition

1. a way to help countires torn by conflict create conditions for sustainable peace.
2. monitor and observe peace processes in post-conflict areas and assist ex-combatants in implementing the peace agreements they may have signed.
3. such assistance comes in many forms

• confidence-building measures
• power sharing arrangements
• electoral support
• strenghthening the rule of law
• economic and social development

4. remain members of their respective armed forces, do not constitute an independant "UN Army".

5. Well-equipped, well-trained and disciplined military.

6. Examples: NATO mission in Kosovo, Multinational Force and Observers on the Siani Peninsula.

Nature of peacekeeping

• anything that contributes to the furthering of a peace process
• monitoring of withdrawal by combatants from a former conflict area
• supervision of elections
• provision of reconstruction aid

1. Peacekeepers are often soldiers, but do not have to be.
2. Sometimes armed, do not have to engage in combat.
3. Deployed parties to the conflict had given their consent.
4. To observe from the ground and reported impartially on adherence to the ceasefire, troop withdrawal or other elements of thr peace agreement.
5. Gave breathing space for diplomatic efforts to address the underlying causes of conflict.

Structure

1. Official Leader: Special Representative of the Secretary-General (responsible: all political and diplomatic activity, overseeing relations with both the parties to the peace treaty)
2. Second: Force Commander (responsible: military forces deployed, senior officer of their nation's armed services, from the nation committing highest number of troops to the project)
3. Third: Chief Administrative Officer (responsible: supplies and logistics, coordinate the procurement of supplies needed.

History

1. need a neutral party to observe the peace process.
2. Ensure ceasefire is honooured by both sides.

Potential harm

1. can be extremly stressfull
2. potential harm to individual military participants.

Long-term probelms

1. leaving conflicts unresolved
2. effect maintaining an umstable status quo that will inevitably collapse in the long run
3. goal: stabilize a situation so as to give politicians and diplomats the opportunity to establish a permanent peace.
4. we create a stabli environment and conditions for sustainable peace.

I received a word on 23/8/06 (WED) while in office from God about the current "warfare" that is going on in ourmidst. Although a technical "ceasefire" has been achieved, the spiritual acpect of it is still on-going and is extremly tensed. I then seraceh the net for the meaning. To a very enlightening feeling of the meaning, i was still wondering and waited on God for a further explaination.

The 1st confirmation of this word from God is when Moni unexpectedly called for prayer for Me, Mling & Con on Saturday. I shared on the meaning of a Disciple and being an Armorbearer to our leader.We prayed from 11am-12.45pm for the section and memebers by name and need and let the Holy Spirit move with word of knowledge for specific areas.

2nd confirmation is when I msged Moni and asked if i could speak to her. When she replied in the early part of the morning, she mentioned that we would have many things to pray about for the section, and asked to pray twice a week with mling for the section. The matter of her saying those things, when i didnt even tell her yet what i was about to talk to her about. It is certainly a kairos time.

Therefore, i will also stand guard in prayer for the situation of the mentioned "warfare". To enforce peace and the ongoing process of conviction,repentance, and contrition. I did complain that I personally dont want to think about the situation any more, and wouldnt it be easier for a neutral person did it? God did not say further. Mentioned that this is indeed a strong warfare. Corrupted moralities are no longer the primary concern or source of conflict, but now it is demons and principalities that are having a hold on the person and many other people involved. Deliverance is no longer an option now.

Colossians 2:15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

Matt 18:18 Assuredly i say to you, whatever is bound on earth is bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth is loosed in heaven.

Eph 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of the age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Eph 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for ALL THE SAINTS..

Romans 8:37-39 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerers through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angle nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to seoarate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Isa 55:11 So shall My word be that goes firth from My mouth, It SHALL NOT RETURN TO ME VOID, But it shall accomplish WHAT I PLEASE, and it shall prosper in the thing for which i sent it.

Thank You Father, for who You are.