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Learning & development

Ineffective employees: Seven bad habits

by Personnel Today 18 Mar 2008
by Personnel Today 18 Mar 2008

You have all read the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey – well here are the ineffective ones:

Habit 1: Be inactive. Instead of basing your actions on your own chosen values, base them on your mood swings. That way you’ll never get too far.

Habit 2: Begin with the start in mind. Forget thinking about the end result and don’t write down goals. That way you’ll never achieve them.

Habit 3: Put first things last. Say yes to the unimportant, especially if it isn’t urgent. That way you’ll be totally unsuccessful.

Habit 4: Think lose-lose. Covey said “win-win” is seeking mutual benefit in all interdependent relationships. Do the opposite.

Habit 5: Seek not to understand and not to be understood. Don’t bother with the other person’s view and make sure no-one understands yours.

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Habit 6: Don’t synergise. No-one knows what it means anyway, so why bother?

Habit 7: Blunt the saw. Covey said highly effective people sharpen their acts in all areas of their life. Highly ineffective people don’t. And besides, what is this saw anyway?

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

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