Stephen Covey's "emotional" work habits

Stephen Smith, author of the blog @ Stephen, has been writing a series on how to implement Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

This week, he takes a look at habit four - “emotional bank accounts” that other people hold for you and you hold for others.

Emotional bank account - an expression of your credibility, your communication level and your ability to persuade/influence others.

At work, whenever you express your faith in a coworker by trusting them to do their job, or acting on their input, or even just listening when someone needs to talk, you are making a “deposit” in the emotional bank account that you have with that person.

Personal relationships can be measured by the number of deposits made to your shared emotional bank accounts.

Just like a real bank account, withdrawals can also be made. Withdrawals happen when your actions hurt a person in some way. A withdrawal can be made in the office when you show up late to a meeting, are disrespectful or act with immaturity.

Six ways to make deposits:

1. Understand what makes the other person an individual, what makes them “tick.” Play to their strengths and help them to compensate for their weaknesses.
   
2. Small acts of kindness can go a long way. When you notice someone struggling, ask how you can help.
3. Keep your commitments. Do what you say you will do - be on time to meetings, complete assigned tasks.
4. Understand each other’s expectations. When working on a project, have a clear view of what each expects of the final result and clear steps on how to get there. The key to this is effective communication.
5. Show personal integrity by developing trust and respect for those around you.
6. Apologize for withdrawals. Nobody is perfect and withdrawals will happen. Acknowledge the withdrawal, sincerely apologize and learn from the experience so that it doesn’t happen again.

Read Part 2 of Stephen Covey's emotional work habits.