Essay: Employees and the 7 Habits training program

Employees play a fundamental role in a company’s performance. Effective training and development are extremely valuable because they can facilitate an organization improvement on its performance and efficiency. A training program that we utilize at CDW to engage and empower employees is 7 Habits. The 7 Habits training program is built on the subject matters from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, authored by Stephen Covey. This book is one of the greatest impactful books ever written on personal effectiveness, leadership development, and change. What differentiates The 7 Habits from other trainings that emphases on leadership are its distinctive, exclusive content, which has worldwide attraction, and is an inside-out method to leadership development.
The 7 Habits training program exists to educate employees about ways to become more highly effective leaders, with or without the title because we are all leaders. In addition, the training aims at improving productivity levels. The first Habit is to be proactive. This allows employees reflect ahead when it comes to client\’s needs. To think in advance when it comes to needs of the team. To think ahead when it comes to changes in the market and shifting business developments. Habit 2 is to begin with the end in mind. We know there is importance in establishing and having goals, but the immense value is in leading those goals to maturing. The team can’t help other employees to drive toward those goals unless they share not only the target, but also the assets, confidence, skills, tools, and outlooks for the journey. To acquire a clear meaning of what is important to them by establishing the most vital roadmap they will have: their personal mission statement. Begin with the end in mind is defined as helping the team for success from the beginning. The third Habit is to put first things first. To improve the stability and completion of their professional and private life by capitalizing a few minutes every single day in the same planning method used by many of the world’s most effective people. Habit 4 is to think Win-Win. This creates a group that finds immediate and better resolutions through strong outlooks, shared tasks, and an understanding of precedence. Habit 5 is to seek first to understand, and then be understood. This is utilized by developing the skills of successful communications that result in greater influence and immediate problem solving. The sixth Habit it to synergize – simply put, it means that two heads are better than one. It is teamwork to finding new solutions to old problems. It is a process where individuals need to bring their personal experience and expertise to the table. Together, they are able to produce far better results that they could on their own.  Finally, habit 7 is to sharpen the saw. This is complete by supporting and expanding their newfound effectiveness by frequently renewing themselves emotionally and physically. What are they doing day-to-day to improve their character, confidence, skills, or relationships with those they lead? Are they doing things to aid their determinations for growth or are they asking other employees to work long hours without acknowledging their needs and wants to learn grow professionally and personally.
New employee hires are automatically enrolled in the 7 Habits training program by their HR contact within their first year of employment, and although not required, it is highly recommended for employees to retake the training if it has been four years or longer since it was last completed. The training is composed of two, three-day, eight-hour sessions that are six weeks apart. The first session covers habits 1 – 3 and the second session covers habits 4 – 7. Each training session has approximately 30 employees.
Even with today’s technology advancements, classroom and instructor-led training continues to remain popular and in-demand by employees and employers. People tend to learn best when they are being directly instructed by someone onsite. The 7 Habits training is delivered via a classroom setting, and is led by a third-party company and two HR representatives from the company. The instructor-led training in the classroom is delivered via PowerPoint presentations, slideshows, video training, and personal storytelling.
To keep employees engaged, interactive training techniques are incorporated into the program. The interactive training keeps employees involved, energetic, and receptive to new information. During 7 Habits, group discussions, brainstorming, case studies, team building, role-playing, rotational workstations, and quizzes/rewards are all used to make the training fun and enjoyable, while still providing the necessary material and knowledge for employees to absorb and apply in their personal and professional life. In addition to interactive activities the employee participate in while in the training, at the end of session 1, employees are split into three groups of approximately 10 employees each, and then assigned a group project that they have to present to the class at the beginning of session 2.
Prior to the beginning of session 1, employees, their managers, and a colleague of their choosing are requested to answer a series of questions that pertain to the employee attending the training. These questions are delivered online in an e-learning training environment, and are used to focus on the employee’s weaknesses during the six days.
The training content is important, but it is also essential to keep employees involved and engaged in order to encourage them to retain and apply the new information they have recently absorbed. Incorporating humor, attractive learning materials, encouraging participating, and building employee self-esteems helps create a win-win (Habit 4) environment by building employee confidence and making the training more interesting.