Seven Habits of Highly Effective Maintenance Organizations Habit 5
“Seven Habits of Highly Effective Maintenance Organizations”
Habit 5
Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood.
This is one of the great maxims of the modern age. It is also Steven Covey’s habit of communication; and it’s extremely powerful. Covey helps to explain this in his analogy, “diagnose before you prescribe”, which is simple, effective, and essential for developing and maintaining positive relationships.
Habit 5 is about communication and listening to the customer-in this case: operations, employees, and management. For example, when operations seems unreasonable - what appears to you as a “lose/win” situation, i.e. a loss for you and a win for them - first try to diagnose what is at the root of their demand. When done sincerely, this often uncovers true underlying issues that need to be addressed and leads to cooperation rather than confrontation. Mutual trust may develop between the parties. This is a much more productive environment and ultimately benefits everyone in the organization. Watch next month for Habit 6, Synergize.
”Seven Habits of Highly Effective Maintenance Organizations,” by Paul Swatkowski, MRG, is based on the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Steven Covey.
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While the storyline is a fictional account about business change made in a plant environment, readers will quickly realize that the tools found here can be successfully applied in all lines of business. Anyone working to make a change for the better in their business will benefit from this book.
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Comments (4)
It applies not only to Maintenance.
1) Posted 10:10 am, 14 May 2009 by Juan AngelCuéllar
May also want to look at the Time management Matrix.
This is a very useful tool for those struggling with choices and time restraints.
2) Posted 7:23 am, 21 May 2009 by Alan Beck
3) Posted 7:14 am, 28 May 2009 by Paul SWatkowski
Thanks for the comment. The Time Management Matrix is covered in the full article - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Maintenance Organizations - available on our website <MRGSolutions.com>. Watch for my next article "Quadrent II Maintenance" which details activities that can keep a Maintenance organization out of the Fire fighting (QuadrantI) mode. - Paul
4) Posted 7:19 am, 28 May 2009 by Paul SWatkowski