7 Habits of Highly Effective
Institutional Researchers
(and other pearls of wisdom)
Originally Stephen Covey,
translated into IRish by Daina Henry
AIR May-June 2004
Carlson’s “pearls of wisdom”:
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Rule 1: Don’t sweat the small stuff !
Carlson’s “pearls of wisdom”:
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Rule 1: Don’t sweat the small stuff !
Rule 2: It is all small stuff.
Like Rick said in Casablanca “Our little problems don’t amount
to a hill of beans.”
Find and Maintain Perspective
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One man’s mountain is another man’s molehill.
Find and Maintain Perspective
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One man’s mountain is another man’s molehill.
In SAS language: one programmer’s “bug”, is
another programmer’s “undocumented feature”.
Find and Maintain Perspective
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It took over a million years to create the Grand
Canyon. And it all started with one little raindrop
following a path of least resistance.
Habit 1 Be Proactive
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Take control over those things which you can
control: yourself, your goals, your projects.
You can not control another person’s behavior.
You can control your reactions to another person’s
behavior.
Mother Nature provides worms to feed the birds,
but Mother Nature does not throw them in the
nest.
“We cannot change the direction of the wind, but
we can adjust our sails.”
Habit 1 Be Proactive
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Plan.
Hope for the best, plan for the worst.
“The best laid plans of mice and men…”
Habit 2 Begin with the End in Mind
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Set goals. You can’t get where you want to go, if
you don’t know where you are going.
Make some goals very reachable (“just let me get
through this day without hurting some one”)
Make some goals require work and effort. These
are the ones that will be remembered and
rewarded.
Habit 2 Begin with the End in Mind
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Institutions have mission statements, offices have
mission statements. What is your mission
statement?
Mission statements and goals can apply to a short
term project, a career, or your lifetime.
Habit 3 Put First Things First
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“Things which matter most must never be at the
mercy of things which matter least.” Goethe
Put the big things in the basket first.
Set priorities.
Habit 3 Put First Things First
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Learn to say no, politely.
Don’t confuse important things with
urgent things.
NOW + NOW + NOW < important
Habit 3 Put First Things First
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“The journey of a thousand miles, begins with the
first step.” And it begins with the first step.
“Bird by Bird”.
Habit 4 Think Win/Win
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Cooperation vs competition.
It is a frame of mind and heart.
Habit 4 Think Win/Win
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Win/Win or no deal – agree to disagree.
3 characteristics of Win/Win: integrity, maturity,
abundance mentality.
Habit 4 Think Win/Win
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Making lemonade out of lemons.
A glass as half-full or half-empty. In IR-speak:
.5 FTEG (full-time equivalent glass).
Habit 5 Seek first to understand, then
to be understood
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Shifting your paradigm.
Empathy and compassion.
Understand the real question, before you answer
it.
“Speak friend and enter…”
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“I don’t know half of
you half as well as I
should like; and I like
less than half of you
half as well as you
deserve.”
Habit 5 Seek first to understand, then
to be understood
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“To others we are not ourselves, but a performer
in their lives, cast for a part we do not even know
that we are playing.”
Habit 6 Synergize
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“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”.
Creative cooperation.
Value differences.
Habit 6 Synergize
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If everyone thought like you did, there would be
no conflict and our IR jobs would be really easy.
There would also be no plumbers, artists,
astronauts, etc.
The best music has harmony. And you don’t get
harmony, when everyone is singing the same note.
Habit 6 continued
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Don’t lose the forest, looking at the trees. And
don’t lose the trees, looking at the forest.
Interconnectedness. We are just a small part of
the whole thing.
“To see the universe in a grain of sand.”
(Sandberg)
To see in the universe, all the grains of sand.
Habit 7 Sharpen the Saw
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A habit of renewal – physical, mental,
social/emotional and spiritual.
Importance of professional development.
“What did you learn in school today?”
Habit 7 Sharpen the Saw
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Self-reflection gives you the ability to know when
to sharpen your saw.
You need to know when and how to sharpen your
saw. And sometimes you need help from the most
unlikely of helpers…
Other pearls:
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For 6 days, God toiled to create the earth and the
sky. On the 7th day, he sat back, reflected,
sharpened his saw, and said “this is good.” Not
perfect, good. Even God knew when good was
good enough….
Summary
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“Difficult times have helped me to understand
better than before how infinitely rich and
beautiful life is in every way and that so many
things that one goes worrying about are of no
importance whatsoever.” (Isak Denison)
When over worked, smile or laugh,
because it is all small stuff.
Using the Habits:
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How we live our days is ultimately how we live
our lives.
7 Habits of Highly Effective Institutional
Researchers (and other pearls of wisdom)
Dr. Daina Paupe Henry,
Associate Director Institutional Research
The College of William and Mary
In Virginia
dphenr@wm.edu