Written especially for an accountability-minded reader, the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Covey, 1989) provides a practical foundation on which to build successful recruiting, retention, completion, and placement strategies. We will leave some of Covey’s concepts-such as the “circle of concern, circle of influence” and the “emotional bank account-for you to explore (which you can do by reading the book or by listening to one of the many audiotapes related to it), but we will look closely at the seven habits themselves.

Habit 1: Be Proactive

Traditionally, professors have built relationships with students slowly-often not until the students’ senior year or entry into graduate school. One could logically surmise that in the meantime, many other students had left school because of poor academic performance, family or other personal reasons, or the need or desire to accept full-time employment. Our experience is that many of these challenges can be overcome when a professor provides wise counsel during the student’s crisis. Proponents of the accountability movement believe that the retention of students through graduation is in the best interests of students, the employment market, and our larger society. Therefore, it is incumbent on professors to play a more active role in students’ success. To be proactive, professors should:

• Anticipate challenges students are likely to face and plan for their solution.
• Initiate a dialogue with as many students as possible, early in the term.
• Gather sufficient information from students in order to meet their needs.
• Orchestrate a rich initial class meeting that achieves multiple objectives.
• Follow up promptly on student inquiries for information and on absenteeism.

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind

Many in higher education have long believed that the richness of a liberal arts classroom combined with a comprehensive campus experience was sufficient in and of itself to produce an educated person. While there is unquestionably much to value in that paradigm, the student population has changed significantly since that belief was formulated. As we will discuss in more detail in Chapter 3, today’s college and university students are far more likely than yesterday’s to attend classes part-time while working full-time. They are also more likely to be older and to have family responsibilities (whether in child-rearing or caring for aging parents). These factors, along with the expectations of the stakeholders enumerated in Chapter 1, have heralded a call for more measurable educational outcomes than were common during the height of traditional liberal art education.

To begin with the end in mind, professors should integrate the following tactics into their teaching:

• Identify specific, up-to-date learning objectives for each course that reflect the consideration of multiple stakeholders.
• Develop richer assignments that lead to the achievement of these objectives that are relevant to students’ lives.
• Provide detailed, eye-appealing syllabi that clearly explain course objectives, strategies, and guidelines.
• Develop exams and other assessment tools before course material is addressed. Clarify throughout the term the objectives communicated in the course syllabus.

Habit 3: Put First Things First

When students were housed in dormitories, sorority and fraternity houses, and other on-campus housing, and when they focused their energies entirely on their college experience, management of class time was not as major an issue as it has now become. Both commuting students and on-campus residents with wide access to support resources (e.g., computer access at home or in the dorm rooms) expect a highly focused and rich course experience. Effective professors manage their class meeting time not only to address the most critical concepts when students are physiologically receptive but also to regularly connect activities and assignments to the core content of the course. To put first things first, the most successful professors will learn to employ the following tactics:

• Develop a detailed agenda for each class meeting that includes time parameters.
• Address critical learning objectives early in the class meeting while students are most fresh and receptive.
• Develop assignments and exams that foster students’ mastery of the most critical content of the course.
• Dedicate class time to content on which students will be evaluated.
• Provide an overview of the following class meeting that enables students to organize their thinking in advance of new instruction.
• Communicate regularly with students via e-mail to provide reinforcement and clarification of upcoming classroom events.

Habit 4: Think Win/Win

In his book, Covey presents “six paradigms of human interactions”-(I) lose/(you wine, lose/lose, win, win/lose, win/win, and win/win or no deal-and states that most highly effective people employ the latter two regularly. Often professors are perceived by students to employ win and win/lose strategies in their interactions. Such interactions commonly lead to outcomes that are increasingly undesirable in today’s higher education environment. For example, has any professor ever really won an argument with a student? Using a win/win approach will allow professors and students to achieve shared instructional success. Students who see the professor as a caring human being truly invested in their well-being will not only extend themselves to meet higher expectations but also internalize high standards for subsequent performance.

Sensitized professors who think win/win will regularly employ the following tactics:

• Provide positive feedback to students in front of their peers.
• Encourage flexibility on assignments to enhance students’ mastery of course learning objectives.
• Prepare students thoroughly for exams-especially the first on in the course.
• Foster students’ performance by providing and reviewing the scoring rubric for each assignment as it is being made.
• Provide prompt, individualized feedback on scored exams and assignments.
• Talk regularly with students-before and after class meetings and via e-mail between classes-about their progress toward their personal learning goals.

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood

The mind that articulated the instructional phrase “Look to your left, now look to your rights ‘seemed to expect listeners to understand the subject material instantly. Being the exploring, experimenting beings they are; however, students seldom grasp complex ideas by hearing a professor talk at them. In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey eloquently explains the folly of such an approach to achieve effectiveness within any relationship. When we reflect on it, most of us would admit that those who have had the greatest impact on our lives first listened to us unconditionally or, to use Covey’s word, empathically. They took the initiative to truly understand us, before expecting us to embrace their view of the world. Effective professors have learned that they do not “teach a discipline” so much as they teach students-students who have the potential to grow well beyond the multiple challenges they bring with them to the classroom. Such professors will say that the most rewarding aspect of their profession is to see the lights come on ion the eyes of their students. It will always be so.
Seeking first to understand and then to be understood is facilitated by employing the following tactics:

• Use a student profile form, such as the one in Appendix 5.1. of Chapter 5, to gather useful information on each student.
• Employ the form throughout the term to note key points that surface in conferences with students and related critical events.
• View students’ various characteristics, experiences, and attitudes as potential enriching elements of the classroom environment.
• Use vocabulary and examples to which your students can relate.
• Solicit “informal” feedback from students throughout the term.

Habit 6: Synergize

Synergy is typically defined as “an interaction or situation in which the whole is more than the sum of its individual parts.” Covey refers to synergy as “creative cooperation.” A professor who works toward synergy believes that a particular course should be more than the sum of its assignments, exam results, and classroom dynamics. Each course should truly enrich the lives of students by giving them a foundation on which to build an understanding of subsequent classes, life experiences, and personal insights. As former (and current) students ourselves, we have taken many courses, some of which achieved great synergy and others that did not. Achieving synergy requires embracing the first five habits to draw students in and to make the course an individualized learning event.

To synergize, professors can employ the following tactics:

• Draw out students’ experiences that relate to classroom topics.
• Link assignments and discussions to students’ real-world lives.
• Employ small groups of students to focus on learning goals.
• Encourage out-of-class study groups.
• Create a community that celebrates the unique nature of learning.

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

Covey relays a number of parables, including one about watching a man working to saw down a tree. The man admits to being at the task for more than five hours. When asked why he didn’t stop to sharpen the saw, he exhaustedly exclaims, “I don’t have time. I’m too busy sawing.” Many professors become frustrated when their once-successful techniques fail with a particular group of students or, even worse, with all of their students. But, like the sawing man, they do not take the time to sharpen their tools. They do not realize that their results will not change until they change the way they approach the work.
In the last few years, truly fascinating research has been conducted on human learning. As professionals, we should invest the time to become familiar with at least some of this research and assess its ramifications on teaching and learning methodologies. Continuously developing educators can employ the following tactics to “sharpen the saw”:

• Establish mentoring relationships with effective veteran instructors.
• Mentor a novice professor, regularly discussing effective teaching strategies (Zachary, 2000).
• Annually extend beyond a single discipline to read a well-received book on teaching and learning practices.
• Make use of on-campus workshops, discussion groups, and related resources-which are often sponsored by one of the growing numbers of teaching and learning centers.
• Access online resources (e.g. www.developfaculty.com).

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is a comprehensive vehicle for facilitating the integration of accountability principles into your teaching. While we recommend this particular book for its proven track record in our, and others’, professional lives, there are unquestionably additional resources available that might help you achieve similar success in yours. Why not invest a small amount of time to develop the foundation that will enable you to achieve greater accountability with you various stakeholders for the remainder of your teaching career?