LEADERSHIP SCHOOL

Many of you have heard of Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The Seven Habits are embraced by boardrooms, government offices, and corporate universities around the world. It helps with organization, character and time management. There have been a number of books since the Seven Habits; The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Children and now The Leader in Me. By applying these principles in a school setting, we will be encouraging students to be leaders – to understand and embrace their strengths. We are committed to establishing these principles at North Country School. By teaching the skills of self-discipline, self-reliance and self-confidence, we believe that that we will be teaching life skills that are required in order to become productive adults. All students from Transitional Kindergarten to sixth grade will be taught the leadership skills of the seven habits. Every teacher, every staff member will be following through with teaching the seven habits in order to empower students to be the best they can be. All students will be held to a high standard in a loving, respectful way. We will begin our journey as a leadership school in August. As parents, you can help by reading the Seven Habits Below, and giving your children a jump start this year on what the habits are and using these terms at home. For example, if your child has problems cleaning his/her room, you might say, “Put first things first. First, pick up your clothes, next, put all of these toys away. Then call me and let’s see what the next step should be.” .Next year, your children will come home using this language and better equipped to deal with challenges through these problem-solving steps.

Independence or Self-Mastery

The First Three Habits surround moving from dependence to independence (i.e., self mastery):

§ Habit 1: Be Proactive

Synopsis: Take initiative in life by realizing that your decisions (and how they align with life's principles) are the primary determining factor for effectiveness in your life. Take responsibility for your choices and the subsequent consequences that follow.

§ Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind

Synopsis: Self-discover and clarify your deeply important character values and life goals. Envision the ideal characteristics for each of your various roles and relationships in life.

§ Habit 3: Put First Things First

Synopsis: Plan, prioritize, and execute your week's tasks based on importance rather than urgency. Evaluate whether your efforts exemplify your desired character values, propel you toward goals, and enrich the roles and relationships that were elaborated in Habit 2.

Interdependence

The next three have to do with Interdependence (i.e., working with others):

§ Habit 4: Think Win-Win

Synopsis: Genuinely strive for mutually beneficial solutions or agreements in your relationships. Value and respect people by understanding a "win" for all is ultimately a better long-term resolution than if only one person in the situation had gotten his way.

§ Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood

Synopsis: Use empathetic listening to be genuinely influenced by a person, which compels them to reciprocate the listening and take an open mind to being influenced by you. This creates an atmosphere of caring, respect, and positive problem solving.

§ Habit 6: Synergize

Synopsis: Combine the strengths of people through positive teamwork, so as to achieve goals no one person could have done alone. Get the best performance out of a group of people through encouraging meaningful contribution, and modeling inspirational and supportive leadership.

Self Renewal

The Last habit relates to self-rejuvenation:

§ Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

Synopsis: Balance and renew your resources, energy, and health to create a sustainable, long-term, effective lifestyle.