Question

Discussion: (Please do not attempt to solve if you can not answer all!!!)

The Strategy of Cultivating Interdependence

All of life is an opportunity to think, relate, and work strategically. However, most people do not really think well, and they certainly do not think strategically by nature.  This IS something that can be learned!

In Covey's chapter on "Paradigms of Interdependence," he talks about the "Emotional Bank Account" that we have in our relationship with others, and he identifies "Six Major Deposits" that we can make into this emotional bank account by our actions, behaviors, and habits toward others. (Of course, we can also make "withdrawals" too.)

As you read about these deposits or withdrawals from our emotional bank accounts with others, it seems like "common sense," though this work is based upon solid research too. However, these behaviors are not as "common" as one would wish, which accounts for the interpersonal difficulties that plague our individual lives and the organizations in which we work.

Questions:

1) Do you really believe a person can retrain their thinking so that they learn to think more strategically and effectively as a habit of thought and life?

2) How would one go about learning how to think more strategically and training themselves actually to do so?

3) Do you really believe a person can learn new skills and behaviors in their interpersonal relationships so that over time they can dramatically improve their relationship with everyone important in their life?

4) How could one go about learning how to make Covey's six major deposits into others' emotional bank accounts? What could one do to make these deposits on a regular, reflexive, habitual basis?

Answer 1