Like the fundamental principle that “People have the capacity and desire for . . .”, this fundamental principle is a grouping of resources people have access to or could access.
The fundamental principle: “People have the capacity and desire for . . .” is a catch-all for many aspects that make humans human.
Many of these aspects have antonyms that also play a significant role in human effectiveness or lack thereof.
When dealing with human effectiveness we must acknowledge that humans are human and that they have the capacity and desire for many things we might neglect or overemphasize.
My list is intended to be useful, if not exhaustive. The list is also not presented in rank order. I would, however, emphasize that the rank order is different for different people. Ken Blanchard emphasizes the rank order of values and I extend that importance to the qualities humans have or desire.
Even the rank order would define a specific group of people, as per the fundamental principle that people are different.
So, without further ado, here is my suggestions for a list of fundamental principles of Human Effectiveness:
The list of 15 has grown and shrunk over time as I thought about the topic repeatedly.
Please also note that there are two items on the list that themselves also require lists. I will share those lists, when I get to the specific items.
Let me pause and see where I am:
Now, I need to explain the missing piece before I share my list of fundamental principles.
The definition of principle I use is:
Fundamental principles express what people are or have and serve as the foundation for a chain of reasoning to support human effectiveness.
Andreas A Landman
The missing piece, is the “chain of reasoning”.
Dr Eli Goldratt, Dr Lisa Scheinkopf, and Jelena Fedurko Cohen espoused the foundation of the chain of reasoning through the thinking processes. Entities are related to each other by sufficiency or necessity logic.
In building the chain of reasoning to support human effectiveness, I rely on sufficiency logic. Sufficiency logic is expressed by If A and B then C type sentences.
I will not go into how to use the sufficiency logic. Rest assured I poured over the list of principles and looked for the links and found many links. All in the hope of finding the bottom principles – the fundamental principles.
In the process of building the chain of reasoning, I weeded out many so-called principles and false connections, or connections that need a longer explanation. The way of doing that is called applying the categories of legitimate reservation.
The categories of legitimate reservation strengthen the logic by giving it a process.
So, there you have it. Standing on the shoulder of giants with new methods allows me to make bold statements . . .
In an earlier post, I referred to Eli Goldratt’s proposed six-step process to stand on the shoulders of giants, which includes “Get on the giant’s shoulders. Gain the historical perspective – understand the giant’s solution better than he did.”
So, what did Dr Covey say about principles? A lot. And he shared his thoughts in his many books:
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: 30th Anniversary Edition
The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness
The Leader in Me: How Schools Around the World Are Inspiring Greatness, One Child at a Time
Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times
The 3rd Alternative: Solving Life’s Most Difficult Problems
Great Work Great Career: Interactive Edition
Those close to Dr Stephen R Covey also remain close to principles:
The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything
The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals
Smart Trust: Creating Prosperity, Energy, and Joy in a Low-Trust World
Management Mess to Leadership Success: 30 Challenges to Become the Leader You Would Follow
Everyone Deserves a Great Manager: The 6 Critical Practices for Leading a Team
Other authors have also written about principles:
The Leader’s Checklist Expanded Edition: 15 Mission-Critical Principles – who I think fell into the trap of naming good guidelines principles. Either way, these are good guidelines but not fundamental principles of human effectiveness.
The following is a list of principles mentioned in the referenced books. The list is crude because it conveys the list with minimal filtering and thought:
Congratulations! You scrolled all the way down here.
Again – the list of principles above is true and good. I maintain that it is useful to look for fundamental principles:
Fundamental principles express what people are or have and serve as the foundation for a chain of reasoning to support human effectiveness.
Eli Goldratt proposed a six-step process to stand on the shoulders of giants and make progress:
In looking for fundamental principles of human effectiveness, I identify Dr Stephen R Covey as the giant on whose shoulders I wish to stand and look more broadly at the concept of principles. Step 1 was easy enough.
According to my understanding of Dr Covey’s work on human effectiveness, human effectiveness is based on the concept that principles are in control.
Most readers of his work brush over the concept of principles to get to practices – which, I believe, is not what he intended. Step 3 is nearly impossible – I will fudge it until I make it.
People have bought into the seven habits of highly effective people without necessarily buying into the concept of principles. Mainly because the word principle is used for a host of non-principle matters. Step 4 is the gist of my endeavour.
The assumption that I aim to address is the assumption that people know how to go from principles to their everyday lives. People might be seen as rational beings but are not logical beings. Step 5 is easy enough.
Dr Goldratt and the TOC contributors provided us with logical thinking tools to gain that knowledge. Therefore, I build on the assumption that one can build on fundamental principles towards effectiveness. The development of the logical thinking processes leads me to think that we can make progress in understanding human effectiveness. Some more of Step 5.
[1] Standing on the Shoulders of Giants – Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt (tocico.org)
Fundamental principles express what people are or have and serve as the foundation for a chain of reasoning to support human effectiveness.
Dr Stephen R Covey exhorts us to live according to principles (Covey, Stephen R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Mango Media. Kindle Edition). He mentions several principles by name. The word principle appears 287 times in the Kindle Version of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
I agree with Dr Covey.
Many others also mention Principles, but those “principles” do not fit with the concept Dr Covey shares – other authors refer to practices as principles. I have given the concept of principles some thought. The concept of a “principle”, it turns out, is not an easy one.
Looking at Product Management, Brandon Chu also approached this subject recently. Despite a valiant attempt, I think he fell short. This is my opinion and does not reflect on the value of the ideas he conveys, just that I disagree that the term principle is applicable to his writing.
Oxford Dictionary: “Principle – a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behaviour or for a chain of reasoning.” I attempt to display the words in the picture above.
From the definition I deduce that
Furthermore, the name of the principle does not always say what the principle is. The principle requires an explanation, which allows one to build a link from the principle towards behaviour or understanding, and the consequences one can expect from violating or adhering to the principle.
Principles can only be defined within a certain context to build a system of belief regarding that context. The context is a system.
Principles, as far as Covey is concerned, are timeless, universal, self-evident and in operation whether we accept or understand them or not.
Dr Covey’s material deals with Human effectiveness in personal and work life.
Therefore, for principles in this context to be sensibly described, they must link the name of the principle to the values/beliefs/behaviour/habit of human effectiveness.
The context that I choose for principles is not chemistry, physics, or mathematics – if such principle were available.
I choose the context or system to be human effectiveness in personal and work life.
To soften the claim that most principles are not principles, I propose the use of the term “Fundamental Principle”.
The time has come to put together a working definition that will guide me through several posts:
Fundamental principles express what people are or have and serve as the foundation for a chain of reasoning to support human effectiveness.
Therefore, grammatically at least, a fundamental principle will not describe what people do. As an example, when someone claims that they are mentioning a fundamental principle, and describe a human action, they are indeed not discussing a fundamental principle.
Now I will go back and apply this definition to my thoughts before I share a list of fundamental principles and disagree with myself in public.
SWOT Analysis is more than a four quadrant diagram!
One of the most used business analysis tools is the SWOT analysis. The SWOT analysis tool looks at the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats to the current and future organisation. One then uses the resulting SWOT analysis to decide where to focus the organisation’s energy. For example, the opportunities identified might be so good that the organisation might pivot and produce a different product to the market, based on its untapped strengths.The SWOT analysis is not the four-dimensional graphic – it is the properly thought out paragraph that supports the recommendations for the organisation’s future
My book helps you think about the SWOT analysis and how to present the SWOT analysis for maximum effect. After all, any tool is only as useful as the hand that wields it. The pages also give the team leader and team guidance on doing the SWOT analysis in a group.
Trust, vision, execution, TOC and then Performance Management.
I have been thinking about the work environment with my mentor, Philip Viljoen. In this article, I show how the principles contained in the following books combine to form a winning culture:
Let’s start with some naming conventions. When our titles change, there are also significant changes in the way we think – we experience a paradigm shift. Do not believe me? See what happens when you use the wrong designation against someone’s name. Instead of employee and employer, I refer to Company People. Instead of “manager/employer” and “worker/employee/operator” we should refer to coaches and players. The assumption, of course, is that I am referring to good coaches and good players. Would a company not want good coaches and good players as company people?
The trust relationship between the company players and coaches must be in place before any meaningful engagement. For company people to have trust, they must work on their character and their competence. Character is built by transparency, respect, straight talk, righting wrongs, loyalty, extended trust and seeking first to understand then to be understood. When people think win-win, they can be both considerate and courageous. People who are both considerate and courageous can talk straight. Courageous people can right wrongs. Whereas, when people are considerate and feel appreciated, they feel respected. To make people feel appreciated company people must use the appropriate language of appreciation because some people feel appreciated when they receive words of affirmation, spend quality time with someone, benefit from acts of service, receive tangible gifts or when they are physically touched appropriately.
One way of extending trust is to form a stewardship agreement between the players and coaches. A stewardship agreement consists of clear expectations (born out of beginning with the end in mind and putting first things first), clear consequences, accountability, resource availability and guidelines on what is allowed and what is not allowed. The essence is that the player is held responsible for the results without being prescriptive on how the results are obtained unless specific methods are out of bounds. When the consequences are clear, the company people are self-disciplined. Keeping commitments also allows coaches to extend trust. Keeping commitments is the result of company people putting first things first and being proactive.
When company people get better at what they do and fulfil their stewardship agreements, they deliver meaningful results. Company people grow competence when seeking first to understand then to be understood, extending trust, delivering meaningful results and confronting reality.
Company players and coaches work in harmony when they improve their competence, work synergistically, and focus on global improvement. The harmonious relationship between players and coaches is also the result of company people understanding the rationale behind different decisions, having a high level of trust between coaches and players, and when company people have found their voice and inspire others to find theirs. In short, company people have public victories, meaning they have moved from independence to interdependence. Moving from independence to interdependence is the result of working synergistically. Working synergistically requires people to think win/win, seeking first to understand then to be understood and having private victories – moving from dependence to independence. The private victory is the result of people being proactive, putting first things first and beginning with the end in mind. All this only fed by sharpening the saw.
A clear common vision statement aligns the company people. A vision statement consists of a meaningful purpose, a picture of the future, a common understanding of the company’s ranked order values, and acknowledgement that principles govern. The description of the future incorporates the needs of the main stakeholders (owners, company people, customers, and suppliers) and the four human endowments (spiritual, mental, social/emotional, and economical). Goal alignment, role alignment and a shared understanding of company values lead to sensible procedures. Sensible company procedures, a focus on teaching and training and upgrading of knowledge, skills, processes, and infrastructure lead to the company building capacity.
While we are considering the winning company culture, we can also consider the fact that people want to live a full life. The PERMA model helps understand what gives people a full life. When company people make deposits in each other’s emotional bank account and have a meaningful purpose, the company people experience positive emotions. Having a meaningful purpose also cause the company people to be engaged and work synergistically. The result is that the company people deliver meaningful results, which cause them to experience well-being and happiness and thus live a full life. Living a full life, together with experiencing well-being and happiness, leads to the company people being motivated.
The TOC way of achieving meaningful results follows a different route. This route starts with the company people applying TOC thinking. Some of the basic tenets of TOC is that every situation is simple, every conflict can be removed, people think win/win, and every situation can be substantially improved. These four tenets cause people to think clearly. Thinking clearly and sharpening the saw give company people the stamina to overcome failures. Thinking clearly also leads to the belief that there are many opportunities to improve throughput and that company people can work synergistically. And these lead to people delivering meaningful results.
Many good initiatives fail in the execution phase – this does not have to be the case. Applying TOC thinking leads to a focus on global improvement, which means the team focuses on wildly important goals (WIG) with global impact. TOC thinking also implies managing according to throughput accounting practices, which takes operating expenses, investment, and throughput into account. Thus, company people use sensible global lead measures. To ensure successful execution, the company people track progress against lead measures on a sensible team scoreboard. Company people review the scoreboard in weekly meetings where the team holds each other accountable and make new commitments. The new commitments add to the company people clarifying expectations. Once the team starts influencing the lead measures, and the lead measures are predictive of meeting the wildly important goal, the company people deliver meaningful results.
For the company people to continue to be motivated, the company must have a sound performance management system. With the shared vision in place, the coaches coach, according to the agreed ranked value system. The shared vision also ensures that the company people use sensible global lead measures. The performance management system consists of performance planning, coaching and review. Performance planning consists of setting up one-minute goals based on the stewardship delegation/agreements. The coaching involves catching the company people doing things right and giving one-minute praising, redirection, or reprimands.
The coaching is also based on matching the coaches’ leadership styles with the development levels of the players. Company players with low competence and high commitment are coached with high direction and low support. Company players with high competence and high commitment are coached with low direction and low support. Company players with low competence and low commitment are coached with high direction and high support. Company players with high competence and variable commitment are coached with high direction and low support. Coaches show directive behaviour when they teach, observe, provide frequent feedback, and make decisions. Company coaches show supportive behaviour by listening, being involved, facilitating, and encouraging.
Thus, we have a motivated team of company people who are not demoralised by a lousy performance management system—yielding a winning Company.
In my latest picture book (Molecules we Know) I show the molecular structure of everyday molecules.
In my latest picture book (Molecules we Know) I show the molecular structure of everyday molecules, from the feel-good hormone dopamine to hydrochloric acid used in pools. I hope this book will awaken the love for chemistry in someone. At least the molecules will satisfy someone’s curiosity.
Green Octahedron Blogging 
