Consider leading a weekly discussion of the book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. This thoughtful book presents seven principles of effectiveness any one of which if followed consistently would enhance effectiveness. The set of seven principles is especially suitable for individuals working in academia; the concepts integrate extremely well in the academic setting. The book can easily be covered in nine or ten weekly sessions of forty- five minutes to an hour. A packet of discussion notes is available from Christian Leadership Ministries, thus one could lead a discussion group with no additional preparation other than reading the book.

The following steps are suggested for setting up a discussion group.

1. Make a list of several colleagues you wish to include in the group. Six to eight people is probably the most effective group size. Due to conflicts, individuals will miss occasionally; you need a minimum of about six to ensure that on off days you have enough people to have a discussion. With more than eight or so, individuals may feel inhibited and be reluctant to participate. If you are in a large department, you might like to target your group, for example to assistant professors or to full professors.
2. Begin praying systematically for each person on your list, that God would impress him or her in the area of personal effectiveness and that he or she would respond positively to an invitation to participate in such a group.
3. Make sure that sufficient copies of the book are available from a local bookstore. You may want to consider purchasing copies of the book and giving a gift copy to each person on your list.
4. Challenge each person individually to participate in the study. Obviously it will be helpful if you have already read the book and started to apply the principles in your own life so that you can use personal illustrations of how the book has helped you. If there are other Christians on your list, you might approach them first and have them pray as you challenge others.
5. Once you have challenged each person on your list, get a schedule of available times either from the individuals or from the department and pick a convenient time for everyone.

1. Use E-Mail or the departmental mail to remind each person of the meetings. It only takes about five minutes to send an E-Mail message to several people and it will certainly increase your attendance.
2. Expect that from time to time people will have to miss. It may be possible to juggle the schedule from week to week to maximize attendance, but it is probably best to meet weekly even if a person or two can't make the meeting.
3. Start each session on time and end on time. You could hardly be characterized as effective if you did otherwise and people are more likely to come if they know what to expect in terms of the time requirement.
4. Tell everyone up front that the format is discussion and that everyone is expected to have read the assigned chapter(s) and to participate in the discussion. Be prepared as the leader to ensure that everyone participates; you may have to draw some people into the discussion and you may have to be careful that some don't monopolize. Make sure that you don't turn the sessions into a lecture series.
5. Be prepared for some exciting results. Some will begin to see dramatic changes taking place in their marriages and families. Some will see applications in their instructional duties; some in their research activities. Most will be enthusiastic about having participated; a few may fall by the wayside, mainly for not having read the material or having seriously tried to apply it.

1. Think of ways of continuing the sessions with a similar focus. A study of The Man in the Mirror by Patrick M. Morley is an excellent follow-on to the Seven Habits. You need to be up front in communicating that while the Seven Habits is a secular study, the Man in the Mirror is a Christian approach.
2. You may wish to offer the Seven habits to another group; other colleagues, a couple's group, or to a group in your church.

All eight of them were excited about the study and thought it would be a good thing to do. We met on Friday afternoons from 2:00 to 2:45 for about ten Fridays. To summarize the experience, we had a blast! We would talk about applying the principles in the halls and over coffee in the coffee room. Several of us worked to put Covey's scheduling system up on our PCs and 4 or 5 of us are faithfully using the system to organize our activities. Practically each week, someone in the group would volunteer an application of the material to our work or family situations. Toward the end of our sessions, I suggested that we might like to continue the following semester with The Man in the Mirror; six of the eight have decided to continue.

When the word got around the department that I was doing the study, two of the full professors came to me and complained, good naturedly, that I had excluded them. I suggested that if the study went well, I would do it again the following semester for the full professors; it went well, so I will be doing it again with four of the five full professors and one of the assistants who had to drop out of the Fall study due to an illness in his family. One of the full professors even purchased a copy of the book and started reading it on his own as we were doing the Fall study. The department head who will be joining the study for full professors has commended me for exercising this leadership role in the department.

I was so enthusiastic about the study, that the Sunday evening adult group in our church asked me to lead a study for couples in the church. Some of the people involved in that study have commented on how the study has significantly impacted their lives. I have already had several requests for the discussion notes I prepared from participants who want to start other groups; one such request came from a professor from another university who was visiting the department one Friday afternoon and was invited to the meeting by one of our members.

The bottom line on this whole experience for me is that it has opened the entire faculty up to discussions on effectiveness, cooperation, support, and other topics which foster a collegial atmosphere in a department. My colleague in the next office and I have had frequent and ongoing discussions on how to apply various of the principles; the study would have been worthwhile just for the way it has helped the two of us. I would encourage you to initiate this activity in your own situation. It is a win/win ministry option -- I can't imagine any down side risks and the potential benefits are significant.