See, Do, Get – Covey’s belief, action and outcome framework

See, Do, Get

Covey’s “See, Do, Get” model is a cyclical model that pulls together three basic components: how we see the world (See), how we behave or act in the world (Do), and what results from our actions (Get).

The model says that how we see things affects our behaviours (what we do) that in turn affect the results that we achive (what we get). These results then in turn affect how we see the world, and so the model continues, cycling in a reinforcing way.

The key take-away from this model is that when we challenge and change our underlying beliefs about the world, the way we see it, we can change our actions and behaviours and thus the results that we achieve.

Why do we care?

They key take away from all of this is that we have the ability to change. By intentionally challenging and changing our beliefs about the world, how we “see” it, we can transfrom the behaviours that feel right to us (what we “do”), and thus change what we “get” from the world.

The model is really a call towards reflection and the development of self-awareness, encouraging us to reflect on and challenge unhelpful beliefs that we hold.

Though the model is particularly helpful in the self-awareness and personal development space, it’s also helpful for leaders to be aware of this model. The beliefs that are held by members of a team will shape their actions and what they get from their actions. By being aware of this, leaders and managers can help their teams and colleagues challenge their beliefs and thus change their behaviours with the goal of achieving more helpful outcomes.

There are many models and frameworks that overlap with the See, Do, Get framing.

You might enjoy learning more about personal values and our habits, as well as models of personal change like the Bridges model. The subject of the brain as a predictive engine is also relevant here, though we’ve not written about it yet.

This great little poem might also be fun and, of course, a lot of what is covered here is useful to be aware of in the world of coaching.

You might also enjoy this podcast on personal values:

A lot of the work that we do comes back to the principles in this model, and we like the simplisity of this model as a way to speak to people about these ideas.

We very much believe that the way people interact with each other and behave in the world is (at least in part) shaped by their underlying beliefs, the way they see the world. This is part of the reason work on self-awareness and personal values is so important. The more we understand who we are and the way we see the world, the clearer we are on why we behave the ways we do.

In turn, understanding these links can make it easier for us to let go of some of our unhelfpul beliefs, behaviours and ways of doing things, replacing them with new behaviours and actions. When we do this, we often find that our former behaviours were just one way of doing things, and that the new ways we adopt work pretty well too. As we use our new bahaviours more and more, we’ll see that they work well and this changes our views about how the world works.

These are all steps we’ve seen in the world, and it’s a journey we think it helpful for people to go on.

Covey, S. R. (1989). The 7 habits of highly effective people: Powerful lessons in personal change. Simon & Schuster.

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