If we are unable to develop character in our employees, the best corporate character we could ever hope for is limited to what we’ve hired. While it’s important to hire strong character and values, we fall short of our potential if we ignore the opportunity to grow character and integrate values more deeply in our organization. Assuming that character, skills, and intelligence are static is the definition of a fixed mindset, but assuming character, skills, and intelligence can grow through effort and intentionality is a growth mindset (Dweck). The trick is that our mindset as leaders will tend to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we see our people in a fixed mindset, they will tend to reflect a fixed mindset. However, the great news is, if we see our people through a growth mindset, they will tend to reflect a growth mindset about themselves. This article covers principles and approaches in adult character formation and organizational values integration that will help you lead yourself and your team into greater character and purpose.
Understand Character as Multidimensional
First, effective character development programs use a multidimensional model for character or values. Look at these articles for more background on character and its multidimensionality. Considering character to be multidimensional is more than recognizing the various traits or values of character. I have observed that many character and values integration efforts are too shallow, only considering behavioral and cognitive dimensions of character.
Like Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle, our character and values come from a deeper why dimension—what psychologists tend to classify as the affective dimension. When we see character and values coming from the heart, our development and instructional approaches need to address the heart (affective, why), not just the hand (behavioral, what) and the head (cognitive, how). For corporate training departments used to focusing on developing just knowledge and skills, this can be a significant adjustment.
Understand Your Learner
Educators often use the term pedagogy to define instructional approaches and the study of those effective approaches. However, this term should be suspect because of its Greek prefix, ped—meaning child (e.g., pediatrics). Pedagogy is the study of child learning and constitutes the bulk of instructional research, but andragogy is the study of adult learning.
Unfortunately, since most of our experience as learners and research is with child learning, many corporate educators continue to apply pedagogical methods rather than andragogical, limiting effectiveness, especially in values and character training.
Malcolm Knowles discovered an important framework for andragogy in the 1940s still widely accepted today. Rather than emphasizing direct instruction used heavily in pedagogical approaches, adults are motivated to learn when they have
- need or reason to know,
- experience to connect learning to,
- autonomy,
- relevance to work or personal lives,
- problem-centered learning, and
- internal motivation to learn rather than external.
When developing corporate values development programs for your team members, use andragogical approaches that also consider developing affective as well as cognitive and behavioral dimensions. Taking 20 minutes out of a staff meeting to lecture on a core value will not be as effective as creating the right learning environment where each employee brings of their own experience, makes connections to personal and work lives, solves real problems, and has autonomy in the process. Creating these moments is fundamental to the Integreaters approach.
It Takes Character to Build Character
Developing character is like developing physical strength—there is no other path except through adversity and resistance. So, it takes a bit of character to even start down the path of developing it, and it takes character every time we choose to enter a situation that presents the challenges and difficulty needed to develop our character. While this is true for individuals, it is especially true for organizations.
Humble
No one wants to be accused of having a character shortcoming, so it might be difficult to admit that I need to work on my character in a particular area, or that my department or company needs to focus on developing character (i.e., integrate our values more). But isn’t humble self-awareness always the first step towards any growth? The truth is, our character capacity is infinite. We will always have more room to develop character.
Courageous
While traditional instruction is relevant for discovering what values are and what we should aspire to, the bulk of character development and values integration is about integrating our values into everything we do, especially when it is difficult and costly. Practically every adult knows what is right if you ask them on a test. But there is a gap between what we know to be right and what we end up doing. This gap takes courage to fill because there is often a price to pay to close that gap. For our companies, there are many costs to being intentional about values and character: training dollars, work hours, risk of losing a sale, and especially losing face when we admit we got it wrong. It takes courage to pay that price. Be courageous to lead your team to greater purpose and corporate character.
Committed
While commitment sounds like courage, the difference in approach here is akin to accountability and intentionality. As a father of four and a business leader, I found it difficult to spend the time with my kids with the strong pressures of life. One thing that worked best for me with my boys was to commit to coaching their basketball teams. I was committed. It was on my calendar. Other people could see if I didn’t follow through. And it was so much fun. These coaching times are some of my best memories with my boys (I’m getting ready to go coach my youngest son’s first game of the season right now). Commit budget to integrating your corporate values. Create visible strategic plans and schedules. Modify your corporate dashboards and individual performance evaluations. Become accountable to your board or someone you would never want to let down. Make it so the pain and embarrassment of not following through with your values efforts is greater than the cost of investing in them.
Find Support
And of course, the best option for you might be to get some outside help! All champion fighters have a great trainer. When Integreaters comes in to consult with a company, our job is to help your company and people discover and integrate their greater purpose. We love understanding who you are and desire to be and then finding the best ways to get there.
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