A team of researchers from the Ivey Business School - Mary Crossan, Gerard Seijts, Jeffrey Gandz, Alyson Byrne, and Mark Reno - are involved in an extensive research program on leader character. Our research was inspired by the 2008 - 2009 financial crisis. One of the enduring lessons from the crisis is that good leadership rests on three pillars: competencies, character and commitment. When any of these three pillars are deficient, the shortfall will undo the strengths of the other pillars and, ultimately, leads to problems for leaders, organizations and related stakeholders.
Competencies
Leaders must have the intellect as well as people, organizational, business and strategic competencies. Such competencies are amalgams of knowledge, understanding, skills and judgment. Competencies define what a person is capable of doing.
Character
Competencies determine what leaders can do. Leadership character determines what they will do in different situations. Character can be expressed as a set of traits, values and virtues.
Commitment
Commitment to the leadership role refers to doing the hard work of leadership and the motivation to continue to develop as a leader. Such commitment is forged from individual aspirations, and the preparedness to be fully engaged and make personal sacrifices in return for the opportunities and the rewards that leadership provides.
Character is the least understood of these 3 Cs and often the most difficult to talk about in a constructive way. Executives told us they have trouble understanding the meaning of character and are looking to researchers to help them figure it out. Hence our focus on leader character.
We started with the premise that character is foundational to effective decision making and thus functioning. Character shapes what we notice, how we engage the world around us, what we reinforce, who we engage in conversation, what we value, how we interpret feedback, what we choose to act on, how we deal with disappointment and setbacks, the goals we set for ourselves, how we communicate, and so forth. For example, aspiring leaders must commit to stretch assignments to develop their competencies, be humble and take in constructive feedback, learn to take ownership for personal mistakes made, and collaborate with others to achieve organizationally-relevant goals. These behaviours and activities are rooted in character.
We consider character to be an amalgam of traits, values and virtues. Traits, such as open-mindedness, are relatively stable dispositional variables. Values, such as honesty, are deep-seated beliefs that people hold about what is morally right or wrong or, alternatively, what makes the most sense to do, or not to do, in choosing a course of action. Virtues, such as courage or temperance, refer to patterns of situationally appropriate behaviours that are generally considered to be emblematic of good leadership.
Based on the literature from various disciplines, existing research, and numerous conversations with leaders from the private, public and not-for-profit sector we posit leader character as consisting of 11 dimensions as shown in Figure 1. Each character dimension is composed of several character elements; the elements are illustrative.
Figure 1.
We collected data and explored how young leaders view the importance of these character dimensions vis-à-vis older and more experienced senior business leaders. Though we anticipated some differences the actual pattern of results did not show a divergence in the ratings. The top 5 rated character dimensions were accountability, drive, integrity, judgment and collaboration. The results also showed a well-defined drop-off point. Humility, justice, temperance, courage, transcendence and humanity were still seen as beneficial to leader success but it was evident from the responses of both groups of leaders that these dimensions were seen as less compelling.
The rating of these dimensions is perhaps not all that surprising. This is because dimensions like accountability, drive and collaboration are the type of leadership "values" that can be found on the walls of most companies. They are embedded in selection, performance assessments, talent reviews, job postings, and so forth. And, arguably, these character dimensions are manifested in the behaviours of many leaders. The leaders involved in our data collection are simply feeding back what is being espoused in their workplace. And to be frank ... how often are humility, transcendence, humanity or temperance part of the vision, mission and values discussion in your organization?
People may erroneously conclude that courage, humanity, humility, justice, temperance and transcendence do not matter all that much in achieving individual and organizational excellence. Some may even believe that they detract from, or are detrimental to, achieving high performance. They could not be more wrong. All 11 character dimensions contribute to strength of character and eventually the quality of the decisions we make. Based on our ongoing research, there are three points that leaders must understand about leader character and achieving excellence.
The 11 character dimensions are non-negotiable. People need to be able to exercise them all. This is a strong statement. But the point is that being low on one dimension cannot be compensated by another dimension; and having excess (or deficiency) in one dimension turns a virtue into a vice. For example, without humility, decision making can become arrogant, friction in collaboration emerges, and learning will be hampered. Drive without integrity can lead to self-serving goals and subsequent mistrust. Courage is essential for integrity because being principled and candid are not easy behaviours to live hence individuals need to put themselves "on the line." Without temperance, courage can result in reckless behaviours. And without justice, collaboration may derail as emerging inequities erode trust and can eventually lead to a hostile environment. These realities lead to my second point.
The dimensions work together to determine the overall strength of character and hence the quality of one's judgment. Therefore, it is important to set aside the time to fully understand both one's strengths and developmental areas to grow as a leader. The root of leadership development is self-awareness. For example, reflection about why you might be impatient, inconsiderate, self-interested or careless provides the necessary insight for examining and further developing character. This observation leads to my last point.
Both anecdotal and empirical research has shown that character is developed over one's lifetime and individuals can enhance the development of character through deliberate practice. Every situation presents a different experience and opportunity to exercise, apply and develop character. Developing good leadership is a lifelong journey! We have developed the Leadership Character Insight Assessment to help people reflect on their character and set goals to further develop character dimensions.
I end with 5 conclusions. First, character matters. Second, it is important to develop a language around character in organizations. Third, organizational leaders should be careful of what they focus on and reward. Fourth, the quality of our decisions, or judgment, is supported by 10 character dimensions. And fifth, find ways to further develop those dimensions as they are non-negotiable for effective functioning.