Developing Leader Character

Prof. Gerard H. Seijts

Ivey Business School, Western University

Executive Director Ian O. Ihnatowycz Institute for Leadership

(www.iveyleadershipinstitute.ca)

@iveyleadership

January 22 2015

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Agenda

• Report "Leadership on Trial: A Manifesto for Leadership Development"

– Competencies count. Character matters. Commitment is critical.

• The "problem" with leader character

– The importance of bridging theory and practice

• To define and unpack leader character

– Character dimensions and supporting elements

• To present results from two surveys

– The perceived importance of leader character dimensions

– Relating dimensions of leader character to performance and outcomes

• Implications for leader character development in organizations

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Among the Questions We Asked

• Could good leadership have made a difference? Or … was this an act of

Mother Nature?

• What do we know about good leadership? What did we – scholars,

practitioners – miss about formulations of good leadership?

• How did business school contribute to the crisis of business leadership?

• What do institutions such as business schools and organizations need to

do – or do different – to reduce the likelihood from these kind of events to

happen again?

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The Effective Leader

If any of these three pillars are deficient, the shortfall will undermine the other

pillars and, ultimately, lead to performance problems for leaders,

organizations and related stakeholders.

PeopleCompetencies

OrganizationalCompetencies

Business Competencies

Strategic Competencies

Intellect

Competencies

Character Commitment

• Virtues

• Traits

• Values

• Aspiration

• Engagement

• Sacrifice

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Some Unexpected Endorsements …

"When we think about leadership we focus too much on what leaders do …

and we don't spend enough time on who leaders are – the character of

leaders."

Domenic Barton, head of McKinsey's global consulting practice

"You cannot legislate virtue, you can't enforce integrity …even the most

intense supervision can't guarantee absolute adherence to basic ethical

norms."

Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England

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Survey – Institute of Corporate Directors (Ivey, 2015)

• 70 percent of respondents believe that boards spend insufficient time

addressing or assessing the character of potential nominees to their

boards, notwithstanding the fact that they believe that character is very

important.

• 64 percent believe that the educational system does a poor job of

developing character and an overwhelming 92 percent believe that

business schools need to address character-related issues more than

they do.

• 66 percent also believe that character can be further developed after

someone becomes an adult and 82 percent believe that early workplace

experiences can have a substantial impact on character formulation.

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The "Problem" with Leader Character …

• The gap between the perceived importance and the actual use of

character can be attributed to at least three things:

– Character is a "loaded" word. There is a great deal of ambiguity about

what is meant by the word character.

– Leaders need a contemporary, practice-focused vocabulary with

which to address character in the workplace.

– There are few tools available for the systematic assessment of

character. Leaders and HR professionals need these tools if they are

to move from thinking and talking about character development to

actually doing something about it.

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So … Where Did That Leave Us?

• Focus on bridging theory and leadership practice

• Conducted countless executive focus groups with directors, executives,

practitioners and executive MBA students

• Surveys at multiple organizations

• Partnering with SIGMA Assessment on the Leader Character Insight

Assessment

• Pilot testing the assessment at a large organization (360 feedback)

• Partnering with the Institute of Corporate Directors to understand

character in board governance

• Academic and practitioner publications

• Student programming and significant outreach

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Leader Character Dimensions

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Keep in Mind …

• Each dimension is composed of several character elements; and they

affect the strength of the particular dimension (deep reservoir)

• The character dimensions are interconnected

• The character dimensions are "non-negotiable"

• Judgment serves as the air traffic controller

• Character is exercised through judgment; and the quality of judgment

impacts performance

• Character is developed over one's lifetime and individuals can enhance

the development of character through deliberate practice and reflection

on experience.

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Survey – Large Canadian Conglomerate (Ivey, 2015)

• All of the 11 dimensions were seen as positive contributors to both

leadership performance (e.g., being an effective team member) as well as

leadership outcomes (e.g., building a successful leadership career)

• But … there was considerable variance in the ways in which people

viewed these character dimensions as detrimental or beneficial for

individually- and organizationally-relevant variables

– 14% of respondents thought that Humility was very, moderately, or somewhat

detrimental to being successful in one's leadership career;

– 12% of respondents considered Humanity to be detrimental; and

– 11% of the respondents thought the same about Temperance

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Research Led to the LCIA

• Character is essential to effective

leadership and preventing

leadership failures:• Qualitative interview data from leaders

• Quantitative data linking dimensions of

leader character to performance

• The LCIA provides a way to assess

leadership character. It provides a

baseline against which

development can be measured.

• The LCIA equips HR professionals

and leaders with language to

discuss the concept of leader

character.

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Call to Action

• Whether the quality of leadership in organizations improves or not will

depend on the efforts of many. In the report Leadership on Trial we

issue a "call to action" to five groups:

– professionals in the field of organizational and leadership

development;

– those who are involved in management education in universities

and colleges;

– senior leaders in the business community;

– boards of directors of companies; and

– the next-generation leaders.

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Implications for Practice - I

• Never assume that leaders, managers and employees understand the

meaning of character and its importance to individual and organizational

success.

– Develop leadership profiles that go beyond defining competencies and

address leader character

– Never miss an opportunity to bring character to the forefront (e.g., be

explicit in explaining how character dimensions contributed to a

person's promotion)

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Implications for Practice - II

• The importance of character must be embedded in organizational

systems and processes including but not limited to recruitment and

selection; performance management; developmental processes;

promotion criteria; compensation; disciplinary and termination practices;

and so forth.

– Systems and processes serve as beacons – they signal what it takes

to be successful as a leader in the organization

– Always remember that when an organization emphasizes narrow

outcomes such as shareholder value … we should not be surprised to

get narrow leaders!

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Implications for Practice - III

• Managers and employees must be able to observe role models of

character to whom they can relate.

– Recognize behaviors that exemplify good character and affirm

verbally those who exhibit the lesser appreciated dimensions of

character that nevertheless contribute to success.

– Understand that stated values mean nothing unless they are reflected

in actual behaviors of people in the organization; and if they don't …

corrective action is warranted.

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Selected Publications

• Refereed publications

• Seijts, G.H., Gandz, J., Crossan, M., & Reno, M. (2015). Character matters: Character dimensions' impact on leader

performance and outcomes. Organizational Dynamics.

• Crossan, M., Mazutis, D., & Seijts, G.H. (2013). In search of virtue: The role of virtues, values and character strengths in

ethical decision making. Journal of Business Ethics, 113, 567 - 581.

• Crossan, M., Mazutis, D., Seijts, G.H., & Gandz, J. (2013). Developing leadership character in business programs.

Academy of Management Learning and Education, 2, 285 – 305.

• Books

• Seijts, G. (2013). Good leaders learn: Lessons from lifetimes of leadership. New York, NY: Routledge Publishing.

• Gandz, J., Crossan, M, Seijts, G.H., & Stephenson, C. (2010). Leadership on trial: A manifesto for leadership

development. London, Ontario: Richard Ivey School of Business.

• Book chapters

• Crossan, M., Seijts, G.H., & Mazutis, D. (Forthcoming). Developing character in business school. In: A. Sison (Ed.),

Handbook of virtue ethics in business and management. Springer.

• Crossan, M. Mazutis, D., Reno M., & Rea, P. (Forthcoming). Leadership virtues and character: A perspective in practice.

In: A. Sison (Ed.), Handbook of virtue ethics in business and management. Springer.

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Selected Publications

• Non-refereed

• Seijts, G. (2014). Jian Ghomeshi is a workplace reminder that character should trump talent. The Huffington Post,

November 7. (http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/ivey-business-school/cbc-ghomeshi_b_6120568.html)

• Seijts, G. (2014). The NFL should value character as much as talent. The Huffington Post, September 26.

(http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/ivey-business-school/ray-rice-nfl_b_5885508.html)

• Seijts, G.H., Crossan, M., Mercer, J., & Stevenson, L. (2014). Stress testing the character of future business leaders.

IVEY BUSINESS JOURNAL [online], May – June.

• Crossan, M., Gandz, J., & Seijts, G. (2013). Do you have the motivation to lead like Mandela? Globe and Mail, December

26. (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/leadership-lab/do-you-have-the-motivation-to-lead-like-

mandela/article16073260/)

• Crossan, M., & Byrne, A. (2013). Linking candour to leadership character with General (ret.) Rick Hillier. IVEY BUSINESS

JOURNAL [online], November - December.

• Seijts, G. (2013). Good leaders never stop learning. IVEY BUSINESS JOURNAL [online], July – August.

• Gandz, J., Crossan, M., Seijts, G., & Reno, M. (2013). Leadership character and corporate governance. Director, 167, 15 -

21. Reprinted in IVEY BUSINESS JOURNAL [online], May - June.

• Seijts, G., Gandz, J., Crossan, M, & Reno, M. (2013). Character: The essence of leadership. Developing Leaders, 10, 11-

20.

• Crossan, M., Gandz, J., & Seijts, G. (2012). Developing leadership character. IVEY BUSINESS JOURNAL [online],

January – February.