The history of great firms is the history of great leaders. Great leaders propel their firms forward while improving the social context in which their firms operate. However, regardless of leaders` influence or the transformative power of their change initiatives, unless they “cement” their principles into their organization’s culture, their vision will eventually fade away. Moreover, because organizations are similar to living organisms, in that they are continuously developing, even a culture of excellence might eventually erode unless key organizational-level components are aligned to support the new culture of excellence.
First, we need to describe what character and organizational culture are, and second, we will provide a step-by-step approach by which leaders can activate their character dimensions to shape a culture of excellence.
What’s the definition of character?
Character refers to a person`s moral and ethical qualities, including integrity, honesty, responsibility, and self-discipline. It also refers to the set of personality traits and behaviour patterns that make an individual unique, such as their values, beliefs, and attitudes. The character can also include an individual’s reputation, which is the opinion that others have of them based on their actions and behaviour. In summary, the character of a person is an overall evaluation of their moral and ethical makeup as well as their personality traits and reputation.
What is an Organization`s Culture?
Following Schein`s classic definition of organizational culture, he describes it as a “pattern of basic assumptions that a given group has invented, discovered, or developed in learning to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, and that has worked well enough to be considered valid, and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems.”
An organization`s underlying assumptions may become obsolete over time. As an example, after 100 years of market leadership in the photography industry, the Eastman Kodak Company struggled financially in the 1990s, because of declining sales of its photographic film. Kodak`s slow response in transitioning to digital photography aggravated the company`s decline. The irony is that Kodak was the first company to develop a digital camera in 1975, but dropped the product for fear it would threaten the business “was the way to go” blinded its leadership to the inevitable end of photographic film.
The second part of Schein`s definition speaks about “the correct way to perceive, think and feel” toward the organization. Organizational values are the somewhat explicit social norms that inform the members of a collective regarding its views of the appropriateness or inappropriateness of various actions, choices, and behaviours.
A healthy culture elevates organizational members, whereas a toxic culture diminishes them. Moreover, a healthy culture empowers its members to evaluate its leaders` behaviours against the organization`s values.
When Diane Greene, a senior vice president at Google secured a contract with the United States Department of Defense, a company-wide revolt followed. In short, Project Maven intended to weaponize Google`s artificial intelligence infrastructure to analyze drone footage and identify potential human targets. More than 4000 employees signed a petition demanding “a clear policy stating that neither Google nor its contractors will ever build warfare technology”. The rationale behind the petition was that Project Maven would violate one of Google`s core principles (“You can make money without doing evil”).
Finally, another critical component of an organization`s culture is the people who are held up as organizational heroes. Through the lens of organizational culture, the term heroes refer to those individuals who are valued by the organization and whose deeds are celebrated by its members. Whereas not all organizational heroes are leaders, most organizations hold their senior leaders as heroes. It is essential to note, though, that one person`s hero may be another person`s villain.
Using Character to Shape a Culture of Excellence
Leaders` character reflects in the culture of the organizations they lead. Organizational stakeholders entrust leaders with the challenging task of protecting and managing the organization`s culture. The tangible benefits of a healthy culture include reduced turnover and absenteeism and increased productivity.
Mapping the underlying assumptions of the existing culture
The first step in shaping a culture of excellence is mapping the underlying assumptions of the existing culture. To this end, leaders rely on the character elements of the institution and insight to identify signals that evidence the organization`s underlying assumptions. Leaders can also use their analysis, critical thinking, and cognitive complexity to map such assumptions and make them explicit. In this way, leaders can generate a language that enables organizational members to regain awareness of the organization`s basic assumptions and discuss them openly.
Anchoring Organizational Values Within Universal, Virtuous Values
The second step is anchoring organizational values within universal, virtuous values. If character embodies the best of human potential, then the universal values contained in its facets prescribe behaviours that will enable an organization`s members to sustain constructive interactions across the organization`s hierarchy.
The framework proposed by Crossan, Seijts, and Grandz provides a road map to rethink organizational values and distinguish universal, virtuous values from mundane, non-virtuous values. However, although some organizations might choose to elevate and embed Crossan, Seijts, and Gandz`s 11-character dimensions into their organizational values, it is unrealistic to expect all organizations to follow suit.
Bringing Values to Life
The third step is bringing values to life by creating cultural artifacts that embed the 11-character dimensions proposed by Crossan, Seijts, and Gandz.
Cultural artifacts are necessary because it is morally questionable to attempt to impose organizational values onto individuals. Instead, organizational members willingly internalize organizational values as their own and are likely to align their actions with those values. To facilitate the internalization process, leaders can create “flagship projects” that signal the organization`s new expectations of its members.