Coaching character – Is that even possible?

Coaching character – Is that even possible?

What’s Character got to do with it? To executive success and employee engagement – just about everything! How is character developed? The word “character” comes from the Greek ‘kharakter’ that means “engraved mark.”

How is character developed? The word “character” comes from the Greek ‘kharakter’ that means “engraved mark.” Character is built over time through our experiences in life and in relationship. Character is definitely developed during tough times when we actively self-reflect on the impact of our actions but it is also impacted by how we react to times of plenty. Do we become greedy and lazy and self-entitled? The biggest test of character is often brought out when power over others becomes involved. Abraham Lincoln said, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”

As an executive and leader, it is important to know what are your strong character traits, and how do they align with your company’s values. Is there a mismatch between what you feel strongly about and what is/are the stated company values? Now here is where it gets tricky. What are the actual values that are practiced in the organization. As with character there can be an inconsistency in how the values are applied in different departments and at different levels of hierarchy within the company. As with people a consistency of values across the organization is important for trust to develop.

Character can have both positive and negative implications. As a coach, I work with clients to explore – In what ways have character affected your actions, relationships and experiences? What are the advantages and disadvantages of your character traits? How do your dominant character traits match with your career choice?

When are employees engaged? Simon Sinek says employees need to trust not fear their leadership in order to co-operate and be productive. What was my most difficult challenge as a senior leader? A team with an single digit engagement scores and my managers overwhelmed in a culture that historically was blamed based and riddled with corruption. Employees all knew it. They felt the character of their leaders and could not trust that they too were not being cheated or misused, and hence saw at worst no reason not to cheat the organization themselves and at best became totally disengaged. This is a sad situation that has a huge cost to the organization not to mention the cost to the human spirit of the employees who worked in the organization.

So, what as a leader are character traits that will help you be successful in times of challenge, like the one I mentioned earlier. Several qualities that are key to executive success are

• Integrity, including aspects like truthfulness, fairness, honestly, loyalty and dependability;
• Perseverance, including persistence over time in the face of adversity;
• Openness to learning, including a positive attitude to lifelong learning;
• Comfort with challenge, including your attitude to challenging situations and the degree to which one embraces the challenge; and
• Emotional awareness, how aware you are of yours and others emotions.

How do you as a leader start thinking about and developing the different aspects of character that will enhance your leadership abilities and positively affect your team’s engagement. Some aspects of character are straight forward and almost everyone would agree they are good to have – like integrity. Others aspects of character are more complex, people don’t always agree on the value of being open to new knowledge or the value of emotional awareness – some qualities like perseverance can be a hindrance at high levels and limit flexibility.

A way to be more effective as a leader is through understanding yourself at a deeper level. Using assessment tools (MBTI, Enneagram), self-reflection, feedback from others (360 tools), and a trusted companion (coach/mentor, friend) along your journey you can develop a deeper understanding of your human qualities and how they contribute to your success or failures.

So, what has character to do with it! For organizations and employees, it is a key fundamental building block of trust and how values are demonstrated in the workplace. Coaching is a way to help leaders develop self-awareness around their character and start the journey to developing the character traits that are key to their success and personal values.