Measuring Character
Win the battle for your organization's soul.

Joe Krivickas | posted 7/02/2009

Would you believe ME if I said that some of the most successful CEOs that I meet are more concerned about the character of their organizations than their financial results? They believe the daily tests of their organization's character—what their teams do when no one is looking—are battles for the very soul of their organization. For these character-based leaders, an organization with a healthy moral core—its soul—is the ultimate competitive advantage.

If you are a leader in a church, parachurch ministry, business, or even Little League baseball team, a large part of your legacy will be revealed in the soul of the groups you lead. You are making a lasting impact in the lives of people, and thus have been entrusted with a big responsibility.

So, how can you win the battle for the soul of your organization? I have observed that character-based leaders follow three steps.

Step 1: Display your value system like a wheel, not a list.

Many leaders write their organizational values in a list like this one:

• People First

• Customers

• Quality

• Make money

The problem with a list, however, is that it is hierarchical—it implies a ranking in which some things are more important than others. It is difficult to find balance in lists. Rather than a list, your organizational values should look like a wheel, with each value represented by a spoke. A smoothly functioning wheel has balanced spokes.

Each day your team will encounter situations that will test your group values. Some days the terrain for these tests will be smooth. Some days the terrain for these tests will be rugged. You want your team to be able to adjust and adapt quickly, to find balance, so that their actions can always represent your group values.

Character-based leaders know that what their organizations do when no one is watching is a window into the group's soul. So, the first step in winning the battle for the soul of your organization is displaying your value system like a wheel.

Step 2: Form your mission as the wheel's hub.

Your group exists for a purpose, a mission.

One of the biggest fears team members can have is that they might be part of something that is meaningless. To lead effectively, you will need to identify your group's specific meaning, its mission. In the form of a statement, your mission sits at the hub of your wheel.

An ideal mission statement conforms to the following simple guidelines:

• It is not more than one sentence long.

• An eighth grader can get it.

• Under pressure, everyone will be able to recite it.

Your organization will encounter daily battles that, when added together, test its ability to survive. To grow and thrive, it will need endurance. That endurance will develop when your group believes its work is contributing to something meaningful. Character-based leaders give their team members a strong sense of meaning in their work by forming an easy to understand and memorable mission, and making it the hub of the organization's actions.

Step 3: Strategic vision starts and ends with an honest look in the mirror.

Values are the spokes of the organization's wheel, and its mission is the hub. Strategic vision is the direction in which you want your wheel to be heading. Your team members have many fires to put out each day. So, you will be the one who spends as much time as needed to make sure your organization is heading in the right direction.

Strategic vision is about answering the "What?" questions:

• What is your organization today?

• What do you want your organization to become?

The answers to these two questions help form your strategic objectives. Character-based leaders take an honest look in the mirror at what their organization is doing when no one is watching. On a daily basis, they check and re-check to make sure their strategic vision is not only producing their desired strategic objectives, but also supporting their mission and values.

If you think the only way to be a good leader is to focus on achieving great results, think again. With daily vigilance, character-based leaders focus first on winning the battle for the soul of their organization, and outstanding performance follows. By using these three steps to measure character one day at the time, you too can lead your team to achieve great results.

Joseph Krivickas, CEO and entrepreneur, has led both for-profit and nonprofit ventures. He is chairman and founder of the Gordon College Center for Nonprofit Management, and the cofounder of the Lithuanian Rural Development Fund. He helped lead an IPO and the highly profitable sale of three publicly traded companies for market capitalization values of $115,000,000, $450,000,000, and $1,200,000,000. E-mail Joseph at kazz-krivickas@usa.net.