Hope

We each face difficulties in various relationships. What hope do we have that those problems might be resolved? Really only the hope that, somehow, people can behave better than they are right now. We often talk about the improvement side of that: practical ways that we can act and think better. But we often skip over the foundational point: we must recognize that we are imperfect.

When Character First! is implemented in correctional facilities, a major hurdle is often getting prisoners to recognize their responsibility for where they are. Excuses abound. And as long as we keep on repeating, “I didn’t do anything wrong: it’s someone else’s fault,” we will likely keep on repeating the mistakes that get us in trouble.

As counterintuitive as it sounds, hope is only possible when we recognize and freely admit that we are imperfect.

• Emphasizing character doesn’t mean telling people about all the good things you do. Be honest and let others learn from your weaknesses as well as you strengths. When we present ourselves as something we’re not, we set ourselves up to be exposed. Consider the classic “Pocket Watch Story” in our Truthfulness resources.

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Luke Kallberg manages website content for the Character Training Institute.

Vision Casting or Hype?

This article was first published November 16, 2009, at members.characterfirst.com.

Whenever a new program begins in a team, or organization, an individual or two usually becomes the “evangelist” for it. They strongly see the desirability and talk it up. Without people like this, we would probably forget some valuable things, but when they talk too much, it can get annoying. What makes the difference?

Sometimes we perceive these individuals as promoting something with no substance, or want to see an idea confirmed from multiple sources. But we do need people constantly “casting vision”—keeping important goals in our minds even when we don’t see it happening yet.

Employees might tend to react more negatively when a manager brings a character program in with a flourish instead of simply starting to manage them with character. In fact, if employees see the whole program as management hype, they might just decide to prove it wrong.

• If you’re the “evangelist,” make sure you present more than just you and your opinions. Check out these tips on persuasive leadership.
• If you tend to be skeptical of new, untested ideas, ask yourself how things could be better than they are, and how might people be motivated to pursue that. Consider how you can see things from another’s perspective.

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Luke Kallberg manages website content for the Character Training Institute.