Recently I was on a domestic flight between two major cities.  I am not an especially nervous passenger, but my faith was firmly placed in the competence of the flight crew’ based on presumed years of training, experience and acquired knowledge.  Whether any of the crew fiddled their taxes or told “white lies” did not rate highly on my priorities.  My expectation was that the crew would apply their combined knowledge and skill to the various procedures with the appropriate degree of teamwork to get me safely to my destination.

Conversely, I was engaged (as part of a team) in a minor project with an individual who was a highly skilled analyst with unique expertise.  The analyst also demonstrated high levels of irritability and impatience with the lack of expertise of the rest of the team.  The project was characterised by awkwardness, conflict and fear of saying or asking “the wrong thing” as this was likely to induce contempt or derision from the person concerned.  The unsurprising consequence was that the final proposal did not fully anticipate implementation issues as identified by stakeholders.  Character (or lack of particular character qualities in this case) overshadowed the professional expertise.  The expertise was, in effect, inaccessible.

Is character more important than competence?  The answer is a qualified “yes”.

Competence is indispensable in the face of tight timelines, or high risk activities.  

However, there are many roles, tasks or projects where competence can be acquired and applied over a period of time.  There may be mistakes, oversights and omissions, but even these will contribute to competence in the longer term.  A range of character qualities will help to ensure the development of competence, either individually or as a team.  Some of these character qualities include;

• Acceptance of others, including differences
• Willingness to acknowledge personal weaknesses, or gaps in knowledge and skills
• A genuine commitment to finding “better ways” or areas for personal improvement
• Open communication and receptiveness to other perspectives
• A positive solutions-focussed approach, which celebrates incremental improvement
• Collaboration and teamwork
• Commitment to putting in the “hard yards”

Human history and experience is abundant with examples of people who find themselves in unfamiliar terrain, but by application of embedded character qualities, achieve outstanding success.  (For example, Erin Brockovich-Ellis was a clerk who pursued, and ultimately held accountable, the Pacific Gas and Electric Company in 1993 over the contamination of drinking water. Ms Brokovich-Ellis is now the president of Brockovich Research & Consulting).

Organisations where these core characteristics are not part of the culture breed self interest, “one-upmanship”, dishonesty, inefficiency, inflexibility and varying degrees of failure.

Competence, underpinned by positive character qualities, should be the ultimate goal for any recruitment process.  Admittedly, in the short term, specific skills and knowledge may be a higher priority, as in the example of a flight crew.  But even in this context, how efficient and safe can this team be if they do not have the character qualities necessary to work and learn together in a cooperative and supportive spirit?   

The KLM Royal Dutch Airlines disaster of 1977 in the Canary Islands is a good case in point.  The collision of two commercial aircraft on the airfield, killing 583 people, was attributed in large part to the impatience, irritability and fatigue of the senior and well respected Dutch captain, and a crew fearful of questioning his dubious order to proceed with the take-off.

Long-term success is a product of positive character qualities.  However, “learning” character is more complicated than acquiring knowledge and skills.  Character is influenced by how we see ourselves as individuals, and values instilled over a life time.  Character qualities are an inherent part of our identity as human beings and consequently we strive to hold on to our values, beliefs and attitudes in the face of life’s events.

Nonetheless, character can be learned.  Significant Emotional Events (SEE) will often cause us to change the way in which we think and act.  Emotional or physical trauma or bereavement cause individuals to question and re-evaluate core beliefs, attitudes and values, creating opportunities for change.  This often involves great personal suffering.

Character can also be learned in supportive environments where there is a clear understanding and reinforcement of “this is how we do things here”.  The benefit of organisations having a clear mission and articulated values is not that it allows workplaces to display glossy posters.  The benefit lies in creating opportunities for the organisation to practice the values it espouses and to have this expectation of all employees.  All systems and organisational interactions should reflect the desired values and be evaluated against these benchmarks.  In a supportive environment it is possible to create a “critical mass” of support in the workforce.  The effect on the uncommitted is that maintaining a disregard for organisational values subjects them to pressures that cannot be sustained in the long term.  Psychology refers to this as “cognitive-dissonance” and this energy compels adherence over a period of time or precipitates the departure of the uncommitted.  

Good character is a choice.  Striving for it is a lifetime process.

There are some lone voices in the wilderness, deeply concerned with character in the everyday world.  Colin Pearce (founder of Character Works) says

"I am fed up with management systems that treat people like lab rats. KPIs, quotas, work rate, strike rate, performance management – all fine and fancy but they don't nourish the hearts and minds of the people. So the systems collapse until the next management fad pops up. This is why I say, 'When all else fails, character works'"

It’s time we were all more concerned with character!