Cultivating virtues to facilitate good leadership

University of Tasmania lecturer Toby Newstead grew up on a small island off the coast of south-west Canada. The island was made up of a tight knit community that placed a high value on independence and acceptance. Dr Newstead says her upbringing sparked a desire to share this sense of connection and community beyond the island.

“My field of research draws on positive organizational inquiry, exploring phenomena like thriving, flourishing, meaningful relationships and positive leadership. These are some of the factors that are the building blocks of a successful community that I recognized from my upbringing and I wanted to see if these ideas could be applied in the business realm to create good leaders.”

The Virtues Project in practice

Newstead made her way around the world before landing in Launceston, where she worked at a boutique change agency that assisted businesses with strategy, leadership, culture and wellbeing for nearly a decade. Working with numerous leaders from various backgrounds, Newstead used a program that was implemented in her own secondary education, called The Virtues Project. The Virtues Project was initially developed to help young students identify virtues that build a person’s character.

“When they make that personal shift the positive change that they can have in their organisations is profound.”

“While in the field, I learned that every single leader is a person first. It’s when the leader as a person opens up and enhances their self-awareness, builds their personal accountability, and finds their inherent motivation to improve and grow, it’s then that their leadership practices and processes take off,” says Newstead.

Newstead used the principals of The Virtues Project project with her clients, and after witnessing the success of this program, she wanted to know what type of outcomes leaders would have if they themselves went through the program’s training. This lead Newstead to complete her PhD. She wanted to understand if the principals and strategies from The Virtues Project could be applied to help develop leaders. Upon the completion of her PhD, Newstead’s research confirmed her ideas around this project.

“Following the study, leaders reported that The Virtues Project training set them up with a positive framework to provide feedback, training them to identify behaviors through virtues instead of task outcomes.

“Behavior was now examined in different ways and communication with subordinates, peers, and superiors was enhanced. These outcomes evidence positive outcomes associated with a virtues-based approach to leadership development.”

Virtues based work from personal life to practice

While the outcomes of this study are beneficial for business leaders, Newstead says the project’s foundations and virtues-based work are valuable across all facets of her life - from parenting to consulting and in the classroom with her students at The University of Tasmania.

“I’ve personally experienced the impact from this research on virtues-based work. When we, as people, start to look deeper than behavior and outcomes it opens up an entirely new and powerful way to view one another.

“In my next study, I’d like to extend the virtues training to other employees within a company, equipping everyone to possess these virtues-based strategies.”

As a lecturer and industry partner with The University of Tasmania, Newstead brings what she has learned in her research and as a consultant into the classroom.

“With a student-centered approach, my teaching is informed by my practice. I view my students as I would my leadership clients and look to deliver as much value to them as I can.”