At the 6th Annual Exhibition of Institutions hosted by the National
Council for Higher Education ARCC was asked to present a paper on "The
Role of Universities in Advancing National Cohesion and Integration."
The following is a portion of the paper presented by Jeff Atherstone, the Director of ARCC, on the role of
values in education for advancing national cohesion and integration.
IDENTIFYING VALUES FOR OUR UNIVERSITIES
Values are
not simply a list of grand words to be painted across the walls of our offices
and student notice boards, such as “honesty” “courage” “tolerance” “service.” This
practice is common in many institutions and organizations but is unlikely to
produce any results or lasting impact.
Values are important and enduring beliefs or ideals shared by the
members
of a
culture
about what is
good or desirable and what is not. Values exert major
influence on the
behavior
of an individual
and serve as broad guidelines
in all situations.
Values are
the actual character of an institution. Every institution is different with a
unique vision and a unique set of leaders, therefore it is important for each
institution to identify their own values that they intend to pass on to their
students.
When we
established our Africa Renewal Christian College in 2007 we did not have a list
of values. We had numerous meetings in which we discussed values that were of
importance to us but the institutional values were not apparent until our
leadership team became familiar with one another and came to a common vision
for the Institute.
As we became
familiar with one anther we discovered that there were some values that members
held to individually but these were unlikely to stick for the Institution as a
whole. The values that we affirmed as a leadership team ended up being the
values that we shared as a group and were passionate about passing on to
others.
To narrow
down our values we took a look at our end goal of our vision for the Institute
“equipping Christian leaders for the transformation of society.” As a
leadership team we asked ourselves, “What type of leader will transform
society?” From there we had to break it down even further and ask ourselves, “What
needs to be transformed in our society?” From our discussions we felt most
passionate that our students should be transforming the nation in relation to
corruption, poverty and discrimination based on gender, tribe or social status.
Once we knew
what we wanted to transform society, we indentified the values that would bring
about the transformation we desired. The value of accountability was identified
to address the problems of corruption. The value of stewardship, meaning
responsible management of time and resources, was selected to combat poverty.
And the value of community was selected to bring about unity among diverse
groups of people.
These values
became the identity of the Institution and our next task was to establish them
firmly within the foundation of the institution.
ESTABLISHING VALUES WITHIN OUR UNIVERSITIES
Once values
have been identified an Institution should use them as a road map for determining
the course of the school. Identifying values without establishing them is like
throwing a seed on a dry ground and then shielding it from sunlight and
rain. This is commonly seen in
Institutions that merely write values on their walls but do nothing to
integrate them within the school.
I would
propose that staff hiring and staff orientation have the greatest impact in
establishing the values within our universities. In his 2012 national best
seller
The Advantage, Patrick Lencioni
declared, “If an organization is led by a team that is not behaviorally
unified, there is no chance that it will become healthy.
”
How do we become behaviorally unified? Through common values which direct team member’s
behavior and chart the course for the organization.
Most
prospective faculty that I interview only seem eager to add to their
credentials for their development, but degrees only mark what you know. They
cannot define who you are or give an interview panel an accurate picture of
what you intend to do with the knowledge you have gained. Values, on the other
hand, do define our character and can give others an accurate picture of the
course that your life is taking. Your values will also leave the greatest imprint
on the people around you.
Recently, I
had to excuse myself from an interview panel for personal reasons. It was a
difficult decision but I was confident that my fellow staff members on the
panel could make the right hire in my absence. How could I be confident?
Because their selection of questions which were drafted to assess skill and
experience of the candidates was built around the values of the institution.
The candidates could not escape the panel without clearly identifying their
level of understanding and commitment to our institutional values. But more
importantly I knew that every member of the interview panel had embraced and
demonstrated the values of the institution in their own lives.
The more we
add people to our team with common values the more the values become
established in our institution’s culture. We no longer spend staff meetings
reminding ourselves of our values but rather our values appear in every
discussion and debate as we work together to plot out the future of our
school. We also ensure that within
the first 3 months new staff members have been thoroughly oriented to the
practical out workings of our values within the school. With the values firmly
established within the framework of the school our final task is to then implant
them within our students.
