about ten years ago in our community
headlines like this were not unusual in
fact again around our community at this
time these headlines are popping up
again and it began to ask well of many
of us began to ask the question what is
happening why are our youth choosing a
lifestyle that involves drugs gangs
violence criminal activity and leads to
death for many of them as we’re asking
this question and I was a 32 year old
new vice principal our superintendent
popped by my school and it’s kind of a
big deal for 20 years I’ve been in
public schools and for the last year and
a half in an independent school and he
said to me said I want you to go and
visit a community of character go have a
look at this know what’s interesting
about this is personally my wife and I
had been married about seven years at
that time we had two children and even
as I say this it sounds crazy but we had
not spent even one night apart in seven
years so for me to accept his invitation
was a big deal so I went home talked to
my wife and I said look what do you
think we we prayed about it because
that’s what we do and we had peace so I
said to him okay well I’ll do it
so I went myself the board chair Board
of Education chair we went to a
community of character and this
experience ignited a fire under me which
has lasted for a decade what we saw
there and what we came back with was
hope the picture of the mayor of this
community the fire chief police chief
business leaders community leaders
educators others children parents all
United around a common vision a common
language really and watching them
interact gave us the idea that this
could really do something we could
actually make change happen here not
like this but over time so we came back
gave this report and the result was a
group of leaders in Abbotsford today who
are care
to counsel who are working together in a
slow burn and I actually am s identity
use that example because the fire chief
is in the mix in this group so I’m
always careful with that but but it is a
slow burn it’s not something that’s a
flash in the pan or let’s just do this
or have a parade and we’re done it takes
time and it takes you know getting right
to the the foundation of who we are
we held a forum of about 70 community
leaders in it was April of 2011 just to
get them in a room seemed like a really
big deal as a diverse group of leaders
representing many different parts of our
community and what was really powerful
is at the end of that three-hour session
we were able to funnel down this idea or
this question of what is it that
abbotsford is about what is it that we
value what are the attributes that are
really really important to us and we
came up with respect responsibility
integrity empathy courage and service
and now the character council we all
carry this coin in our pockets that
reminds us of these six values now at
this point I should tell you that you
know we’re not a political organization
although there’s politicians in the mix
and we’re not a religious organization
although there are religious folks in
the mix I’m a Christian a follower of
Christ instead what we are is a group of
people committed to the vision of a
community that lives out as shared
values daily and is committed to
promoting character it’s led to two
major initiatives we have a Youth Forum
under the BC schools of character
umbrella so we’ve got this network of
schools that come together and then we
also have a national conference which
you know we’ve we have two of them and
it’s really starting a conversation
across Canada what does character look
like and why is it important so what
have we learned and I’m going to share
with you just a few things that we have
learned through our journey number one
character isn’t something you do but
it’s how you do everything
character is not something you do but
it’s
you do everything so you know doing my
taxes that’s something I do and then I
stopped doing that driving my kids to
school something I do and then I do
other things you know if someone cuts me
off on the road
there’s a risk but you know that’s
something I may have to respond to and
do but the character is how is the
overlying influence on all of those
things that we do and so that’s one of
the major learnings for us in a school
setting it’s not that you do socials
than you do mathematics and then we’re
gonna switch gears and do character but
rather it’s a part of the whole process
secondly I don’t know if you’ve if you
think of somebody who you would say
that’s a person of character even if I’m
for a moment if you pause and think who
would you say that has been a person of
character in my life now the criteria
for you and for me for sure is it’s not
necessarily that they said I’m a person
of character they may never have said
that it’s not that they said we need to
be respectful maybe they did maybe they
didn’t but it’s the fact that they were
isn’t it it’s the fact that they lived
it and modeled it and this is one of our
learnings in order to spread this you
know infect others it requires me to
model this all the time the best I can
another thing we’ve learned is that
you’ve got to identify your own values
so if you’re a family whether you’re
school or an organization it’s very
important that you identify your values
how do you do that well one thing I
could do is I could go back and look at
you know our old strategic plan that’s
been there for you know for for a number
of years and see okay that’s what we
said we’re about or you know you could
look at some old minutes or there’s
different ways to identify that maybe
it’s been part of your vision statement
for four decades you know this is who we
are what we’ve learned is it’s very
important to spend the time to bring all
the people all the voices together and
to say look what are we about what is it
that we stand on
and by asking that question there is
buy-in around the room now we could
probably identify what most people would
start with what would be one value
almost every organization will say we
need to be about fire oh no honesty sure
integrity respect right these things
will come out but if one of us went in
and said I think you should pick these
values it wouldn’t have the same power
it requires the group saying this is
what we’re about this is what we’re
we’re passionate about next it’s
important to weave it in everywhere and
so another part of our learning is that
once you’ve got these values these
attributes identified whatever they are
you know character values now plug them
in so you could put posters on the walls
right a nice visible statement this is
this is what we’re about but I would
argue and I think what we’ve learned is
if you do a deeper you know long-term
weaving in you may not even need the
posters because people will know what
you’re about so for example if you are
hiring or if I’m hiring somebody for my
business the question would be if we say
empathy is one of our you know very
important in our organization when I
hire do my interview questions include
something around that value so what I
say to somebody you know tell me the
last time that you you you were
empathetic towards someone else in the
workplace not what the person say hey
I’m applying for a construction job here
well I’m sorry do you want to see me
swing the hammer no we’re gonna where to
start with this because this is
important to me I’m a teacher I work
with kids this is important to us so
hiring practices what about HR in your
HR manual does it lay out exactly what
you stand for and what your expectations
are for your employees what about when
you do evaluations on each other so I
will receive an evaluation within my
organization does it Center on those
core things that we value and by weaving
it in at a much deeper level you may or
may not need to put posters up because
when people come into your business I
don’t know if this is your experience if
I go into a business to buy something
I can tell within minutes seconds if I
feel respected if I feel valued as a
customer I’m choosing to spend my money
here I can tell very quickly if they get
along you know you hear employees
talking and whether they have the poster
on the wall that says respect or not oh
no would you agree
right you can feel it right away with
children and I’m an educator and
powerful tool is teachable moments again
weave it in everywhere it’s on classroom
walls you know you talk about it
assemblies but there are moments and for
my wife and I we have four kids
you know there’s opportunities to glaze
right by teachable moments or there’s an
opportunity to pause and say you know
what let’s think about this we talked
about integrity until the truth I could
just say don’t lie that’s you know your
this is a bad thing where I could say
one of our values is to tell the truth
in our home isn’t it have we talked
about it
yeah tell me how you feel and so this
these teachable moments are critical
some of our learning let’s talk about
results and data and it’s in some of the
schools I’ve been and here’s a question
how do you measure what didn’t happen
how do you measure what didn’t happen so
if I could go back in time to 2009 that
first article that heading about a young
person dying in Abbotsford because of
their gang-related drug related
connections if I could go back in time a
couple of years before that and
intentionally focus on that that kid and
and weave character development
intentionally into their life and as a
result at that party when someone said
hey you want to try this the kid says
you know I’ve been talking a lot with
this guy about respect for my family for
myself for my body you know what no
thanks
and then that kid goes on and graduates
from school it’s B’s does it does okay
starts a small business now today that
same person is raising a family how do
we measure if we input that kind of
intention
intentionality into their life how do we
measure what would have happened if if
we had do you know what I’m saying
it’s a tricky piece what we do what we
can do we wrestle with this for sure but
what we can do is look at some trends
and so things like attendance records
and and discipline referrals and schools
we do satisfaction surveys you know do
you feel safe in your school look at
those trends are they are they moving in
the right directions
leadership development lot of schools
are very intentional in some of the
character schools I’ve been in very
intentional in developing leaders and
how many kids are we growing and what
kinds of things are they doing these are
some of the things we can do I can tell
you that we knew and again you know this
is probably like six or seven schools
I’ve been in but here’s some examples we
knew thin in one of the character
schools we knew something good is
happening when I don’t know if you’ve
heard of a grad prank how many of you’ve
done a grad prank okay well this is the
thing where administrators the night
before school starts or in fetal
position in the corner of the bedroom
right wondering what’s going to happen
and and so they hadn’t done anything on
the first this is like year three of our
intentional character development of
these kids a couple of kids came out to
me I’m standing outside and supervision
early morning beautiful day I remember
it crisp mr. Manuel yep we’re wanting to
do a grad prank I’m like oh boy here we
go
but we want your permission okay what
okay step one that sounds really good
that means I own whatever they destroy
so they wanted my permission what are
you planning to do and what they talked
about was and I just the the reaction
for me was just such pride in these kids
just so so proud of them we have
gathered donations from the grad class
of clothing good clothes that we have
that we’re not using and so others have
bought stuff we’ve gathered donations
from our family and friends and we want
to take all those clothes and hang them
all over the school I’m like this is a
grant break I can I can buy into
powerful right and some of these kids
you if you go into their little
in their conversation you can hear them
saying hey why don’t we do this now that
sounds not really I don’t think that’s
respectful why don’t we do something
that makes it you know you can hear them
talking we knew some good things were
happening when for me in year one as a
vice principal the fun disciplining the
student it would be things like what did
you do wrong you can’t do that anymore
you know as a result I’m gonna have to
give you this and you’re gonna have to
do that okay by year four you know when
a student would come in I would say to
them look what is it that we stand for
what does it mean to be a part of this
school I’m sorry yeah absolutely I
should have been more this and it was
such a shift because what they had
learned is to be a part of this
community means we are this not that we
should be we are by definition of being
a part of this community
we knew good things were happening when
instead of the new students coming in
instead of the orientation for them
saying this is what we stand for this is
what we’re about instead of it being us
adults doing it we had senior students
doing it for them saying look this is
you know I’m in grade 11 here and you
got to know where you know we don’t push
people around in the halls here this is
a respectful school now you’re one of us
did you see the power in that right and
we knew good things were happening when
that started to happen I know you know
when I look past some of these kids as
they move past school I know great
things are coming because the same
students that made an impact and we’re
being trained this way in schools are
now impacting their universities I
couldn’t list off students they’re now
impacting where they work one of them is
now helping to lead this same
organization she graduated from one of
our character schools is now co-chairing
part of the movement good things are
happening and it’s very exciting so will
you join us I’m really a recruiter
there’s nothing to sell there’s nothing
for you to buy other than a vision will
you inspire the people around you
whether it’s one person whether it’s
your family or those you know that close
to you
your organization will you inspire them
will you together with them identify
your values together critical eight
let’s have a conversation my wife and I
did that with our kids this summer what
are the things we want to you know this
year really that we’re about will you
identify those maybe it’s your maybe a
large corporation or whatever and then
intentionally integrate them everywhere
and the intentional piece is critical
you know the future is bright people the
future is bright and again the question
is are you willing to be a champion of
good character and maybe even a better
question can any of us afford not to
thank you
[Applause]
you
headlines like this were not unusual in
fact again around our community at this
time these headlines are popping up
again and it began to ask well of many
of us began to ask the question what is
happening why are our youth choosing a
lifestyle that involves drugs gangs
violence criminal activity and leads to
death for many of them as we’re asking
this question and I was a 32 year old
new vice principal our superintendent
popped by my school and it’s kind of a
big deal for 20 years I’ve been in
public schools and for the last year and
a half in an independent school and he
said to me said I want you to go and
visit a community of character go have a
look at this know what’s interesting
about this is personally my wife and I
had been married about seven years at
that time we had two children and even
as I say this it sounds crazy but we had
not spent even one night apart in seven
years so for me to accept his invitation
was a big deal so I went home talked to
my wife and I said look what do you
think we we prayed about it because
that’s what we do and we had peace so I
said to him okay well I’ll do it
so I went myself the board chair Board
of Education chair we went to a
community of character and this
experience ignited a fire under me which
has lasted for a decade what we saw
there and what we came back with was
hope the picture of the mayor of this
community the fire chief police chief
business leaders community leaders
educators others children parents all
United around a common vision a common
language really and watching them
interact gave us the idea that this
could really do something we could
actually make change happen here not
like this but over time so we came back
gave this report and the result was a
group of leaders in Abbotsford today who
are care
to counsel who are working together in a
slow burn and I actually am s identity
use that example because the fire chief
is in the mix in this group so I’m
always careful with that but but it is a
slow burn it’s not something that’s a
flash in the pan or let’s just do this
or have a parade and we’re done it takes
time and it takes you know getting right
to the the foundation of who we are
we held a forum of about 70 community
leaders in it was April of 2011 just to
get them in a room seemed like a really
big deal as a diverse group of leaders
representing many different parts of our
community and what was really powerful
is at the end of that three-hour session
we were able to funnel down this idea or
this question of what is it that
abbotsford is about what is it that we
value what are the attributes that are
really really important to us and we
came up with respect responsibility
integrity empathy courage and service
and now the character council we all
carry this coin in our pockets that
reminds us of these six values now at
this point I should tell you that you
know we’re not a political organization
although there’s politicians in the mix
and we’re not a religious organization
although there are religious folks in
the mix I’m a Christian a follower of
Christ instead what we are is a group of
people committed to the vision of a
community that lives out as shared
values daily and is committed to
promoting character it’s led to two
major initiatives we have a Youth Forum
under the BC schools of character
umbrella so we’ve got this network of
schools that come together and then we
also have a national conference which
you know we’ve we have two of them and
it’s really starting a conversation
across Canada what does character look
like and why is it important so what
have we learned and I’m going to share
with you just a few things that we have
learned through our journey number one
character isn’t something you do but
it’s how you do everything
character is not something you do but
it’s
you do everything so you know doing my
taxes that’s something I do and then I
stopped doing that driving my kids to
school something I do and then I do
other things you know if someone cuts me
off on the road
there’s a risk but you know that’s
something I may have to respond to and
do but the character is how is the
overlying influence on all of those
things that we do and so that’s one of
the major learnings for us in a school
setting it’s not that you do socials
than you do mathematics and then we’re
gonna switch gears and do character but
rather it’s a part of the whole process
secondly I don’t know if you’ve if you
think of somebody who you would say
that’s a person of character even if I’m
for a moment if you pause and think who
would you say that has been a person of
character in my life now the criteria
for you and for me for sure is it’s not
necessarily that they said I’m a person
of character they may never have said
that it’s not that they said we need to
be respectful maybe they did maybe they
didn’t but it’s the fact that they were
isn’t it it’s the fact that they lived
it and modeled it and this is one of our
learnings in order to spread this you
know infect others it requires me to
model this all the time the best I can
another thing we’ve learned is that
you’ve got to identify your own values
so if you’re a family whether you’re
school or an organization it’s very
important that you identify your values
how do you do that well one thing I
could do is I could go back and look at
you know our old strategic plan that’s
been there for you know for for a number
of years and see okay that’s what we
said we’re about or you know you could
look at some old minutes or there’s
different ways to identify that maybe
it’s been part of your vision statement
for four decades you know this is who we
are what we’ve learned is it’s very
important to spend the time to bring all
the people all the voices together and
to say look what are we about what is it
that we stand on
and by asking that question there is
buy-in around the room now we could
probably identify what most people would
start with what would be one value
almost every organization will say we
need to be about fire oh no honesty sure
integrity respect right these things
will come out but if one of us went in
and said I think you should pick these
values it wouldn’t have the same power
it requires the group saying this is
what we’re about this is what we’re
we’re passionate about next it’s
important to weave it in everywhere and
so another part of our learning is that
once you’ve got these values these
attributes identified whatever they are
you know character values now plug them
in so you could put posters on the walls
right a nice visible statement this is
this is what we’re about but I would
argue and I think what we’ve learned is
if you do a deeper you know long-term
weaving in you may not even need the
posters because people will know what
you’re about so for example if you are
hiring or if I’m hiring somebody for my
business the question would be if we say
empathy is one of our you know very
important in our organization when I
hire do my interview questions include
something around that value so what I
say to somebody you know tell me the
last time that you you you were
empathetic towards someone else in the
workplace not what the person say hey
I’m applying for a construction job here
well I’m sorry do you want to see me
swing the hammer no we’re gonna where to
start with this because this is
important to me I’m a teacher I work
with kids this is important to us so
hiring practices what about HR in your
HR manual does it lay out exactly what
you stand for and what your expectations
are for your employees what about when
you do evaluations on each other so I
will receive an evaluation within my
organization does it Center on those
core things that we value and by weaving
it in at a much deeper level you may or
may not need to put posters up because
when people come into your business I
don’t know if this is your experience if
I go into a business to buy something
I can tell within minutes seconds if I
feel respected if I feel valued as a
customer I’m choosing to spend my money
here I can tell very quickly if they get
along you know you hear employees
talking and whether they have the poster
on the wall that says respect or not oh
no would you agree
right you can feel it right away with
children and I’m an educator and
powerful tool is teachable moments again
weave it in everywhere it’s on classroom
walls you know you talk about it
assemblies but there are moments and for
my wife and I we have four kids
you know there’s opportunities to glaze
right by teachable moments or there’s an
opportunity to pause and say you know
what let’s think about this we talked
about integrity until the truth I could
just say don’t lie that’s you know your
this is a bad thing where I could say
one of our values is to tell the truth
in our home isn’t it have we talked
about it
yeah tell me how you feel and so this
these teachable moments are critical
some of our learning let’s talk about
results and data and it’s in some of the
schools I’ve been and here’s a question
how do you measure what didn’t happen
how do you measure what didn’t happen so
if I could go back in time to 2009 that
first article that heading about a young
person dying in Abbotsford because of
their gang-related drug related
connections if I could go back in time a
couple of years before that and
intentionally focus on that that kid and
and weave character development
intentionally into their life and as a
result at that party when someone said
hey you want to try this the kid says
you know I’ve been talking a lot with
this guy about respect for my family for
myself for my body you know what no
thanks
and then that kid goes on and graduates
from school it’s B’s does it does okay
starts a small business now today that
same person is raising a family how do
we measure if we input that kind of
intention
intentionality into their life how do we
measure what would have happened if if
we had do you know what I’m saying
it’s a tricky piece what we do what we
can do we wrestle with this for sure but
what we can do is look at some trends
and so things like attendance records
and and discipline referrals and schools
we do satisfaction surveys you know do
you feel safe in your school look at
those trends are they are they moving in
the right directions
leadership development lot of schools
are very intentional in some of the
character schools I’ve been in very
intentional in developing leaders and
how many kids are we growing and what
kinds of things are they doing these are
some of the things we can do I can tell
you that we knew and again you know this
is probably like six or seven schools
I’ve been in but here’s some examples we
knew thin in one of the character
schools we knew something good is
happening when I don’t know if you’ve
heard of a grad prank how many of you’ve
done a grad prank okay well this is the
thing where administrators the night
before school starts or in fetal
position in the corner of the bedroom
right wondering what’s going to happen
and and so they hadn’t done anything on
the first this is like year three of our
intentional character development of
these kids a couple of kids came out to
me I’m standing outside and supervision
early morning beautiful day I remember
it crisp mr. Manuel yep we’re wanting to
do a grad prank I’m like oh boy here we
go
but we want your permission okay what
okay step one that sounds really good
that means I own whatever they destroy
so they wanted my permission what are
you planning to do and what they talked
about was and I just the the reaction
for me was just such pride in these kids
just so so proud of them we have
gathered donations from the grad class
of clothing good clothes that we have
that we’re not using and so others have
bought stuff we’ve gathered donations
from our family and friends and we want
to take all those clothes and hang them
all over the school I’m like this is a
grant break I can I can buy into
powerful right and some of these kids
you if you go into their little
in their conversation you can hear them
saying hey why don’t we do this now that
sounds not really I don’t think that’s
respectful why don’t we do something
that makes it you know you can hear them
talking we knew some good things were
happening when for me in year one as a
vice principal the fun disciplining the
student it would be things like what did
you do wrong you can’t do that anymore
you know as a result I’m gonna have to
give you this and you’re gonna have to
do that okay by year four you know when
a student would come in I would say to
them look what is it that we stand for
what does it mean to be a part of this
school I’m sorry yeah absolutely I
should have been more this and it was
such a shift because what they had
learned is to be a part of this
community means we are this not that we
should be we are by definition of being
a part of this community
we knew good things were happening when
instead of the new students coming in
instead of the orientation for them
saying this is what we stand for this is
what we’re about instead of it being us
adults doing it we had senior students
doing it for them saying look this is
you know I’m in grade 11 here and you
got to know where you know we don’t push
people around in the halls here this is
a respectful school now you’re one of us
did you see the power in that right and
we knew good things were happening when
that started to happen I know you know
when I look past some of these kids as
they move past school I know great
things are coming because the same
students that made an impact and we’re
being trained this way in schools are
now impacting their universities I
couldn’t list off students they’re now
impacting where they work one of them is
now helping to lead this same
organization she graduated from one of
our character schools is now co-chairing
part of the movement good things are
happening and it’s very exciting so will
you join us I’m really a recruiter
there’s nothing to sell there’s nothing
for you to buy other than a vision will
you inspire the people around you
whether it’s one person whether it’s
your family or those you know that close
to you
your organization will you inspire them
will you together with them identify
your values together critical eight
let’s have a conversation my wife and I
did that with our kids this summer what
are the things we want to you know this
year really that we’re about will you
identify those maybe it’s your maybe a
large corporation or whatever and then
intentionally integrate them everywhere
and the intentional piece is critical
you know the future is bright people the
future is bright and again the question
is are you willing to be a champion of
good character and maybe even a better
question can any of us afford not to
thank you
[Applause]
you
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