I reflect on my recent teaching for an undergraduate module Human Resource Management (HRM). HRM can be dry and technical, looking at recruitment, selection, onboarding, performance appraisal, leadership training and development, reward management and so on. Bombarded by many of these functions, people often forget that HRM is about the human.

Teaching about virtue strengths was not part of the module. However, as I approached the 90 undergraduate students, I wanted to give them something closer to their hearts. I decided to do group coaching sessions focusing on leadership as a virtue strength.

Coaching and virtue strength

There have been many studies linking coaching and virtue strengths. A recent article by Ryan Niemiec and Danielle Casioppo (2024) argued for its “Inextricable Interconnection,” and outlined several points for the use of virtues in coaching:

1. assess, understand, and explore your top 5 virtues (you can find yours in this link)
2. expand your use of top virtues through new and wider uses and personal applications
3. help you use any of the 24 virtues, not just the top ones
4. group multiple virtues for you in order to achieve your specified positive outcome (e.g., happiness), and
5. ask powerful questions related to your personal virtues

They also conducted surveys to determine why people choose coaching. Over 67,000+ participated, and the following are the main reasons:

• coaching to use virtues as pathways to reach an aspiration/goal (69%)
• coaching to explore virtues to deepen self-knowledge/self-understanding (67%)
• coach to provide accountability on goals (64%)
• coach as a non-judgmental, empathic listener (64%)
• coaching to help spot virtues (63%)
• coaching to offer new/fresh ways to look at challenges (63%)

Many of the reasons for coaching are directly related to virtues. So it is clear that coaching can help to maximise a coachee’s virtues.

Leadership coaching for students

I recently decided to conduct five (5) group coaching for undergraduate students taking my HRM module. It included a component of coaching and mentoring, so it would be good to let the students practice being coached. Specifically, the coaching session was to focus on their individual leadership virtue.

The 1-hour group coaching session started with an introduction to virtue generally, followed by the 24 virtue strengths presented by the VIA Institute of Character. Then, I encouraged all the students to take the FREE SURVEY to find out about their personal virtue strengths. The students expressed their excitement over their newfound tool to understand more about themselves.

Then, I redirect their attention to their personal leadership virtues. Some of the key lessons I included are:

• Leadership as a virtue means “to be compelled to organize people to get things done and accomplish shared goals.”
• It as a virtue is linked to the everyday-leadership-activities, rather than to a particular official position.
• It is a rare virtue strength, and can be trained over time.
• It can be combined with other virtues to form unique leadership styles, e.g., kind leader, fair leader.

I ask my students to record their reactions when finding out about their leadership virtue. Particularly, I asked: “What does it feel like when you are leading others?” Some felt scared, heavy, and burdened, while others felt pride, content and confident.

“I feel a sense of responsibility, but in the end, I feel a sense of appreciation if my group has the best outcome. I believe I know when it is time to make decisions and when things can be more humorous.”

“I like it when everyone feels comfortable in the organisation, able to work in a team easily. Taking the student council as an example, I try my best to let everyone speak up and be open. As a leader, it is important for me to be transparent and make everyone feel included and not left out. I feel the most successful when my members go along with each other.”

“When I’m leading others, I feel a sense of responsibility and a drive to guide the group towards a common goal. Since leadership is one of my middle strengths, it feels natural yet also slightly outside my comfort zone, challenging me to grow and improve. At times when I am put as a leader of a group, I experience a sense of pride in watching the team succeed, knowing that I contributed to that success. However, there’s also a sense of humility, as I recognize that leadership is about facilitating others’ strengths and not just asserting my own.”

There were several findings from the collective students who participated:

• Only 5 out of the 90 students have leadership as their Top 5 Virtues.
• The students’ top virtues were Kindness, Honesty, Fairness and Appreciation of Beauty.

Many do not feel that they have any leadership qualities whatsoever, so this outcome of this survey planted the seed of leadership virtue. Towards the end of the coaching session, I encouraged the students to come up with ways to practice their unique leadership styles. For example, “kind leadership” is argued to be “the strongest kind of leadership”! Here are some of the results of the students’ own personalized leadership styles:

“My key leadership values are related to my Top 5 Virtues, which are Prudence, Judgement, Honesty, Humility, and Kindness. I tend to prioritize minimizing the risks taken when making a decision and value others’ opinions and thoughts. However, I think I will have to improve in terms of team work. This is because team work is important in leading a group, as well as being able to cooperate with every member in a group.”

“Most important is Belief. With belief, any communication can be avoided. With Belief, all advice and expectations can be fulfilled. with Belief, everyone can be transparent and authentic with each other.”

“I think my key leadership value should also include prudence, as it is a virtue that I consider to be important when leading the group. Decisions should be made only after thorough discussion and thinking, not partaking in any unwanted or hidden risks.”

“I think my leadership values are, honesty, empathy, teamwork and humor. I think about the team more than myself and try to do what is best for my team. I also like to lighten every mood whenever things feel gloomy or down.”

“Being honest would be one of my leadership values. I believe giving honest feedback to members in a group can improve the overall progression of the project for example. I do also believe that having social intelligence is one of the values I possess when leading a group. I like to be aware of what my members are feeling and taking their emotions into account when making decisions.”

It was an eye-opening experience for many, and towards the end, some students are still not convinced that they have such capabilities. However, I hope that the seed of leadership has been planted in their hearts.