Character Champions in Namibia

This seminar is designed specifically for CF champions who plan to do CF implementation in organisations.

16 Champions in Namibia have been trained and special thanks for Sanet and Derrick who have organised this

• Expectations from the founder Tom Hill of Character First in Oklahoma
• Overall Vision for Africa
• Character First growth the last 12 months
• Doing the Character First self assessments, CF coaching
• Overview of CF programs day one and day two*
• Case studies (Metro Police, Vital Health, Barloworld, George Hospital, Clanwilliam High School, Ghana and Nigeria)
• Media opportunities, success stories with Radio Tygerberg 104 magazine
• Do’s and Don’ts of Implementation
• The Power of Breakfast sessions
• Project management skills and business case thinking
• Application: Business, Families, Education
• Facilitating the changes and follow up
• Monthly Character First directed work team discussions
• The new challenges and budgets and financial model
• Code of Ethics and non disclosure agreements
• The next steps


Thirty three people have been trained also in the Basic seminar
See feedback from one of the delegates

ANC condemns Malema's behaviour

The ANC "strongly condemned" its youth league president Julius Malema treatment of a BBC journalist. "The aggressive and insultive (sic) behaviour to the said journalist that culminated with Mr Fisher walking out of the Youth League press briefing cannot be condoned at all," said spokesperson Jackson Mthembu.

Reflected negatively on ANC "The unfortunate outburst by Comrade Juluis Malema not only reflect negatively on him, but also reflected negatively on the ANC YL, the entire ANC family, our alliance partners as well as South Africa in the eyes of the international community."
Malema called BBC journalist, Jonah Fisher, a "bastard" and an "agent" before booting him out of the media briefing. Leadership "We are of a firm view that this matter could have been handled differently.
"The leadership abilities and qualities of the position that Comrade Juluis Malema holds, should have prepared him to deal with the issue in a manner that demonstrated leadership," Mthembu said. But how do you treat this matter differently?

Let me start: Character is the qualities built into an individual’s life that determines his or her response, regardless of circumstances and it springs from the heart. The true test for character is always our response to the pressure of difficult situations. Wrong actions and attitudes damage relationships and it is important to deal with the inner attitude. When apologising, you have to look for a change of heart not only regret. Regret means that you are sorry but you do not change. A change of heart means that you change your mind and you want to restore the relationship.
An appeal to the conscience is a sure way of correcting someone as you than ask if your actions was truthful, punctual, wise, and exercising self- control

For more on dealing with the inner attitude see our website www.charcterfirst.co.za

Developing leaders for the future

INTERNATIONAL LECTURES: Dr Mario Denton recently traveled to Germany, Namibia and Ghana to present lectures about HR and Character First. All the lectures were enthusiastically received, with positive feedback and invitations to return with more.

This elective happen at Leipzig during the first week in April.
The primary outcome of this elective in HR is to help participants to:

• Develop an integrated and comprehensive understanding of the field of Human Resource Management.

• Equip participants with fundamental, critical and analytical diagnostic expertise to enable them to analyze, understand and apply complex trends in the area of HR and to apply theoretical HR concepts with a view to solving relevant HR problems in their respective workplaces.

• Draw up a comprehensive HR support plan incorporating all the significant facets of HR.

Character First Sabco Coca Cola

Character First! helps people see the value of good character, so they can build better workplaces and communities. We have received great feedback from a group of delegates and would like to share with you regarding their experience:

Hi Mario, I hope you are fine. I wanted to share with you some key developments since your training in PE. I must confess that the character first message is very REAL for most people I have exposed it to. You can hear a pin drop during some of the management meetings I have addressed to introduce the concept. Many managers have embraced it well that I continuously get information on how people have been recognized. The Management team continues to use the character first examples while addressing employees. It is now common to hear employees refer to character issues as they discuss any people issues. At our annual long service awards – this month, the management team decided to recognize the MD for having the character of Decisiveness.

Character First in Malawi

Untitled from Desmond Denton on Vimeo.

Malawi is among the world's least developed and most densely populated countries. The economy is heavily based in agriculture, with a largely rural population.

Powerful testimonial from Tanzania

We would be to share with you the wonderful experiences delegates have with the Character First programmes. We would like to thank all of the delegates who have attended the Character First programmes and are passionately making the difference where they are. We are truly witnessing significant progress and are truly thankful to all involved. Below follows a powerful feedback all the way from the beautiful country of Tanzania.

Dear Mario, Trust you have arrived home safe. Many thanks for the briliant presentation thisafternoon. I have had very good feedback from delegates and you have real addedvalue to all of us. The Managing Director of CRDB Bank said it clearly overdinner - that if we addressed the character issue first, the rest will fall into place.

 

I am looking forward to working with you in the near future. All the very best Dave Kahwa Founder, President & CEO EQUIP GRC TANZANIA

More than clean water? Character First for a selected group of the City of Cape Town -Water and Sanitation

It was absolutely wonderful to train nearly 100 Character First champions from the Water and Sanitation department. We have trained the Director and his senior team and also showed a short DVD of the director’s message during the first opening session.

I fully agree with the following statement where Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, in an interview in the McKinsey Quarterly, illustrated the need for character training when he said the following:


“We are struggling ourselves, as a new democracy in South Africa, to restore values … Values are never a given. They have got to be developed, worked upon, and consolidated on an ongoing basis. Because if at any given time we as a society or as sections of society become complacent about them, we run the risk of losing them…. We are therefore duty bound to try at all times to bring to the fore the values that bring us together as fellow South Africans, as human beings, united in our diversity.”

Instilling the Character First qualities into each employee must be a passion for each manager. God knew the importance of instilling values. In Deuteronomy 6:6-7 He said, "These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." If you want your Character First qualities embraced by staff, share them regularly and creatively

View director's message

CHARACTER FIRST INTERVIEW CAPE TOWN from Desmond Denton on Vimeo.


View Character Discussion

Character First training Cape Town Water and Sanitation from Desmond Denton on Vimeo.

Character and ethics: a group of BP staff in Johannesburg makes Character meaningful

To promote change you need people that are serious about instilling the change. It’s less about merely solving the problems- It is about a shift in priorities to keep the sustainable momentum of positive growth and character alive.

My suggestions to this team during the training were the following:


1.Establish a character-based culture in your environment.
2.Train all managers and supervisors and equip them with the character tools and bulletins. Encourage each person to take his character bulletin home.
3.Be an example of character and do the 49 character qualities assessment in your team and department twice a year.
4.Focus on one character quality per month. Hold character application sessions.
5.Get rid of employee of the month recognition schemes and recognize each employee once per year based on one of the 49 Character qualities.
6.Publicly recognise good character with genuine praise. It is one thing to talk about being an Character, it is another to actually take action on a plan to develop ourselves and others as authentic leaders.

When we see others finding their "True Character North", it helps us to see ours.

Character First! Institute in Oklahoma

I was privileged to recently be able to spend two days with the folk from Character First! in Oklahoma to discuss our needs and plans for the future. What a great team!

It was so good to hear what they are doing after the restructuring over the past year.

While at the Character Institute, I repeated my presentation, “Building and sustaining a Character-based authentic culture” which I gave in Tucson, Arizona during the FCCI Conference. I also discussed the progress that Character First! has made in organisations and countries here in Africa.

I recently received a very encouraging letter from a person in Uganda who has been encouraged by the Character First! materials. When I receive letters like this, I realise that we cannot ignore the challenge to spread the message of character in our great continent. I have included the letter below, for your encouragement.

Character training in Nigeria

Nigeria is a massive country of almost 100 million people comprising 250 ethnic groups speaking 4000 dialects. In size, it is more than two and half times the size of California. The diversity of Nigeria is reflected in its rainbow of creeds and complexions, views and counterviews, stretching from the fringes of the desert in the North to the Atlantic waters in the South.

We have been involved in taking Character First into Nigeria and initiate the implementation of it within Church groups as well as business implementation groups.