The Attribute Development Group

Building the
Qualities
That Matter Most

A science-based methodology for developing any attribute, in any person, within any organization — measurably.

3 Strengths

Knowing exactly what to change, knowing how to change it, and knowing when it worked — the three things most programs can’t tell you, and the three things ours can.

Any Attribute

The same methodology that develops resilience develops integrity, accountability, curiosity — or any quality your organization values.

Values-Agnostic

We don’t prescribe which attributes to develop. You bring your values. We provide the science-based methodology to realize them.

Why Most Programs Fail

Three Structural Failures

Organizations invest in character and quality programs sincerely. The aspiration is almost never the problem. The methodology is.

Failure 01

Stopping Short of Changing Behavior

Most programs operate at the level of the attribute itself — discussions, seminars, reflections. They stop at precisely the point where development actually begins. Knowing the definition of integrity is not the same thing as acting with integrity.

Failure 02

Not Applying the Science

The science of habit formation and behavior change is mature and rigorously validated. Most programs don’t draw on it because they weren’t built from it — they were built from intuition, tradition, and aspiration.

Failure 03

Not Measuring Outcomes

You cannot improve what you cannot measure. Most programs in this space have no answer to the measurement question because the question was never seriously posed.

The Methodology

A Four-Phase Development Cycle

Each phase builds on the last — from precise definition through habit formation to genuine, generalized trait-level change.

Discover

Select the target attribute and define it with precision — conceptually, calibrated for excess and deficiency, and operationally: what specific behaviors would serve as observable evidence of this quality?

Organizational mandate
360 feedback
Diagnostic root cause
Intrinsic aspiration

Plan

Design a personalized habit strategy using a menu of over two dozen scientifically validated behavior change techniques. Forming new habits and extinguishing bad ones require different approaches.

Implementation intentions
Habit stacking
Environment design
Accountability structures

Act

Execute. Track. Iterate. The emphasis is on repetition over perfection — building toward automaticity, the point at which the behavior is no longer a decision but a default.

Behavioral tracking
ABA/CBT protocols
Course correction
Accountability check-ins

Master

Generalize the habitual behavior across new contexts and relationships. Mentor others beginning the cycle. The attribute has become part of identity — and the methodology is ready to apply to the next one.

Transfer to new contexts
Peer mentorship
Identity integration
Repeat the cycle

A Case Study

From 91 Attributes to 12

One of our first engagements began with a systematic audit of every document across a K–12 independent school — mission and vision statements, program descriptions, athletic codes, artistic statements — surfacing 91 distinct attributes embedded in the institution’s culture. Working with school leadership, we organized them into a four-domain framework and reduced them to a focused set of twelve. The framework below, developed specifically for that school, illustrates what the process can produce. Every organization we work with will emerge with its own.

Well-Being	Intellect	Service	Emotion
Discipline	Curiosity	Compassion	Joy
Moderation	Critical Thinking	Collaboration	Growth Mindset
Resilience	Rigor	Accountability	Integrity

Developed for one independent school through an organizational audit. The Attribute Development Group conducts this process with every client — your framework will reflect your culture, your values, and your priorities.

Accountability That Holds

Two Tracks. One Standard.

Progress is not abstract. The Attribute Development Program measures it with two independent instruments that triangulate on the same construct from different directions.

Track One

Behavioral Measurement

Tracking protocols borrowed from applied behavioral analysis and cognitive behavioral therapy record the frequency, consistency, and automaticity of targeted behaviors over time. Progress is graphable. Visible. Improvable. This is process measurement — it tells you the intervention is working while it’s working.

When the behavior becomes consistent enough that tracking it feels redundant — when it would not occur to the individual not to do it — automaticity has been achieved.

Track Two

Social Perception

A structured 360-degree evaluation, administered at the start and repeated at a predetermined interval, measures whether others’ perception of the individual has changed. When peers not only rate someone higher but add unprompted qualitative comments — noting the change and appreciating that feedback was taken seriously — attribute-level development has become socially visible.

Behavioral measurement confirms the mechanism. Social perception confirms the outcome. Together, they constitute genuine accountability.

The AI Moment

A New Urgency

AI tools capable of performing cognitive work on behalf of users have introduced an attribute risk that organizations are only beginning to reckon with. When individuals offload to AI the intellectual struggle that builds resilience, the follow-through that builds accountability, or the ownership of a finished product that builds integrity — they are not simply skipping a task.

They are practicing the opposite of the qualities their organization needs to develop. Habits form in the direction of behavior, whatever direction that is.

This is not an argument against AI. It is an argument for intentionality. Organizations that understand how attributes develop — and that have a methodology for developing them deliberately — are positioned to navigate this moment. Those relying on habit and tradition are not.

The Team

Two Disciplines. One Program.

Andy Van Schaack, Ph.D.

Learning Science & Behavioral Change

Twenty years at Vanderbilt University with appointments in Education and Engineering. Applied cognitive psychologist, AI researcher, Fulbright Scholar, and recipient of Vanderbilt’s Madison Sarratt Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. Founder of several Silicon Valley educational technology companies with a dozen patents.

Patrick Schuermann, Ed.D.

Independent School Leadership & Organization

One of the nation’s leading experts in educator development. Founder of Vanderbilt’s Independent School Leadership Master’s Program, former director at the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Educator Compensation Reform, and collaborator with NAIS, NBOA, the Aspen Institute, and the Gates Foundation. Author of three books on school leadership.

Building theQualitiesThat Matter Most