Our Approach
The Principles behind Formation
People are formed by what they repeatedly experience.
Not simply by what they are told. Not by what is written on a wall. Not by what a mission statement declares.
They are formed by the habits, relationships, systems, and environments they encounter every day.
VIA Forma is built on this insight—and on the evidence behind it. Our approach brings together three foundational principles: Virtue, Integrity, and Agape.
Together, they point to the same truth: formation happens by design or by default.
There is no third option.
V
Virtue
Aristotle named this first: virtue is not a feeling or an intention. It is a habit, developed through repetition the way any skill is developed.
John Dewey extended this insight into education: we learn through experience. What structures that experience becomes the real curriculum. Alasdair MacIntyre pushed further: virtue is never formed in isolation. It is shaped by the communities, practices, and traditions we inhabit.
Organizations are always moral environments. Every workplace, classroom, and institution forms people—whether it intends to or not.
Behavioral science now explains the mechanism. Habits are formed through repeated actions within consistent contexts, not through information alone. This is why values statements rarely change behavior, while intentional practices do.
Organizations that design for virtuous practice—embedding repeated opportunities for wise action into daily life—do not simply communicate values. They cultivate them.
Virtue is character in action, not aspiration.
I
Integrity
Kant argued that moral action requires consistency: acting from principle rather than convenience. Integrity is not situational. It is revealed when principles hold under pressure.
Thinkers like Nel Noddings extended this understanding into relationship, reminding us that integrity is not only about internal consistency—it is also about responsibility toward others. An organization can be coherent internally and still fail the people it exists to serve.
Organizational research has given this principle a practical name: behavioral integrity. Tony Simons’ research demonstrates that the alignment between what leaders say and what they do strongly influences trust, performance, and retention.
Organizations with integrity do not simply communicate values more effectively. They design systems where acting on those values is easier than abandoning them.
Integrity is alignment between purpose and practice.
A
Agape
Thomas Aquinas understood agape as ordered love—not sentiment, but a deliberate orientation toward the good of another. It is not simply a feeling that appears under the right conditions. It is a practice that creates the conditions for human flourishing.
bell hooks extended this understanding into community, arguing that love is not passive. It is transformative and requires structures that make care possible.
Organizational research points in the same direction. Sigal Barsade’s work on companionate love in organizations demonstrates that cultures of genuine care produce stronger trust, engagement, and resilience. While research may not capture agape in its fullest sense, it reveals the organizational consequences of environments shaped by care.
Organizations that form people well are not more caring by accident. They are designed to make care a practice, not an exception.
Agape is a commitment to others’ flourishing.
Formation by Design
The VIA Framework
Virtue, Integrity, and Agape are not three separate commitments. They form one system.
Virtue without Integrity is aspiration.
Integrity without Agape is compliance.
Agape without Virtue is performance.
Together, they describe an organization that means what it says — and builds accordingly.