Values...?
About 1,580,000,000 results (0.50 seconds)
That’s what Google returned to me from my search. What was I searching for? Well, I put “personal values” in the Google search box. It took, .5 seconds to return a worlds worth of information on personal values! One BILLION, five hundred eighty million results. All responses were around “What are your values”, “Personal Core Values”, “Examples of Core Values” and on and on. It appears there is no shortage of people who are interested in understanding what values are about.
So, let’s write another article – 1,580,000,001 results now.
In this piece, I’ll state what is meant by values, how to find them and some impacts once you are aware of them consciously.
What are personal values?
Generally, your values:
1. Reveal what’s important to us
2. Motivates us
3. Guides our decisions
Most people are walking through life everyday probably not even conscious of the personal values they have cultivated – WHO WOULD? We construct these values through our experiences. Generally, values evolve from the belief structure you are born into, which makes sense. It’s the beliefs you were exposed to from your upbringing and perhaps why it is so personal. People can have the same values, but they may behave differently in how the respective values are expressed. For example, money/wealth comes up as a value for a lot of people. Some may define that value as amassing as much for themselves as they can, others may define having a lot of money so they can be more charitable to others. Same value, different behavior.
Being Aware of Your Values
How do you become aware of your values if you’re not already? You can do this alone or with a friend or even use it as a team building exercise. There are plenty of exercises you can find from the one billion results noted above. If doing this with a group or for a team building exercise (which would be a GREAT team activity!) its best to have someone facilitate the process. The process usually starts with some self-reflection and some inquiry. Some questions (keep in mind there are lots of questions that could be asked) might be:
· What’s important to your life?
· What do you enjoy doing?
· What are you most proud of?
· What types of news stories make you angry?
Take the time to reflect on the questions from the exercise. Review the responses and see what comes alive for you. If the group or team is struggling (which is not uncommon), then introduce a values list. That is just an aggregation of terms that people use for values. You can easily find sample of them on-line. Just be careful as you can find lists that have 50 items or lists that have literally hundreds of value terms. Then you can easily get “paralysis from analysis” from large lists. That’s why I suggest starting with some introspection using the questions. Feel free to reach out for some tips or suggestions on how to perform this exercise. As with any exercise, it needs to be well thought out and planned to be successful!
Impact of Values
Why is any of this important, specifically at work? Here are some reasons:
· Reduce conflicts
· Uphold institutional reputation
· Employee retention
· Productivity
· Aligned workforce on organizational goals
· Engaged workforce to reach those goals
· Enjoyable place to work!
· Having a strong organizational culture
· Positive effect on financial performance
· Everyone understands the “tone at the top”
· Increased customer satisfaction
· Etc….
The list goes on and on. But here is the trick, for those things (and more) to start clicking - the ORGANIZATIONAL GOALS must also be understood and communicated. Its only when we understand that our personal goals align or are in the same ballpark as our organization the magic happens! For example, if a person’s values support a position of animal rights, they might not like working in a slaughterhouse. It’s an extreme example, but think you get the point.
Values are the bedrock, the reason that drives our behaviors. When those values are not aligned with another person or the organization we work for, we may not feel right and can over time disengage and cope in negative ways. Values become that filter which our options are viewed, and actions are taken. So, if you feel great about the place you work – ask yourself, why do I feel so connected? If you don’t have that feeling – ask yourself, what values are not aligned?
Take the values journey, you’ll be glad you did!