We all have core values that are very important to us – as individuals, teams, and organizations.
It can be helpful to identify, clarify, and articulate these values to give us benchmarks of how we want to behave. As individuals, reflecting on our values regularly can help us stay on the path in life we want. As teams and organizations, a set of stated values can help us communicate and make effective decisions.
There are many ways to go about identifying your core values. You can do your own search on the Internet and find lots of great ways to do this. There are also sophisticated assessment tools that are out there that can help with the process. Therefore, what I am setting forward is just one of many ways to do this.
There are different, but related, ways to do values identification at the organization level, the team level, and for us as individuals.
For organizations, I suggest asking the question: “What do we stand for?” Think of it as a message that you are sending to the outside world, as well as to the entire team that works there. You can do surveys and focus groups to identify the values. You can help to remind everyone of them by putting them on your website and posting them on the walls of your facilities. But of course – they will only come alive if you use remind one another to use them for making decisions.
For teams, I suggest: “What is special/unique about how our team works together?” The team certainly needs to embody the values of the organization, but this is a chance to add more. Once identified, the team can use these in interviews and onboarding. “Just so you know, if you join our team – this is how we do things.” I have seen teams list things like: “We work hard and have fun doing it,” “We pursue perfection, but will accept excellence,” or “We take care of one another.”
Core values can be a little more complicated for individuals, because we operate in various contexts in our lives. Still, the question I suggest is “What do I care about?” Personally, I have a long list of values that cover all of the environments in which I operate. When I think of myself at work, I have values such as Collegiality, Continuous Improvement, and Impact. In my personal life I have Spirituality, Family, and Friendships. These are all compatible but are emphasized differently depending on the environment. Honesty, Respect and Fairness show up in all environments.
Following our values consistently gives us Integrity – wholeness. Jon Stewart once said:
“If you don’t stick to your values when they are tested, they’re not values. They’re hobbies.”
Identifying and sticking to our values can make our organizations more successful and our lives more fulfilling.
