Your Values Are Your Compass- Not Your Mission Statement

Values are such an important piece in workplaces, organizations and individuals, but they are not talked about near enough. When I say this, I’m sure many people could respond “what do you mean, our values are posted on our wall as soon as you walk into our office!” When I say they are not talked about, I mean truly talked about.

Let’s look at this further.

What are values?

They are deeply held core beliefs that we carry. The things that we hold very close to us, and shape our responses in daily life, even if it’s subconsciously.

Most of the time, without the awareness, values are practiced subconsciously. They guide the decisions that we make, how we respond to others, discomfort, and how we show up in our own lives.

You may find values posted on the wall when you walk into an organization. You will often find them posted on websites. But if you ask an individual what the organizations values are, and get them to explain them to you, people become lost for words or they espouse the values from the wall, but have no idea what they mean to them or if their personal values have any alignment with the organizations.

This is not wrong, or to shame individuals for not knowing the values. But it speaks to the importance of values, and why we should be talking about them, and how they show up in not only the work that we do, but individually and within our teams as well.

Why are they important?

Values are important because they guide us; in the decisions that we make, how we respond to situations, and show up in our work and in our personal lives, to name a few.

Values are important, but if they are left unchecked, or in the subconscious, what we value may not always be the most appropriate response to the situation at hand, and without the awareness, it can lead to limitations and biases.

What happens when there is misalignment or incongruency?

When there is incongruency with values and workplaces, a break down occurs, and defiance can occur. This misalignment can also cause mental stress, unhappiness in the work place, and often times, it’s the clients who suffer the most.

This is why it’s so important to be familiar with the organization values and your own personal values. Not so you can parrot the values in an interview question, but so that you know how your values and the organizations align (or not).

For example, if you are working with a family that is dealing with a teenage pregnancy, and the topic of abortion comes up. Your values will come into play. If you are pro-choice, this may not impact you as much, however, if you are pro-life, this may cause conflict because of your value system and the situation at hand. What’s important here is how you respond. You can either respond appropriately to what the family/teenager needs, or you can advocate for yourself and ask for someone else to take on the file, or whatever the approach is within your organization.

I would offer this piece of advice, in alignment with why values are important. If you are applying to a pro-choice organization, you will likely be very unhappy with your employment there as there will be a huge mis alignment with your personal values and the organizational values.

Another example, if you believe in getting tough on crime, then applying for jobs that offer integration and offender rehabilitation should not be on your radar.

What about values among teams?

I recently facilitated strategic planning for an organization. Developing mission, vision and values can be quite challenging, however, this team stepped up to the plate, embraced the challenge and created each to resonate to their current and future state.

What was interesting about this process, was the values piece. The team developed values and what they meant to them, but as time went on and we began exploring solutions to some of the barriers that were identified throughout this process, the topic of values came up.

What they learned through this process was that it was quite easy to identify the values, what they meant to the work they do and as individuals in the community, but they hit a road block when they looked at how the values showed up within the team, or lack thereof.

This caused the team to pause, and dig deep. They had to rumble with vulnerability, which was interesting because that was a word that was talked about quite frequently throughout the two days we were together. Although it did not end up being a core value identified for them, it was something they all identified with.

We were about to witness whether the team could demonstrate and practice what it means to be vulnerable with each other.

It was a pivotal moment for everyone around the table. An opportunity to lean into the discomfort, and to work through these very things that were holding them back, while learning about the importance of values, and how they are not something outside of our ourselves.

Values are instrumental in how we show up for ourselves, our communities, organizations, and the teams we work within.