Personal Values as a Compass for your Work
Posted on January 18, 2023 by Leslie Vander Gheynst, One of Thousands of Executive Coaches on Noomii.
Explore the opportunity of defining values for yourself and take away tactics on how to define them and how to use them as a compass for decisions.
It’s no surprise that having clearly defined values is a cornerstone to any successful business.
What about for ourselves? Personally. I have always been a believer in clearly defined values for organizations – it helps us understand how people will work, what people will add to the organization’s culture, how we prioritize, the list goes on and on.
What was missing for me was MY OWN values.
I had defined values for my team – how I wanted my team (and me) to show up for our customers – we recruited to those values, we talked about those values, and we were living these values. But I found myself overworked, exhausted, impatient, and I couldn’t understand why. Through coaching and some personal work, I realized I wasn’t really aligned with some of the values we defined. I had defined those values based on what I believed the organization needed – rather than what I intrinsically believed.
What did that look like? Well, we had a path and boundaries – but I was personally unfulfilled. My team wasn’t 100% bought in – because I wasn’t 100% bought in. It was backwards.
I hadn’t clearly defined my own values, I didn’t know what I stood for and I didn’t know if I was heading in the right direction (our next blog talks about how that manifested). Values are like a compass – they tell us when we’re heading in the right direction and allow us to course correct when we’re heading in the wrong direction.
This was a huge lightbulb moment for me. If you had asked me, at that time, what my career goals were or what success looked like – I would have given you some boxed statement “I want to be the Chief People Officer of some large tech organization.” But did I really? I never really explored this…I just said it because I thought that was what was next, and it made me sound ambitious. Eventually, I made a decision to leave an organization that I was with for a really long time – and when I was asked, “what’s next?” …I had no idea. There was no compass for me.
What did I do… I worked with my coach to redefine what success meant to me. It wasn’t about a title or working at some huge organization… it wasn’t about standing on stage and getting huge accolades or being known for working in the people space… but it WAS about being more present with my family and friends (which I wasn’t – I was on my phone constantly and living in fear), it was about loving myself and having more self respect (which I’m still working on), it was about supporting and lifting others up, expressing myself artistically, giving regularly, traveling and experiencing other cultures and people, and taking ownership of my future.
That was a journey on it’s own – once I had an understanding of what success meant to me – I could really re-define my values. Here are a few steps you can take in defining YOUR personal values.
1) IDENTIFY VALUES WORDS THAT AUTHENTICALLY MOVE YOU
2) PRIORITIZE, COMBINE, REMOVE UNTIL YOU HAVE 5-8 VALUE WORDS THAT FEEL, SOUND, APPEAR RIGHT TO YOU
3) DEFINE WHAT THEY MEAN TO YOU AND WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE IN ACTION
4) PRACTICE THOSE VALUES IN ACTION FOR A WEEK (TRY TO EXPERIENCE EACH VALUE DAILY)
5) IF A VALUE DOESN’T SERVE YOU – REMOVE IT
6) IF SOMETHING FEELS MISSING – ADD IT
7) REPEAT STEPS 3 AND 4 UNTIL YOU’RE DONE!
Once your values are defined – direction becomes easier…knowing what to say “yes” or “no” to becomes easier. You’re not easily swayed nor do you compromise what actually matters. It becomes your compass for the big decisions, the people you surround yourself with, and your boundaries.
