If you’ve been in the workplace for a minute, you’ve probably heard of, read about, or participated in some type of discussion on core values. For businesses and organizations, these are the components that are supposed to move organizations in the direction they want to go.
Core values create the culture of an organization. Culture is what an organization embodies and is the way things are. With enough experience and observation in any organization, you’ll discover what that culture is. Core values can actually form the desired culture of an organization if applicable links from core values to day-to-day operations are explained. Here’s how.
Core values help organizations make decisions that matter. Every tough decision can be simplified if the answer lines up with the practiced core values. Core values not practiced won’t matter in any decision because the foundation of that company or organization does not exist.
Core values protect the “way we do things”. This component protects organizations from compromising their methodology to fit into another organization’s opportunity. Without core values, companies and organizations that try to fit their methodology to fickle opportunities will abandon the qualities that make them awesome resulting in mediocrity.
Core values empower people and multiply leadership. One of the most damaging forms of organizational leadership is the linchpin model where one person is the decision maker for most things. It’s not that the linchpin model facilitates bad leadership, it’s that it restricts the multiplication and empowerment of leadership potential within that company. Core values, embodied and believed, provide the backbone support for more people to make more decisions that move the company forward.
So what about your life’s direction in relation to core values? Do you have core values that shape your direction? Have you thought about what that might look like for you?
Consider this exercise.
Observe all of the consistencies that you display in the phases of your life. What do you value and consistently display as it relates to your life? Are you honest in your dealings? Are you kind to people? Are you a ladder climber at other people’s expense (prob not a great one…)? Pick a few of your consistent behaviors and decide if you want to formalize core value wording that describes those actions.
Consider how these core values make you unique. I wouldn’t only list generic core values, at least list them with some type of description.
Humble: I understand who I am and won’t compete with others to be someone I’m not
Efficient: My time is valuable, don’t waste it.
Or, you can make your core value a memorable slogan.
Doing work faster and more efficiently than anyone.
Keeping my word, even if it costs me.
Whatever you decide, make it memorable, authentic, and what you want. Your core values don’t need to be approved by anyone else, nor do they need to be put on your office wall for validation. As long as your core values are written on your mind and your heart, you have the foundation for navigating all future decisions.
Finally, create links to apply your core values to actual functions. If you don’t have an application for your core value, you don’t have an authentic core value, just a nice wish. Your core values need a place to function within the confines of your life. A core value not rooted in function is like a joke without a punchline.
How to decide if your core values apply:
- Can your core values apply to something you care deeply about?
- Will your core values change or modify the way you do your work?
- Do your core values address an issue that bugs you, that you want to change?
- Have your core values been consistent with the philosophy and attitude of your life?
If you need a few examples of applying your core values, here you go.
I care deeply about keeping my word with others so honesty is a core value I practice in what I say. This helps me not promise anything, or flippantly say I’ll do something, unless I know I can keep my word.
I believe in doing quality work as well as having a quality life outside of work so a power work ethic is a value that helps me do my job well, with excellence, yet have separation from it. This keeps me healthy in all of my personal spaces.
Action step: download the page (this is actually one of the first pages of The Vision Planner) and write the direction you want for the next year. Your answers don’t have to be right, they just have to be you.
The Vision Planner is available in nine different covers, and in hardback, so you can choose the right one for you. You can begin at any time during the year as you fill in the months and dates.
And one more thing, The Vision Planner has four weeks vacation built into it! What other planner gives you time off like that?