Clarify Your Values

The late Milton Rokeach, one of the leading scholars and researchers in the field of human values, referred to a value as an enduring belief about the way things should be done or about the ends we desire. Values are principles that are intrinsically important to us, and it's unlikely that we will easily change them.

Your values are the fundamental beliefs that guide your decisions and actions. It's absolutely essential that you are clear about and mindful of those values, because your personal credibility depends on it. So begin by clarifying the values that you believe should guide your actions during this project.

Check the Fit

If your leadership project is inside a formal organization, there may be an expressed set of organizational values that everyone is expected to adhere to. We know from our research that it is not possible to be fully committed to the organization if your personal values conflict with the organization's values. So take a moment to do a fitness check.

• Does your organization have a published set of values? If so, read them. If not, there may be a set of values that's lived out anyway. For instance, you may observe that whenever something needs to be done, individuals typically go off into their personal spaces at home or in the office and work alone, implying that this organization values individual achievement instead of teamwork and collaboration. Another clue that working on one's own is an organizational value is that all awards and recognitions are given to individuals and not to groups.
• What are the values in your organization?

• If you're not clear about your organization's values, what can you do to gain that clarity?

• Think about how your personal values relate to the organization's values. Where is there alignment? Are there any points of tension? Where do your values and the organization's appear to conflict?

If there appears to be alignment between your values and the organization's values, move on to Application 3. If not, determine how you are going to resolve the conflict.

One way to find a better fit between your personal values and those of the organization is to engage in a dialogue with your manager about the conflict. Another way is to talk the conflict over with your family or a close colleague. Sometimes you will find that the conflict actually results from a lack of clarity; sometimes, however, you can't figure out how to meet your needs and the organization's at the same time. Whatever the cause of the conflict, you must address it. You cannot model the organization's values if you are not fully on board with them.

• There is alignment. (Move on.)
• There are conflicts. I will do the following to resolve them:

Build and Affirm Shared Values

When you're an individual contributor working alone, you might be able to use your personal values as a guide. But when you are the leader, you need to consider your team members’ values as well and make the transition from “what I believe” to “what we believe.” Just as your values drive your commitment, their own values drive theirs, and we know from our research that commitment flows from a strong sense that personal values are clear and shared. That's why you must discuss values with your team at the beginning of a project so you can build agreement around a few core values that everyone can pledge to uphold. If you have not already done so, now is the time to talk to your team about values.

Here's what we suggest that you do:

• Schedule a meeting for the members of your project team. (If the team is large, you might want to divide it into two or three working groups.) Explain that the purpose of the meeting is to talk about the principles that will guide your decisions and actions as you move forward.
• Before the meeting, ask every team member to complete Application 1: Clarify Your Values (pages 35–38)—the activity you used to clarify your own values. Ask them to select the values they think are the most important, and explain that you have already done this activity. Ask them to bring the completed worksheet to the meeting.
• Begin the meeting by communicating the values on your list, and tell the group about any conflicts and tensions that came up for you during the process of clarifying your values. By doing this, you are setting the example of what you expect of people, and you are also working to build your own personal credibility.
• Ask the team members to share the values on their lists. Hold any discussion until everyone has finished.
• Once everyone has shared their personal values, look for the values that the team members hold in common. What values appear on everyone's list? What values do a majority of the group hold? Where are there conflicts? For example, do a majority of the team members value teamwork and collaboration, but a few value individualism and independence more? Discuss how these kinds of tensions can be resolved.
• Close the meeting by working together to develop a brief “team credo” that articulates the values and principles that will guide team members’ decisions and actions during the project. Ask people to print this credo and post it prominently in their workspace so that it remains visible as they work.

Align Your Actions with Shared Values

“Actions speak louder than words” is a common cliché. Like many clichés, it is often true, and it is particularly true about leadership. The extent to which your actions are consistent with your words determines your personal credibility. And the extent to which your actions are consistent with shared values determines your leadership credibility. Keeping in mind the team's shared values, you need to make sure there's alignment between words and deeds.

As project leader, what can you do to demonstrate the importance of the team's shared values to the team members, to colleagues, and to management? Brainstorm two or three actions you can take to show your commitment to each value. Those actions might include how you spend your time, the way you deal with critical incidents, the stories you tell, or the way you ask questions and express yourself.

• How you spend your time. The amount of time you allocate to key values sends a message. For example, if creativity is one of the principles the team considers important to the project, you need to spend some of your own time in pursuit of creativity. For example, you might visit a product design firm to see how they stimulate creativity, or you might invite an actor to lead an improvisation workshop for the team.

  Where and how do you need to spend your time?

• The way you deal with critical incidents. Significant unforeseen events or episodes can be opportunities to demonstrate commitment to a value. Critical incidents are what we call “teachable moments.” For example, being part of a team doesn't mean that everyone has the same working style. Even when they commit to the value of working collaboratively, some people will still feel more comfortable working on their own. The COVID lockdown, with its shift to remote work and virtual meetings, offered those people the chance to slip back into their preferred individualist working style. How—and whether—you stepped in to address this issue would have sent a strong message about whether teamwork and collaboration are for everyone, or for everyone except those individuals. What are some ways you can prepare yourself to handle critical incidents?

• The stories you tell about exemplary actions by others. We are all fond of stories, and telling stories about a member of the team who does something to live out one of the project values is a very useful way to demonstrate that you are paying attention to what's going on.

Who has done something recently to exemplify a shared value? Where and when can you tell the story about what this person did so that others can learn from it?

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Choose your language carefully and ask questions that probe key values. The language you use and the questions you ask are powerful ways to shape perceptions of what you value. Let's say your team values service to others, but the language you and others use is all about “What's in it for me?” After hearing that message over and over again, what do you think people will assume is important? Similarly, the questions you ask can stimulate action in a particular direction. If you want people to think about their commitment to the shared value of service to others, you could ask, “What did you do during the last week to help another person?”

What key words do you want to make sure you use to signal commitment to your core values? What words do you want to make sure you avoid and discourage? What questions can you ask to stimulate people to align their thoughts and actions around the core values?

Key Words to Use

Key Words to Avoid

Questions to Ask

Select Actions

Review your responses to the questions above on your use of time, critical incidents, stories, and language. For each of your top three shared project values, select at least one action from the options you generated above that you can take yourself to demonstrate each of those values. If you cannot yet come up with an action for all the shared values, come back to this page later.