Values – What do you stand for?
Our values underpin the way we live our lives, the decisions we take, the friends we feel most aligned with and the work environments we feel happiest in.
Values are the standards and moral principles we live our lives by – what we find important and care about. They define who we are and what we stand for. The quality of ‘integrity’ is often associated with good leadership – it means living consistently by our values – practising what we preach, saying what we do and doing what we say.
Examples of values (or things that we consider important) are: freedom, community, honesty, adventure, forgiveness, thrift, persistence, health, power, compassion, generousity, spirituality, learning, etc.
It can be quite difficult to get to the bottom of what you really stand for. In his book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Stephen Covey suggests imagining that you are attending your own funeral and listening to the Eulogies given by friends and family. How would you want them to describe you – what qualities and contributions – these can give you a window on what matters to you.
You may have different values in different areas of your life. Think about what matters to you in your:
- work/community contribution
- relationships and family
- attitude to money and financial success
- health and wellbeing
Make a note of these values and check in every now and then to make sure the choices you are making and goals you are setting are in line with these. We can make mistakes by attempting to live someone else’s values – doing what we ‘ought’ or think we ‘should’ do. I’ve worked with a number of people who have realised the jobs they have been doing are not fulfilling them – jobs that sometimes they’ve been guided into by well meaning family or other influential advisers. When we get to the heart of what they value it becomes obvious that there is a mismatch.
Organisations have values too – and not all are identical although you might find similarity in companies in the same sector. Finding a company whose operating culture fits with your own values is essential to feel that you are in the right place.