Values: The Driving Force in Tough Times

My goodness! It’s snowing out, which means it’s almost Christmas, but we still haven’t had Thanksgiving and I haven’t even started my shopping and I have a million things to do at work and you want me to pause and think about my value system!?  Well, yes! In fact, it seems like the perfect time to pause, reflect, and think about the beliefs that drive you.

Throughout the course of this blog, we have visited Brene Brown’s book Dare to Lead. One of the key tenets of the book is the focus on living into our values. Brene says it best, “A value is a way of being or believing that we hold most important. Living into our values means that we do more than profess our values, we practice them.” 

A value discussion is an important discussion to have with yourself. Your values are what guide you in good times and bad. Values allow you to be consistent in your behavior and they allow you to role model behaviors and expectations to the people you lead. In other words, values let you walk the walk and talk the talk in a way that is respected by others.

Figuring Out the Values that Drive You

This week we are asking the ICAHN Rural Health Fellows to define their personal values by choosing two values that will drive their leadership. Just two you say? Yes! That seems really tough, but if you proclaim too many values you just have a list of things that are nice. Brene  focuses on the need for this narrow list because without it there is nothing that truly drives you. “You can’t live by feel good words,” she says. I like to think of it as a driving analogy. Without a clear set of values you are stuck in traffic but with clear directions you are flying down the open road. As author Curtis Tyrone Jones said, “Sometimes people have no idea what drives you and the unlimited gears you’ve developed inside you, so they try to teach you how to steer.”

Making it Clear to Yourself and Your Team

As with anything getting started is the hardest thing. Brene’s Living into our Values worksheet is a great exercise and an easy way to start thinking about what defines you and what makes the best you. You can access the worksheet here: https://brenebrown.com/resources/living-into-our-values/.

When you look at her values list, I’m pretty sure you are going to think, “All of these are important to me.” But take the time to connect with yourself and think about those deep-seated, personal standards that are most important to you. Yes, that may mean crossing off important drivers like family, honesty, team player, or creativity in favor of passion and trust. Whatever you choose, there is no right or wrong answer.

Do you want to take this a step further? This same exercise in value development can also be team exercise where you work on your team's core values. Again, there are some great online resources here: https://brenebrown.com/resources/operationalizing-your-values-a-step-by-step-process-for-groups-and-teams/  

In both exercises, Brene’s challenge is to take your selected values from BS to behavior. That means leaning into what you identify as most important to you and to let those values guide your behavior and decisions.

Take the Values Challenge

Over the next few weeks, I challenge you to look at these resources and work through them individually or as a team. And as you take this on, don’t think of it as one more thing to do, but as a driver that will make your leadership easier. I’ll close with a final Brene quote, “We don’t have to be perfect, just engaged and committed to aligning values with actions.” That’s how I see it this week from where I sit.