close

Why values matter

Back to Blog

Your values matter to your business.  Your values matter because they are connected to your story.  Your parents had values and passed those on to you.  The challenge is that organizations and bosses may try to strip those values from you.  As a leader, your team and business is looking to you to just authentically lead your business based on your values.

Values such as achievement, passion, family, commerce and aesthetics are often generated through teachers and influencers.  Your values are as much a part of you as your heart, lungs and hands.  The question is do you lead from your values or do you lead from anxiety?

Anxiety can be a powerful tool for a leader.  It can cause the leader to behave in ways that push people away or cause them to distance themselves from you.  Your anxiety can also bring about results.  In fact, businesses can be successful from the outside and yet inside they are filled with fear, a passion for certainty and the lack of trusting a process.

Think about your values as the drivers to help you reach your vision.  For example, achievement is one of my values and I use this value to encourage me to pursue the vision of seeing leaders flourish.  If commerce is a value of yours, let the desire to exchange currency and to complete business deals help drive you to the vision of your business.

Anxiety can do the same thing.  Can you recall a time in a sales meeting or executive meeting where you allowed your anxiety spill over to your team? Many times employees will react and respond to that anxiety.  They may even perform better for you for a season because now their performance is about managing your anxiety.   Consider how important your non-anxious presence is to your team.

The final question then becomes do your values matter in your leadership or would you rather gain shorter term results utilizing anxiety as your tool?

Here are some of my favorite values resources for you:

1.) Stan Slap: His book is on my reading list and he has a great values exercise for you to complete.

2.) Hogan Assessments:  One of their many tools is their values report, which I use in every one of my coaching engagements.  This will give you a nice picture of your values.  The report answers the question: “What do you want out of life and work?”

3.) Dan Pink: I am a big fan of Dan Pink.  I read his content because it is about intrinsic motivation.  Take a look and subscribe to his blog.