How to Identify your Values
The definition of values is: “principles or standards of behaviour; one's judgement of what is important in life”, but why are they useful and for what?
Knowing your values can be very useful tool to understand your own and other’s drivers, which supports managing situations, leading, building emotional intelligence, acting in an authentic way, developing executive presence, being more empathetic, managing changes and transitions effectively, or resolving conflict, to name a few. What is so valuable about looking at situations from a values perspective, is that it is very individual, yet it helps see the connections (and differences) and bring clarity to them.
Values are very personal and can present themselves in different ways. They often come from experiences we have had, present themselves as beliefs we hold and how we act or behave. When our values are not aligned with a situation there is often conflict or a feeling of discomfort, even triggers.
Some reflections to help identify your values, from both an individual and social perspctive, both approaches work well with curiosity and openness:
Internal process:
Reflect on your own values – what words come to mind? Where do you think they come from? When do they show up and how do they show up?
Looking at a list of values can help in picking a few that resonate strongest – your own use of wording is also important. Thinking of different situations, both positive and more negative ones (sometime around the same value), is useful information in understanding values. Also looking at personal and professional life, there is often overlap and sometimes values are presented differently, this helps get the values more specific.
External or social process:
Start a conversation about values with others. Maybe its someone you have a lot in common with or where there is more disagreement, both help clarify and understand your own values and how others have a different perspective on things through other drivers. This can be very useful as an exercise with people who you have interactions with, both professionally and personally, which can support teams or groups and generally relationships.
By questioning and observing, you gain understanding of what values are important to you in similar or different situations, with that knowledge and awareness of yourself you can start to manage situations yourself better. There are also times when some values shift, change, or develop, recognizing those can be useful, especially when going through a transition.
What values are important to you?