Living your Core Values
Core values look great on paper or on your website.
Excellence, consumer first.
Or maybe innovation, sustainability, or service. Or diversity, equity, inclusion.
But what do those values even mean to you?
And are you placing those values on the shelf, on a piece of paper - or are they truly guiding how you live your life and run your business?
I’ve seen too many “values” statements that completely run counter to how you act in day-to-day life. Or values that get taken to the extreme that actually threaten the thriving of your business.
Values like service - where in being of service, you avoid having the hard conversations to spare your team or customers.
Values like innovation and vision - where in having so many ideas, you never let the innovations settle in and make the impact you desire.
Values like sustainability - but what’s really meant is sustainability only when it’s convenient, when company profit is not impacted. And forgetting about sustainability of employees.
So how do you go from having stated values to actually having lived values?
Amplify your values.
Values should be a compass for your true north of how you want to show up in your life. They shouldn’t be “what you’re good at”, or naming what you want to avoid. These values touch on the essence of what’s important to you.
Ask clarifying questions of your values:
What does ________ mean to me?
Why is _________ important in my life and work?
How do I know when I am living _______? How do I know when I am not living _______?
Bring your values to business planning.
When you engage with your values… how do you show up?
You show up in _______ way.
You don’t show up in _______ way.
Which values support you in conflict, which ones support you in success?
Use your values in decision making.
Pretend your values are a board of advisors.
How would one of your values make a decision?
Now, what decision could you make?
Our values become lived values when they live at the forefront of our visibility, our business planning, and our decision making.