How to work in alignment with your core values

Plus a new photo of Sammie, my canine buddy

Hello and welcome to Academia Made Easier. I am so glad you are here.

Last year, I crossed an item off my bucket list: I completed a graduate executive coaching program. As someone who has benefited greatly from coaching, learning how it works and developing the skills to practice it was a true pleasure. The program was a considerable amount of effort and time, but the professional growth was well worth it.

The program had us working with teams, and I learned a tremendous amount from my teammates. One of my teammates taught me how to use awareness of core values as a compass. Core values are deeply held concepts or ideas, captured in a word or short phrase, that serve as guiding principles for an individual or organization. They are the values that are most important to the individual or organization at that moment. Some examples of core values include honesty, integrity, success, achievement, flexibility, and generosity. Core values are not static; they evolve and change as an individual or organization evolves and changes. And the definitions of individual core values are personal; one person’s or organization’s definition of ‘success’ might differ greatly from another’s.

Core values identification is powerful. Having clarity on my core values allows me to make sense of when I feel in and out of alignment. This clarity helps me make decisions authentic to my values and to reevaluate (and address) past decisions that feel misaligned. This clarity also helps me anticipate and understand certain work conflicts in instances where my core values don’t correspond with someone else’s core values or with institutional values. In my coaching practice, I have found that others report similar benefits.

Today's small thing to try immediately is an invitation for you to obtain this same clarity in your work and life through a simple and fun exercise.

Image source: Pixabay

One Small Thing to Try Immediately: Clarify your core values

To work in alignment with your core values, it is important to have clarity on what these values are. This requires some introspection. For the steps below, it can be helpful to work with a coach or friend (particularly for step 3), but working on your own is fine. Have fun with this!

1. Sort core values into three categories. Print out a few online core values lists (examples: Brene Brown’s list; James Clear’s list; Scott Jeffrey’s list) or purchase a core values card deck.

• Printed list option: For each list, circle every word that you feel connects with who you are as a person. Strike out words that do not connect with you as a person. (For example, when I look at Brown’s list, I do not connect with “patriotism”, “thrift”, “tradition”, or “wealth”.) For words to which you feel indifferent or neutral, just leave them untouched.

• Cards option: sort cards into separate piles for words you connect with, words you don’t connect with, and words you are neutral about.

Once you have gone through the lists, write all of the words you circled or put into the ‘connect with’ pile onto a single piece of paper, grouping similar words as you do so.

2. Reduce down to a draft core values shortlist. Your goal at this stage is to get to a maximum of five words. (Many people advise getting it down to two or three words, but I am not going to ask you to do something I can’t do myself!). Editing core values down to five or fewer can be challenging. Of course, you want to include “acceptance” and “fairness” and “balance” and “inclusion”, and also “responsibility” and “ethical” and “justice”, not to mention “curiosity” and “joy” and “fun”. Plus, you relate to “order”, “gratitude”, and “contribution”... You contain multitudes, dammit!

While all of these words may matter to you, some almost certainly matter to you more than others. To identify these words that matter the most, apply the container concept. Your draft core values shortlist is a container that has space to contain up to five words. Look at your list and select your favourite word, that obvious choice that absolutely must be included. Repeat this up to four times. Then whisper a gentle goodbye to the remaining words and move to the next step.

3. Critically assess your shortlist. In my experience in both identifying my core values and coaching others to do so, I have learned that most draft core values shortlists require some interrogation. Ask yourself the following about each word:

• Is this word on the list because I feel it should be there? Watch out for ‘baggage values’, which are those that we include because we think others would judge us if they weren’t on our list. Some words may have childhood or social baggage for you (e.g., “faith”, “family”, “health”). Some words may have burnout/hustle culture baggage for you (e.g., “accomplishment”, “productivity”, “efficiency”). Some words may have gendered baggage for you (e.g., “humility”, “courage”, “compassion”). If you have baggage values on your list, consider removing them unless you are confident they truly represent your core values. You are not a bad parent or child if you don’t include “family” on your list. You are not a bad employee if you don’t include “productivity” on your list.

• Is this word authentic to who you truly are? Beware of ‘aspirational values’, which are those that reflect who you aspire to be, rather than who you truly are. Much like keeping aspirational denim in your wardrobe to ‘inspire’ you to ‘get in shape’, aspirational values just serve to make you feel like shit. Get rid of them!

• Does including this word as a core value risk working against my interests? Be on the lookout for ‘boundary-less values’, which are those values that, taken to an extreme, can create a lack of boundaries in your life and work. Some words can leave you open to exploitation by others (for example, “kindness”). Some can put you at risk of overwork and burnout (for example, “productivity”). If you have boundary-less values, consider replacing them with similar words. I find it useful to imagine values as being on a wheel akin to a colour wheel. What might be an adjacent core value word, and might that word serve you better?

After you go through this interrogation, you may have the same words, or different words and/or fewer words.

4. Road test your core values and then revisit. Commit your core values to memory (I have an acronym for mine!) and then watch them in action for a few weeks. Experiment with using your core values to inform your decision-making: when faced with a decision, check how it aligns with your core values. When there is misalignment between the decision and your core values, decide how you want to address this. Be mindful of how your core values impact your interactions with colleagues. When you have conflicts or disagreements, are these differences reflecting differing core values?

After a few weeks, revisit your core values list. Do some of the core value words have greater importance to you than others? How are your core values showing up in your work? How does the violation of your core values affect your work? Do any of your core values conflict with the others? How, if at all, should your core values list be refined to best support you? Remember, this list should serve as a positive tool for you. Keep refining to ensure it meets your needs for authenticity and alignment in your work and life.

Until next time…

The world continues to be a lot. It can be discouraging, disheartening, and just plain cruel. For those of you in difficult contexts, be they institutional and/or geopolitical and/or personal, I wish you strength and peace. Be kind and gentle with yourself. You matter.

Stay well, my colleagues.

P.S. For the past week, I have been enjoying a wonderful Sammie streak: she and I have gone for daily walks or walk-runs, starting early to avoid the heat. Sammie is great at teaching me to stop and smell the … well, I am not quite sure what she is smelling, but there appear to be a lot of great things to sniff in the world. I am grateful my neighbours allow me to spend so much time with her.

If you would like to show your appreciation for Academia Made Easier, please visit my buy me a coffee page, or order a copy of my most recent book, For the Public Good: Reimagining Arts Graduate Programs in Canadian Universities. Thanks – I appreciate your readership!