Recently I was asked, what was the turning point in my career and why. Clearly, starting to reflect and set up my core leadership value system, was the point which I see as the most impactful in my career.
It was in 2009, after giving birth to my second child when I started again working for my company. I was frustrated on the one hand side, but also highly motivated. Frustrated because my former job was given to three… again, three (!) other colleagues to take over. I really asked myself how crazy I must have been working the months before.
In addition, it was also frustrating as my boss in that year was denying a salary increase with the argument I would be now gone on parental leave (well, yes, for only 3,5 months…). So overall, not the best situation to be motivated to work in that environment, but there was a light on the horizon: a new CIO was joining our company. Since I was coming back from parental leave and my job was distributed already, I was able to join the new transformation program for that CIO. However, not only that was motivating – it was the talk I had with my mentor at that time.
I started the mentoring as I wanted to find my place in the business and wanted to reflect with someone on my career possibilities being a mom of at that time two little ones. I didn’t figure out yet if I wanted to be a manager or a functional leader. And my mentor, a highly capable businessperson, was asking me about my core value system. I need to admit, I was really surprised about that question. Until that day, I didn’t consciousness thought of my values. For sure, here and there in some situations or trainings, I touched the question about core values, but I never sat down to really reflect on what is important for myself, and which values would I have described as my top core values. I even didn’t think about connecting leadership with values (and remember, I did not have had any good direct role models in front of me at time).
So, I started to think about which values I would see as important for me. And even more, which leadership values I would love to see around me and for which I would like to stand up for. And the deeper I dig into the questions about leadership values, the more I recognized them as a magical energy to booster my career and to become a better leader.
“A highly developed values system is like a compass. It serves as a guide to point you in the right direction when you are lost.”
Idowu Koyenikan
If you potentially think, leadership values are complex, you are wrong – they are not complex, the way for yourself to settle down and name them, this could be a longer way. But when you are on your path to become an outstanding leader, it is absolutely necessary to identify your core value system and to improve your self-reflection on this.
It starts with understanding what leadership values are and to map them to your personal character. You need to identify which value you feel connected with to adopt them successfully into your way of working and leading. Only if those two, the personal character and the values will harmonize with each other, you will be able to successfully stand up and lead your team or organization.
Strong values will not only motivate you and will give you direction in whatever you are doing or deciding to do, they will also shine through and help the people around you. If you stand up for what you are believing in, if you show your integrity when leading others, you will inspire them to do the same. You will build up a clear sense of purpose as you will stick to your convictions. And this is important, regardless of opposing views and especially when the going gets tough.
What are leadership values and why are they important?
Values create your world because what you value will determine what you focus on – consciously or unconsciously. Values will set the standards about what you accept and what you will avoid or deny. They will affect all your actions and decisions. And whatever you feel is missing in your life, will give you a clear hint towards a value. Values lived up to will give you a feeling of fulfillment and well-being, and hence are essential for your mental health as well.
Inherently, everyone has values. Hence, a simple and helpful way is to think of values as the things that are most important to you. And while everyone has different values, it also means that some will exhibit leadership values that fit the business context extremely well. The good thing is, that you can foster, develop, and adapt your values with time while your underlying character traits will remain the same and give you the tendency for one or the other direction.
And especially while we all work with people and have daily interactions with them, I would expect anyone in a leadership role to be aware of the values they hold. Why? Because our values determine not only what we are focusing on but how we execute our leadership, how we set up the team we are working with, how we manage the business value as well as how we deliver the success of our company. The values we as leaders show towards our organization will clearly affect its performance and vice versa, permeate its people. The values of our leaders will instantly drive the energy we all will put to the work we do. And that is what makes them so important.
How leadership values will booster your career
Now, let’s get back to the question how values will booster your career. Unfortunately, there is no magic receipt or force to become a great leader. But for being an inspirational leader, all you must do is to identify and then live up to your core leadership values – it is as simple as that.
For sure you not only want to be an inspirational leader, so you need to also put your outstanding functional expertise into the role. But remember, values will help you to visualize the future you want, as values show what is most important to you. And once you know what you want out of life in future, this is the first step towards getting it.
When I got aware of my own values, when I was able to articulate them, I found the clarity needed such like the compass which guides me into the right direction. It brought the synergy to find the purpose and direction at a time, I was unsecure where to go and what to do. For me, identifying and living up to my core values helps providing the structure and guidance in my every day live, it makes me more efficient. And especially when dealing with challenging situations, decisions or debates, my core value system is here to save me from negativity in all aspects. And this is the foundation to build up any other skills and competencies which we require as an outstanding, great leader.
“When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier.”
Roy E. Disney
Living in alignment with your core value system will bring a lot of additional benefits for you besides the clarity to live a more intentionally life. And all those positive results, trust me, will booster your career. Once you clearly named your core leadership values and you live in agreement with them, this is what will happen:
- Self-confidence strengthened: While you reached a clarity of what is important for you, you can assess whether your current actions and decisions are the right ones bringing you there. This will give you the self-confidence in every action as you will be able to progress, or counter measure them.
- Decision making improved: With knowing your values, you have directly more data to use when you are asked to take decisions: your value system as an added data source. It will help you to assess and assign your choices before making the final decisions.
- Trustworthiness matured: Once you are taking your actions based and in alignment with your values, you will directly act with more integrity. You’re more reliable and others can rely on you to be consistent and dependable.
- Employee engagement energized: Values will have a direct impact on your employee satisfaction and engagement, as they help a team to build a foundation of trust and to strive for a common purpose. And especially connecting with a value driven leader can be incredibly motivating for your team.
- Well-being increased: With all of above, defining and living by your core values will let you live the life you want to live and focus on topics which are important for you. This means you are in control of your life, and this will significantly reduce stress.
Having a confident core value system, is key to be the successful, inspiring leader you dream of. Hence anyone should be aware of the values they hold, especially as they are unconsciously stem from our deeply held beliefs.
How to identify your core leadership values
Although values can be very abstract such as trust or respect, they are attested by your actions and even more, your feelings. If you want to think about which core values might be the ones in your value system, remember situations with high emotional reactions such like anger, fear or more positive success or joy. Think about the bitter and the sweet in your life so far. Then go deeper and consider what values might be contained in these situations. Think about which feelings were violated or which were strengthened. Out of that, you often can derive your values. You can also use the following questions to get an idea of what your core values might be:
- What was the most painful experience for you?
- What was the most joyful experience for you?
- Think of the people you love most – write down why are they so important for you (e.g. my friend for his honesty)?
- In which situations are you working like being in a flow, the state of complete absorption in your work?
- What motivates you most to do something or to do an excellent job?
- What qualities do you admire most in your role models?
- What qualities would you like to be admired for?
Once you have reflected on all above you should already have a thorough list of values by hand. Now use this list and shrink them down to four to six values which attract you the most. Pick those that resonate most with you. You can also start putting two values next to each other and select the one which should stay, means which resonates more than the other. By doing this in three rounds, you should come to your small list of four to six values. If you feel you could group values together, do this and name your overarching value. Finally, prioritize your four to six values.
And remember, your choice it not right or wrong, it is about what feels right for you in that specific moment of live. Values can develop and change over time, so do you.
As We Value, So We Live and Lead
For sure you are not able to always stick to your complete value system, especially if you are facing things out of your control. But you can control your reaction to it, and while you do so, you can boost not only your career, but how you connect to your personal values every day.
Set up a positive mindset, regularly self-reflect on how you treat yourself and others are equally important in your leadership role.
And remember due to their natural traits of integrity and authenticity, value-based leaders will always seek to further improve the status quo. They are self-confident in their way to improve and so do they stay and work towards a value driven organization. Over time, this will inject a common set of values throughout the organization leading to a more open trustful work environment. Employees will be encouraged to foster cohesiveness. And by working together, engagement, performance and business results will improve.
And even while it happens that not everyone may agree with your decisions as a leader, you will keep the respect and trust as you are driving decisions based on your core value system, which guided you to this point.
Identifying my core values and setting up my leadership value system was definitely the booster for my career. After I walk through that path, I was able to step up, take on more responsibility up to leading whole organizations with integrity.
Value-based leadership helps me to stay humbled and to see things clearer whenever I’m challenged. I even believe, as a senior executive you cannot take any advantage out of any leadership development training if you are not aware of your own core values. In fact, any leadership development program should be starting off with naming and reflecting on your sustaining values. Once armed with deep knowledge of what you value, you will be able to develop how you will lead and how you will grow.
How about you? Do you believe that values booster your career? What are your most important values in leadership? Let me know in the comments below.