Values. Virtually every team (organization) has invested some time (perhaps significant time) determining their key values.
Here are the values of one very large and famous company:
- Communication
- Integrity
- Respect
- Excellence
Do these represent your own organization’s values? If yes, you should be concerned.
These are the corporate values of Enron as stated in the company’s 2000 annual report.
Oops.
Enron simply went through the motions of creating their organizational values. Obviously, these values didn’t mean much. The stated values were simply part of the amazing and deceitful scam they were running.
The organizational values Enron listed were in direct contrast with the personal values held by the management team.
The Enron leadership deceived themselves thinking a hollow set of organizational values would somehow save them from their own self-destructive personal values.
LEADERSHIP FACT
Before you can create a set of values for the organization you must FIRST identify / clarify your own personal values.
Why?
Your personal values are the building blocks that allow you to see the big picture and move forward with clarity.
Trying to identify and establish the the team’s core values without first identifying your own is like trying to drive a car while wearing sunglasses covered in mud. It’s a huge distraction to say the least!
In this Leadership TeleClass you’ll learn how to get clear on your personal values AND learn how to reorient your entire life around these values.
Why work on your personal values? Because leaders go FIRST.
You must become clear on YOUR values before you can help your team do their work.
There is no other way
If you’re on a team and it’s time to identify the team’s core values and you haven’t first done the work yourself then you risk ending up like Enron. What would you expect driving with sunglasses covered in mud?
When you understand what it means to clarify and then reorient your life around your core values you’ll get what Patrick Lencioni (best selling author of “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”) means when he says:
“When properly practiced, values inflict pain”.
Pain!?
Yes, pain.
Here’s what Lencioni says about real, meaningful and honest team values:
“They make some employees feel like outcasts. They limit an organization’s strategic and operational freedom and constrain the behavior of it’s people. They leave executives open to heavy criticism for even minor violations.”
In other words, operating from a solid and authentic set of values will set you (and your organization) apart and help you clearly define who you are and what you stand for.
And the ONLY way you’ll ever be able to have the strength to establish values like these is when you’ve done the work on a PERSONAL level FIRST.
It’s the Law of Correspondence: As within, so without.
Benefits of Living from Your Core Values (personally and organizationally)
- Goal setting is easier and goals can be reached more quickly.
- Your life purpose/vision comes to you more clearly.
- Fewer distractions occur; life is simple, but rich.
I invite you to join me as we explore and clarify your personal values in this special IATF Leadership TeleSeminar.
Purchase The Recording & Class Notes: $79 These resources are now only available to IATF members. Learn more about the member benefits and join HERE
