Determine Your Personal Values

8/4/2019 Determine Your Personal Values

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Determine Your Personal Values

Research has shown that being in touch with your personal values contributesignificantly to motivation.

It is very difficult to stay motivated for a job that is either contrary to, or not anexpression of ones values.

In fact, clarity of personal values has been shown to be more significant indetermining organizational commitment than clarity of organizational values.

An Overview Of This Exercise

To maximize the value and fun of doing this exercise, you will need some privateworkspace where you can layout a series of cards. A tabletop or some space on

the floor will do just fine.

To begin the exercise, you will need to cut up the values cards. You wouldneed 5 heading cards and 39 value cards.

Lay out the heading cards from left to right in the following sequence:Always valued, often valued, sometimes valued, seldom valued, and nevervalued.

Read each value and place it under the heading that fits the best.Remember that not all values can be equally important. If everything isimportant, then nothing is important.

YOU MAY ONLY PLACE AS MANY VALUES IN EACH CATEGORY ASINDICATED. (5-Allways valued, 8- often valued, 13-sometimes, 8- seldomand 5-never valued)

Once you have distributed the values under each heading, then place them

in priority order and list them on the Personal Values Sheet.

Heading Cards

AlwaysValued

(5)

OftenValued

(8)

SometimesValued

(13)

SeldomValued

(8)

Nevervalued

(5)

Personal Values Cards

Job Tranquility

Avoid pressure & the ratrace in job role & worksetting

Competition

Engage in activitieswhich pit my abilitiesagainst others

Adventure

Have work duties,which involve frequentrisk taking

Security

Be assured of keeping my

Power & Authority

Control the work

Work alone

Do projects by myself


2/5

job and a reasonablefinancial award

activities or (partially)the destinies of others

without any amount ofcontact with others

Help others

Be involved in helpingpeople directly, eitherindividually or in smallgroups

Physical challenge

Have a job thatrequires bodilystrength, speed oragility

Work relationships

Have close workingrelationships withgroups; work as ateam to common goals

Change and Variety

Have work responsibilitiesfrequently changed incontent and setting

Precision work

Deal with tasks that

have exactspecifications, whichrequire careful,accurate attention to

detail

Location

Find a place to live(town, geographicalarea) conducive to mylifestyle, a desirablehome base for my

leisure, learning andwork life

High earnings anticipated

Be able to purchaseessentials and the luxuriesI wish

Artistic creativity

Engage in creativework in any of severalart forms

Affiliation

Be recognized as amember of a particularorganization

Knowledge

Engage myself in pursuit

of knowledge, truth andunderstanding

Make decisions

Have the power todecide the courses of

action, policies, etc. ajudgment job

Advancement

Be able to get aheadrapidly, gaining

opportunities forgrowth and seniority

from work well done

Influence people

Be in a position to changeattitudes or opinions ofother people

Friendship

Develop close personalrelationships with

people as a result ofwork activity

Help society

Do something tocontribute to

betterment of theworld

Moral Fulfillment

Feel that my work iscontributing to ideals thatI feel is very important

Excitement

Experience a highdegree of stimulation

or frequent novelty anddrama on the job

Creativity (General)

Create new ideas,programs, organizedstructures or anything

else not followingformat developed by

others

Creative expression

Be able to express inwriting and in person my

ideas concerning my joband how I might improve

it. Have opportunities forexperimentation and

Independence

Be able to determinenature of work without

significant directionfrom others. Not have

to follow instructionsor conform to

Status

Impress or gain therespect of friends,

family and communityby the nature and/or

level of responsibilityof my work


3/5

innovation regulations

Intellectual status

Be regarded as very wellinformed and a strongtheorist. Acknowledged asan expert in a given field

Exercise competence

Demonstrate a highdegree of proficiency injob skills andknowledge; showabove averageeffectiveness

Fast pace

Work in circumstanceswhere there is highpace activity and workdone rapidly

Work on the leading edge

of knowledge

Work in research anddevelopment, generatinginformation and new ideas

in the academic, scientific,or business communities

Work under pressure

Work in time-pressuredcircumstances, wherethere is little or no

margin for error, orwith demandingpersonal relationships

Community

Live in a place where Ican meet myneighbors and become

active in local politicsor service projects

Supervision

Have a job in which I amdirectly responsible for thework done by others

Aesthetics

Be involved in studyingor appreciating thebeauty of things, ideas,

etc.

Public contact

Have a lot of day-to-day contact withpeople

Wealth accumulation

Have a strong likelihood ofaccumulating large

amounts of money orother material gain

through ownership, profitsharing, commissions,

merit pay increase and thelike

Time freedom

Have responsibilities Ican work at according

to my own timeschedule. No specific

working hours requires

Stability

Have a work routine

and job duties that arelargely predictable and

not likely to changeover a long period of

time


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The Personal Values Sheet

After placing each personal values card under the appropriate heading, place

them in priority order. List them on this sheet below.

Remember, you may only have as many values under each heading as there arenumbers.

Always valued

1.2.3.

4.5.

Often Valued

1.2.3.4.

5.6.

7.8.

Sometimes Valued

1.2.

3.4.

5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12.

13.

Seldom Valued

1.2.3.4.5.

6.7.


5/5

8.

Never Valued

1.2.3.

4.5.

How To Use These Values

Your personal values are your deepest driving force. If your life and your work arenot in line with your values, you simply will not be motivated. The same goes for

your employees.

Ask the following question after you have done this exercise:

Did any of my personal values surprise me?

Was the process easy or difficult?

As I look at my life, especially my work life, is there any congruencebetween what I say my values are and the structure, focus and content ofmy current job?

If not, what changes would I want to make.

Do this activity with your employees. It will help them understand one another

better. If you decide to do this as a team, let them share their values with oneanother.

Let them compare the always valued and "never valued lists. See if you cannotice the differences and similarities.

Let them give each other feedback. Remember there are no better values. Askthem not to judge each other.

If you understand the personal values of each employee, it will be so much easier

to know what makes them tick

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Determine Your Personal Values