Leading with Values

In January, I signed off an email with this: “There’s a beautiful focus on the word “leadership” right now across organizations and industries, so we are honored to be in the conversation with you as you lead in 2022.”

A lot of Coffee on Leadership email subscribers felt they could relate to the focus on leadership. From replies to follow-up conversations, it seems many are feeling this focus in your organizational context. And you’re stepping into those leadership scenarios with a commitment to staying grounded in your values —keep going.

If you feel like this is a season of change, or challenge, or transition, or re-grounding—I want to encourage you to lean into your values for everyday decision-making. I also want to encourage you to recognize that your values (the inherent truths you follow and the principles that guide you) are the first step in leading from a place of authenticity.

Authentic leadership requires a deep understanding of self—a commitment to self-awareness and integrity to attitudes and behaviors that reflect a certainty in your responses to the follow questions: Who are you? What do you believe? Where have you been? Why does that matter to you? What’s your purpose? Where do you have impact?

The first few months of the year felt like a shake-down hike for me. It was a month of recalibrating and avoidance of “goal-setting” with the intention of getting settled into the year before committing whole-heartedly to what I’m packing for the actual trip. Now that we’re heading into the next season, let’s give a little self-love and focus internally so that we have what it takes to set out for the big trip.

I’m ready for the process of mapping out the full journey. If you are too, then here’s some resource links you need to get started - start with personal goals and values, then operationalize those values with your team and strive for high impact this year.

Your Personal Values

“Values are verbs, not nouns. In order to build the culture we envision, we have to enact our values in how we show up every single day.” - Simon Sinek

Operationalize Your Values

Ready to dig into your values with your team? Operationalizing your values within an organization is crucial work to forward movement for organizational development. It’s putting action language to the values you hold closest to your heart. Brené Brown’s team developed a great activity for you to guide your group/team through this together. Check it out here.

On the Podcast:

Listen to a recent episode on staying grounded with your core values.