What are Values and
Why are They Important?
Lets begin with what they are NOT .....Values are not moral judgments. .....Values are not ideals we strive to achieve. .....Values are not
acquired. Values are not just words, they are who we are, they are what we feel, and they can be extracted from your life's experience. (This is one area where a coach can be an invaluable tool to you.) If something that is important to you (a value) is not being expressed it will show up as frustration or discord. You will feel like something is not right. You are either living your values or you are not. Values help determine the rightness of our choices. I use my values as a compass to guide me, especially when I feel confused, and having doubts or when I have tough decisions to make. I look to my values (they are truly what matters most) to provide direction. In decision making I ask myself will this bring me closer to what I value or further away. Making choices based on our values leads to a much richer, fuller, more successful experience. It also helps us to examine poor choices through the lens of our values -- then we understand why some of our choices went wrong. How do you determine your values? Look back over your life’s experiences make a list of the things you will not stand for and the things that are most important to you. What are some of the best decisions you have made. Why did you make them? Look at some of the poor decisions you have made. I'll bet you were in violation of one or more of your values. You may find in retrospect that the "best" decisions you ever made are those that supported your values. When I was in training for coaching, we did an exercise where we had to prioritize our top 10 values in order of importance to us. Then we had to rate how we were honoring those values on a scale of 1-10. 1 meaning never honoring them and 10 honoring it all the time. What I learned was what my core values were the ones that were not up for negotiation. Try this exercise: Think of three people you admire most. How do you honor your VALUES in your business and your life? Here is an example of how I honor my values in my business. Respect is of the utmost importance. Every one of my employees, vendors and customers, are treated with the utmost dignity and respect. This includes how we speak to one another, how we treat each other all the way down the line, to the dishwasher... especially the dishwasher. One day I stumbled across my operations manager speaking harshly, actually berating a fellow employee in front of other co-workers. I had to pull the manager aside and be careful to restrain myself from not doing to him what I just caught him doing. I told him next time I saw him act disrespectfully to another person he was gone. This was not one of his values so he did it again. He no longer works for my company. It was not easy for me to honor this value - because it meant that I was going to have to run the company, something I did not want to do, until I hired a replacement. Looking back to that moment of truth, my actions sent a clear message to the other 50 people in our company that respect is vital and the owner of the company really does value us. What are the benefits of honoring your values in your business? When we honor our values in our workaday world we feel GREAT - more centered, balanced and fulfilled.” This results in less risk of burnout and has an added benefit of heightening creativity! Action step If you don’t know what your core values are, hire a coach to help you identify and clarify them. Use this information to honor your values and you will benefit over and over again throughout your lifetime. "Personal leadership is the process of keeping your vision and values before you and aligning your life to be congruent with them." Stephen Covey "It's not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are." Roy Disney, Nephew of Walt Disney "Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one's values." Ayn Rand 1905 - 1982, US Russian-born novelist "That business purpose and business mission are so rarely given adequate thought is perhaps the most important cause of business frustration and failure." Peter F. Drucker, American Management Guru (1973) "Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value." Albert Einstein 1879-1955, The Power of Good Questions If you are in business then you are in sales and if you are in sales you should know the effectiveness of powerful questions. There are two types of questions I like to use: Open Ended and Closed. Open Ended Questions are more like feeling questions, there is virtually no limit to the length of the answer and frequently provokes more questions. There is no Right or Wrong answer. Sometimes what is not said can be more informative than what is said. Example: What is your desired outcome? I like to use open ended question to uncover how the client or prospect is feeling. Using Open Ended Questions uncovers the emotions behind the person and what is driving them. I find it helpful to come from a curious place. I want to get to know them, not guess at whom they are and what is important. I also like these types of questions to break up stalled out conversation just to get my client or prospect to talk. I find that it is much better to know what people are feeling than what they are thinking. If I can connect with them on a deeper level I have more report and with more report, more trust is naturally developed. Closed Ended Questions - These are called directives or fact-finding questions and are typically answered with a simple yes or no. Example: If I give you that, will you be satisfied? Will that work for you? I like to use Closed Ended Questions to clarify a point or to make sure I understand what is being said or to confirm an agreement. I also use Closed End Questions to gather facts or to change the direction of the conversation. These types of questions are usually after I have identified what the client or prospect is looking for. Know when to use them and they can be a very powerful tool. Caution: be careful about using leading questions that imply there is a right or wrong answer. Action: Next time you are communicating with someone practice these two different types of questions and see how they both can be effective ways of gathering information. Make 2006 better than 2005! Do you sometimes get to the end of your day and wonder
About Steve Steve Kennedy, is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) specializing in working with entrepreneurs. For a free coaching session or to get more information directly from Steve, contact him at: steve@winningthegameofbusiness.com Copyright (c)
2005, all rights reserved. You may copy, forward or distribute Tools for
WINNING The Game Newsletter provided the copyright notice and full information
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You may contact Steve directly by email at: steve@winningthegameofbusiness.com
Published by: U.S.A. |
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