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Can You Name: Your 5 Top Values? Your Team's? Your Company's? HERE'S HOW!

Posted by Bill Bean on 5/19/2010
  • What are your Top 5 Values? Can your easily name them? This tool helps you easily do so, for yourself, your team, or your company! I define Values as those principles, traits, virtues, attributes, beliefs, or aspirations you seek to manifest in your, your team's or your company's every attitude and action. 
  • These are those most desired characteristics you want to demonstrate, to manifest every day to everyone. For the individual, some of these Values may be intensely private, whereas team or company Values, when used well, are a vital part of that group's culture and language! Here are the step-by-step ways to define what most propels, inspires, and measures your quality of life and work! NOTE: THE VALUES LISTS ARE AT THE END OF THIS ARTICLE (Part 5.)!

Identifying Your Top 5 Values

1. Choose Your List; Select Your 10 Semi-Finalist Values!

There are 2 lists of  Values below, one for Corporate (>60 Values) and 1 for Individuals (over 80 Values) [these Values are partial lists for space purposes from my planning workbooks on life and work]. First, go through your  selectedlist below you are using. Read through the entire list first. Then,  10 Values from your selected These Values are the ones you feel best characterize what you (or the team or company) most aspire to, be, or do. If you have a word not on the list, add it!

  • ______________
  • ______________
  • ______________
  • ______________
  • ______________
  • ______________
  • ______________
  • ______________
  • ______________
  • ______________

2. Select Your Top-5 Prioritized Values

Now review your 10 Semi-Finalist Values. Of these, what are your Top 5 Values? Select them from 1st to 5th, into the places below:

  1st:  ______________
  2nd: ______________
  3rd: ______________
  4th: ______________
  5th: ______________

3. FOR TEAMS/COMPANIES ONLY: have each person do this exercise, selecting their Top 5 Values from the Company Values List they want their Team or Company to aspire to demonstrate and manifest every day. Then, for each of their lists, award points:

  1st-Place Votes:  5 Points
  2nd Place Votes: 4 Points
  3rd Place Votes: 3 Points
  4th Place Votes: 2 Points
  5th Place Votes: 1 Point

Next, add up all the Points together from each person involved. Lastly, for grouping you may wish to put synonyms or like-themed words together (e.g., innovative, creative, state of the art could be combined as Innovative). Now you have the Team/Company Values List!

4. Your Values' Meaning -- The 4 Kinds of Values:

What do your values mean? Of course, only you can write that story, but I have found that there are 4 different kinds of Values:

  • Foundational Values: These are the fundamental values that are the basis or the fire at the center of everything else. A great example are ethical values like integrity or honesty or spiritual/core motivational values.
  • Action Values: These are values that characterize what you are aspiring for and how you seek to do it. For example, a company may place Innovation here.
  • Resultant Values: These are the values that you hope will result from all of the Foundational and Action Values being consistently pursued and practiced over time. It may be "market leader" for a company, or "transformative" as an individual.
  • Legacy Values: These the "when it is all said and done, this is what I/we want to have left as our mark, as we are remembered, as our long-term and ultimate legacy. An example would be "most admired" as a company or "life-changing" as an individual.
  • What's the point? Foundational Values energize and support Action Values, which form Resultant Values, which Build Legacy Values! This is very powerful stuff to those serious to be live by these Values! They inspire and orient every day!
5. Individual and Team/Company Values Lists 

TEAM/COMPANY VALUES LIST

Accuracy, Achievement-Oriented, Best Investment, Best Products, Cohesive, Commitment, Consistent, Compassion, Community, Competitve,  Consistency, Cooperation, Cost-Effective, Creativity, Credibility, Costomer-centric, Decisive, Dedicated, Dependability, Discipline, Effective, Efficient, Empowerment, Energizing, Enthusiasm, Entrepreneurial, Expertise, Excellence, Financial, Fun, Growth-Oriented, Highly Regarded, Honesty, Industry Leader, Innovation, Integrity, Leader(ship), Loyalty, Market Leader,Performance(-driven), Pioneering, Proactive, Profitable, Progressive, Quality, Recognition, Reliability, Respect(-ed), Responsive, Responsible Results-Oriented, Rewarding, Safe, Specialized,Solution, State-of-Art, Strategic. Successful, Supportive, Sustainable,Teamwork, Technology, Trustworthy, Unique, Visionary, Value(d), _____________, _____________.

INDIVIDUAL VALUES LIST

Affectionate, Accurate, Achievement, Aggressive, Analytical, Belief, Buoyant, Caring, Commitment, Community, Compassionate, Competitive, Conservative, Consistent, Conscientious, Consistent, Courageous, Creative, Credibility, Dependable, Dedicated, Decisive, Diligent, Devoted, Diligent, Disciplined, Driven, Empowering, Energizing, Enthusiastic, Environmental, Example, Excellence, Faith(ful), Family-Oriented, Flexible, Freedom, Frugal, Growth, Healthy, Helpful, Holistic, Holy, Honest, Hope(ful), Imaginative, Innovative, Integrity, Joy(ful), Judicious, Just, Kind, Lead(ership), Loving, Mature, Merciful, Moral, Natural, Open, Optimistic, Organized, Passionate, Patient, Peaceful, Persistent, Positive, Prudent, Reliable, Respect(ful), Responsible, Righteous, Safety, Security, Sense of Humor, Serious, Service(-Oriented), Sharing, Simplicity, Spiritual, Successful, Supportive, Teamwork, Thoughtful, Thorough, Trustworthy, Unique, Unselfish, Valued, Visionary, Vitality, Wise, _____________,
______________.


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