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I was recently working with an organization to identify their values. Some would say that values are yesterday’s news, a 1990′s activity for an organization to do. Others would argue that listing values becomes another exercise that gets posted on the break room wall and ignored. I would argue that remembering values is something that should be done daily: we, as individuals and organizations, must intentionally choose to act from our values.
When we interact with each other, with those who purchase our services, with our friends and families, when we make decisions, when we innovate and create new opportunities, the question is: Does that fit with one or more of our values? Or not …?
I challenge all of us not to confuse values with priorities or with our core business philosophy. Values don’t change easily. My values include trust, honesty, integrity, kindness, and positive action. I seek to act based on those values. Values provide an underlying framework, supporting the systems that make up our more visible maps of the world or mental models.
To spend time identifying and make values visible, is to choose to act consciously. It is to choose to turn off the autopilot and check our systems, decisions, and actions to make certain we are acting in concert on our journey.
Here’s a short exercise to try: After your next meeting, spend five minutes considering which of your values you saw on display? Which values of your organization did you see represented? Try the exercise after your next decision or your next conversation. Are the values the ones you expected to see?
View from the Bloch Building
I’ve been pondering a short opinion piece that I read today in the New York Times and a couple of quotes:
… I believe there’s no such thing as false hope: all hope is valid, even for people like us, even when hope would no longer appear to be sensible.
All I wanted was ordinary life back, for ordinary life, it became utterly clear, is more valuable than anything else.
And so, I stop to reflect on hope and gratitude for ordinary life.
(This is a guest post from Justin Anderson. Justin is a Licensed Sport Psychologist and Principal of JSA Advising, a Minneapolis/St.Paul consulting firm that specializes in optimizing sustainable performance and harmony in family-owned businesses. Justin’s worked with athletes/teams from all competitive levels, and over the past five years, he’s used those experiences to help family-businesses build thriving and sustainable legacies. Justin can be reached through JSA Advising. Thank you, Justin!)
What motivates you to act? Contemporary thought can reduce human motivation into two basic modalities; fear and desire. If you are like most, you will likely find that you do many things in your daily routine out of fear. For example, many people get up in the morning with less than ideal sleep, not because they desire the feeling of being tired. Rather, they do it because they “fear” the consequences of not getting up “on-time”. For many, not getting up “on-time” means missing work and missing work means getting fired and getting fired could mean losing the house.
It’s not too often that we consciously connect all the dots. Rather, we typically go through our routines automatically, because it’s what we “need” to do. It’s why so many of us are tired, stressed, and anxious. Taking consistent action through the fear perspective leads to higher levels of anxiety and tension which, over a longer period of time, leads to poorer health, less meaningful relationships, and a decreased ability to process information clearly.
In addition, taking action from the fear motivator can lead us to be critical of ourselves or those around us. Negativity breeds negativity. Like an out of control snowball, if you find that fear is your dominate motivator, than it’s likely that you could be contributing to a work place environment that is more judgmental and paranoid. And a workplace that is judgmental and paranoid will create more negativity and fear. Ultimate result: a work place where creativity and productivity is stifled or even frowned upon.
The solution to ending the negativity spiral can be found by developing a keener sense of self-awareness and self-accountability. It calls for us to slow down and reflect on the “why” as we check-off our to-do lists. It requires us to retrain our neural networks to focus on things we can control as well as to be able to let go of the things we cannot. And, it requires us to focus our attention on the things for which we are grateful and that give us positive energy.
This final requirement is not as easy as it sounds. The human mind instinctively wants to solve the “problems first”, a practice that served our ancestors well when they were looking for food and avoiding predators. But today when our physiological needs are fairly secure, this type of thinking doesn’t do us any favors. Instead, it creates a negative lens that primarily focuses on problems that we cannot control or those things that we are still “missing in our lives”. Being able to retrain the brain to instinctively focus on the things we can control and are grateful for creates a greater sense of tranquility, thus relaxing the tension, opening the mind to new and innovated ways to get our needs met through our desire motivator.
Don’t abuse: Like all good things in this world, too much of a good thing can lead us right back down the negativity path again. By suggesting that we operate out of our “desire” motivation, I’m not suggesting that we ignore all the rules and moral guidelines and become hedonistic. Rather, I am simply pointing out that on the spectrum of motivation, many of us act far too often from fear. If we acted more firmly from our desire modality (within reason) we would also find that positivity is contagious. Similar to how negativity can breed negativity, positivity and gratefulness can breed a healthy and energetic environment, fostering increased creativity, greater productivity, and more meaningful relationships.
If you are a leader or manager, consider what motivator drives your actions.
Kansas Flint Hills Spring Burn III
Each spring Kansas Flint Hills ranchers use prairie fire to create renewal. The fire burns weeds and dead plant material, clearing the brush and dead grasses in its path.
Kansas Flint Hills Spring Burn II
Last weekend we watched as ranchers sowed fire across the prairie creating landscape that looks otherworldly.
Kansas Flint Hills Spring Burn I
And I pause to reflect on what fires are burning in my life and the organizations to which I belong. Do I spend too much time fighting the fires rather than allowing them to burn away the deadwood? What do I need to stop doing, to let go of, to turn away from so that new ideas, new life can spring up?
On our trip through the Flint Hills, a rancher told us that it takes about 4 days for new grasses to spring up, providing stunning green vistas. And on the Kansas flatlands, the winter wheat – dormant all winter – is growing again.
Kansas Prairie Spring I
And so, I reflect and revisit my dreams, hopes, and goals looking for signs of renewal in my life and in the wider systems of which I’m a part.
