Are you comfortable with your values?

Or are you on a journey to discover them and why they are so important?

Doing some research around your values will help you personally and in business, helping you with your authentic voice and providing you with the tools to make intelligent decisions.

Here are some very important words of value for me:

• Creativity – not just artistic but moments of clarity for an idea, whether daydreaming or actively using your imagination.  What stimulates you to create?
• Fun – being playful, letting serious take a back seat, finding easy ways to have fun. How can you achieve this in and out of work?
• Loyalty – the desire to offer and enjoy a sense of support or allegiance.  We’re not in this alone and we should consistently offer time to others.  It could just be to listen.
• Collaboration – this for me is working together in the creation of something.  Not always for a financial reward.  But for the joy of sharing, learning, taking the lead, taking a step back.

How do our values shape us

Values help shape your business, for you and your customers.

They’re standards you wish to be held to, which will help you grow with purpose and stay true to your vision.  And, by maintaining healthy positive relationships your personal and business values will be in harmony.

Which also helps sustain good personal mental health. By being aware of what you stand for as a person can dramatically impact your mental health.  They’re like a compass for how we behave in certain situations or where we want to go in life.

Interestingly, by identifying your core values this also supports you in making intelligent decisions.  Giving you a clear guide in what’s right for you and your business and what is not.

How to choose

So where do we start and how do we choose from the many values that are out there?  By creating a business solution that supports a dream lifestyle without costing the earth.

It could be as simple as helping a customer get a certain job done.  By making things more convenient, or easier to use, can create sustainable value.  Looking into how we can retain our desire for easy, immediate and fast systems/products.

Teasing them out

Taking all of these ideas and testing them out in a framework that takes into account all the ways you communicate.  So that your value message is clear and cohesive everywhere.

This is one of my favourite sessions with clients, often the first meeting is totally dedicated to working through the values you hold dear and what they mean to you.  It’s a truly creative moment where we explore what shaped you to become the person and business owner you are today.  The impacts from life and work – good and bad – that helped you create your business product or service.  Alongside how you wish to be viewed and heard.

As you can hopefully feel, this isn’t separate from your business, but what shapes you as a business.

I learnt a beautiful method of writing about myself, which is to wild write.  Introduced to me by Gemma Brown.    By which I mean, writing or typing, your history – the story of you – full of emotion, and situations and people, who shaped you into the amazing person you are today.  And during that writing journey, where there are no spelling mistakes or perfect punctuation or incorrect grammar, we free ourselves to show our story in all its splendidness.  Not shying away from areas that may make us sad or angry, but embracing how they have brought us to where we are.  Valuefull.

For me, I wish to be known as someone who acts with care, works solely to create value, holds myself accountable with every action and word, and who dares to be different.

How you begin to define yours?

So where do we start and how do we choose from the many values that are out there?  These are also very important words for me, as you can see it’s difficult to choose just a few.  But just having them written down does help when you feel under pressure, are in a difficult situation or need to make a decision.

• Curiosity saying yes instead of no. Trying something new. Not being afraid when you don’t know.
• Social Connection asking how are you? Really listening to the response. Showing vulnerability.
• Knowledge asking, listening and learning, making room to learn and, share those learnings.
• Kindness how you show you care, from random acts to continuous good business behaviours.

Bringing your values in line with your behaviours and beliefs shows authenticity.
Being authentic gives credibility, trust and reliability.
Being credible is the voice you wish for your product or service.

So, values really are the foundation of your mission and vision, without which your message and passion may suffer.

• We do what we say
• We act decisively to create value
• We hold ourselves accountable
• We dare to be different
• We act with care

Values help prevent unethical practices, help to plan and reconcile the demands of work, help prevent the use of unethical business practice, help guide your competitive advantage

Ethical businesses attract talent, differentiate themselves and are more customer and planet focused and friendly.

If you found this helpful but would like more support to work on your values let’s take a call.  What’s the best that can happen?  Here’s a link for you to book a time that works for us both.