Values are the fundamental beliefs that guide us, motivate us, and drive our actions. Values describe the qualities we want most to embody. They help us determine what is important, help us understand what we essentially align with…

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My friend Ashley Willis once said: “The fact that you’re worried that you’re not a good manager is a key part of being a good manager.” What she means by that is, you should take this job seriously. “Bad” managers are often flippant about the role and the consequences of it. Caring is vital to doing this job well.

Individual values can be related to ethics and what we think is moral. Cultural values can also reflect context that’s greater than an individual, and…

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When you’re misaligned, burnout is inevitable. Working on a team with values that largely align with your own is nice, because you can really dig into the makeup of the culture on your team. Clarity is what we’re aiming for here. Clarity is key.

Working to understand values isn’t a silver bullet to solving every problem, but it affords us a deeper sense of where to start when building understanding and trust within a group. Unpacking a person’s values with them can also help us understand what drives and motivates them. And, the core of working well together is mutual understanding.

More often, conflicts are the result of a misalignment of values, and neither person is attempting malice against the other. If their needs aren’t met and they aren’t communicating in a way that someone else with dissimilar values…

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Take a minute or two to examine this list. Which three words resonated with you most? For those values you noticed yourself aligning with, think about why you picked them. Was it a value your parents drove home for you as a kid? Did you overcome adversity and come out the other side, understanding the need for one of these values? Are there…

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One way to run a values exercise is to give team members a few minutes to pick five values from a list like what we just saw. Once everyone has picked, go around and ask each individual to discuss why those five values resonate with them…

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Values don’t offer something to fix, or an action to take; they provide us context so that we can be more…

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