Why Is It So Important?
David Freund, Chief Leadership Officer
Whenever I have a class, I ask questions like, “What is your company’s vision?” or, “What’s your mission?” Frequently, people just look at each other with blank stares or look at their notes and hope that I don’t call on them. In a podcast about 8 years ago, I heard Simon Sinek share “The School Bus Test.” If you got hit by a school bus and your team showed up for work with the same level of excitement and energy as if you were there, your team has bought into your vision.
This past week, I started going through the new training curriculum for coaches in the Maxwell Leadership program. Valerie Burton, our coaching mentor, shares this powerful statement, “Values pull you forward.” Values form our WHY and when we know WHY we do what we do, everything becomes easier. WHY-power beats willpower every time because it draws on the power of our values.
Values fuel positive emotions. If I believe that what I am doing makes a difference in the lives of people, it’s much easier to get out of bed, firmly place my feet on the floor, and get moving in the morning. When I completed my six-month reflections I answered the question, what brings me joy? In reviewing my answer to that question, I can see that each point fits perfectly into the five values I have in my life. Notice that I didn’t ask what made me happy. Happiness is a cheap and inadequate substitute for joy. If we take the time to help people discover their values, we can help show them the path to joyfulness.
Values help reduce stress. When we are working in areas that support our values, the values act as navigation markers in the times when the storms of life blow the hardest. We become less focused on how the storm is raging and more focused on where we are heading. You all know how much I love boating. Boats are designed to head into a storm. The bow of the boat is meant to break the waves and ride above them compared to the stern.
Values help us make bigger decisions. Often, we are afraid to make big decisions, because we might be wrong. Our values give us purpose and help us view our failures as opportunities to learn, adjust, and re-enter the process. Our values allow us to see more options. They move us from “I can or I can’t” to a mindset of “how can I?”. We know our mission is critical, so we choose to believe there is a solution and we just haven’t found it yet.
As you can see, values are not only important, they are mission critical. As leaders, if we don’t know why we do what we do, how will anyone else? How will our teams ever show up to pursue our mission? Take the time to find your values. Once you have done that, help your team members find theirs. Once you do, the potential is limitless.