How to identify my Personal Values

What cannot be measured cannot be improved. We know that values and beliefs are defining our identity, and that our identity is the one who takes decisions and defines the vision. So if we do not like the decisions or the vision of our future, we may consider going inside and change a bit of our identity by changing that set of values and beliefs that is driving us.

In this post, I want to share a concept of Professor Graves of spiral dynamics and a how can we measure these values systems with ease online so that we finally know what is inside and decide where do we want to go.

What are personal values?

Personal values are your beliefs and convictions about what is most important in life to you. Personal values are principles that guide your actions and shape your identity, your lifestyle, results, and relationships.

Value systems have been found to predict several outcomes including shopping selections and weight losses

These values are formed early in life by watching people around us and adopting their behavior and beliefs.

• As Children, we adopt most of our values from our family members and other people who we are surrounded with. 
• As teenagers, we start building our own value system by watching other people in society, reading books, and watching movies.
• Being adults, we are often unaware of our values and understand that we can create or change values on purpose.

 Example of values of a transformational leader aka Project leader:

• Integrity: Say what you mean, do what you say.
• Humility: Recognize that your perspective is often incomplete and seek out the ideas, knowledge and skills of others to grow.
• Respect ,Each team member feels connected to you and has a sense that their leader knows that you respect, and are invested in them.
• Empathy refers to the ability to understand the feelings and emotions of others and to respond to their actions and behaviors in a way that shows your understanding of their feeling.

Values are usually One word, and the same value can have different meanings.

   This why we need to ask questions about that value: 

• What does this value mean to us?
• What does it look like in action?
• How will we evaluate adherence to it?

Our values and beliefs shape our identity, habits, vision  and actions.

Why should we know our values?

I worked together with NLP trainers and leadership coaches, and they provided great exercises to help us to become aware of our values and beliefs. But all these exercises had one problem in common. They asked us personally to think about what is driving us. As if we would know what is in our subconscious. But we don't. We can deduct what is driving us based on our behavior. But yes, as leadership coaches, we have a lot of tools that help our clients to uncover what fuels us inside. And I want to share our proven exercise to help you define your values. 

Values are largely unconscious, and at the deepest level they drive a person’s true purpose as a human being. Values govern all the human behavior. 

1. Values,  provide the push, they drive  the deeper motivation for our actions.

2. Values serve as the evaluation criteria in our daily decision-making

3. Values, guide tour judgement about our actions. And other people's actions.

• good and bad,
• right and wrong,
• appropriate and inappropriate 

4. Values guide our behavior, providing us with a personal code of conduct

When we live in alignment with our personal core values and honor our Values, we experience fulfillment. When we are not aware of our values, and we are incongruent in our actions, we are more likely to escape into bad habits and regress into childish behavior to uplift ourselves.

So if you do not like your own behavior in some situations, or the behavior of your children or team members, look at the values that drive their behavior first. By changing the values we could make it fun and way easier to change  the behavior.

How to discover personal Values?

I worked together with NLP trainers and leadership coaches, and they provided great exercises that help us to become aware of our values and beliefs. But all these exercises had one problem in common. They asked us personally to think about what is driving us. As I f we would know what is in our subconscious. But we don't. We can deduct base don our behavior what is driving us and yes as leadership coaches we have a lot of tools that help our clients to uncover what fuel inside The bottle, and we help to label it.

1. Exercise Define values by using a VALUES LIST

You choose from a LIST of over  200 or more human values; a great list of words helps you choose which values resonate. In this exercise, you choose 20 Values that most resonate with you. That is definitely not easy, but we use a step-by-step process to guide our clients to get some tangible results and finally pick 5-7 core values that will guide your behavior.

Get your Value List here:

2. Exercise: Value Cards

Similar to the first exercise,t in this exercise you choose from a card deck with value words or images those cards that resonate with you the most.

I like to use image decks to inspire storytelling about what it is that resonates the most. What story gets triggered inside your head when you see these cards?. Using images is a powerful tool to enhance the meaning of a value word and learn to explain the behavior that represents your value in specific situations.

3. Value System by Prof Graves.

The Graves Values system is a model for understanding human values. This model describes values as “those things that we are willing to expend and give our energy for, or to save our energy and absorb other people's energy. And each level represents a set of values.  In 2012, I got certified to use the 9 Levels Value Profile that was developed by Dr. Rainer Krumm and is based on Prof Graves and Ken Wilbers and NLP trainers and scientific research.  It helps create a value profile based on an online validated value assessment and precisely shows the priorities values (in words) of the assessed, and their resistance to living by these values. This profile is really tangible and great for change and personal development processes. This assessment is widely used for executive coaching of CEOs and Board members. The 9 Levels Value profile helps our clients to become more aware of their own values and to create a ‘change by design’ plan for themselves and their team and organization. If you want to get your personal profile with your results explained, please click here:

Measure your values by using a scientifc system:

Get your personal value profile: click  here

 Get your personal values profile +value coaching session here

What do you do once you know your Values?

Once you are aware of your values, make sure you check into the different areas of your life and how do these values shape your present reality.. Using our Wheel Of Life exercise book can help you develop awareness and an action change plan for continued personal development.  A personal vision, so to speak.

Values are usually one word, and the same value can have different meanings.

  This is why we need to ask questions about that value: 

• What does this value mean to us?
• What does it look like in action?
• How will we evaluate adherence to it?

Our values and beliefs shape our identity, habits, vision and actions.

A high-performance coach can also help you with this, because it can be really difficult to focus yourself on data points and be honest about your own actions. Feedback from peers and teammates, including your family and friends who spend time with you, can also help you understand how your actions and lifestyle looks from the outside.

What is the overall outcome for you?

Overall - if you’re looking to define your future path, define your vision for your future life - starting  by understanding and shaping your personal values system is the best and most effective starting point. It will help you define your brand - your future identity -  guided by your chosen value system that guide your behaviors towards others and mostly guide your continuous development towards achieving your goals.  

Most successful personal change happens with a partner - a mentor or a coach. My team and I are available to help you, guide you through the above-mentioned exercises and assessments. If you feel we are a good fit during these initial moments, we can help you on your continued journey with a coaching and mentoring package that helps you to get to your destination faster, wherever you are in the world.

Key takeaway.

Know thyself and know your values, and change these by design.  When you want to take better decisions, look at the thoughts you think and your present identity and create a new vision for your life.

Measure your values today and define which ones to keep and what is creating resistance to change.

Leaders know themselves so that they can lead others. Are you ready to discover more about your values?

Resources:

Click here to get a Personal 9 levels Value Profile 

Discover your Values Workbook Click here