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Determine Your Personal Values

Research has shown that being in touch with your personal values contribute significantly to motivation.

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It is very difficult to stay motivated for a job that is either contrary to, or not an expression of ones values.

In fact, clarity of personal values has been shown to be more significant in determining organizational commitment than clarity of organizational values.

An Overview Of This Exercise

To maximize the value and fun of doing this exercise, you will need some private workspace where you can layout a series of cards. A tabletop or some space on the floor will do just fine.

To begin the exercise, you will need to cut up the values cards. You would need 5 heading cards and 39 value cards.

Lay out the heading cards from left to right in the following sequence: Always valued, often valued, sometimes valued, seldom valued, and never valued.

Read each value and place it under the heading that fits the best. Remember that not all values can be equally important. If everything is important, then nothing is important.

YOU MAY ONLY PLACE AS MANY VALUES IN EACH CATEGORY AS INDICATED. (5-Allways valued, 8- often valued, 13-sometimes, 8- seldom and 5-never valued)

Once you have distributed the values under each heading, then place them in priority order and list them on the Personal Values Sheet.

Heading Cards

Always Valued
(5)

Often Valued
(8)

Sometimes Valued
(13)

Seldom Valued
(8)

Never valued
(5)

Personal Values Cards

Job Tranquility Avoid pressure & “the rat race” in job role & work setting	Competition Engage in activities which pit my abilities against others	Adventure Have work duties, which involve frequent risk taking
Security Be assured of keeping my job and a reasonable financial award	Power & Authority Control the work activities or (partially) the destinies of others	Work alone Do projects by myself without any amount of contact with others
Help others Be involved in helping people directly, either individually or in small groups	Physical challenge Have a job that requires bodily strength, speed or agility	Work relationships Have close working relationships with groups; work as a team to common goals
Change and Variety Have work responsibilities frequently changed in content and setting	Precision work Deal with tasks that have exact specifications, which require careful, accurate attention to detail	Location Find a place to live (town, geographical area) conducive to my lifestyle, a desirable home base for my leisure, learning and work life
High earnings anticipated Be able to purchase essentials and the luxuries I wish	Artistic creativity Engage in creative work in any of several art forms	Affiliation Be recognized as a member of a particular organization
Knowledge Engage myself in pursuit of knowledge, truth and understanding	Make decisions Have the power to decide the courses of action, policies, etc. – a judgment job	Advancement Be able to get ahead rapidly, gaining opportunities for growth and seniority from work well done
Influence people Be in a position to change attitudes or opinions of other people	Friendship Develop close personal relationships with people as a result of work activity	Help society Do something to contribute to betterment of the world
Moral Fulfillment Feel that my work is contributing to ideals that I feel is very important	Excitement Experience a high degree of stimulation or frequent novelty and drama on the job	Creativity (General) Create new ideas, programs, organized structures or anything else not following format developed by others
Creative expression Be able to express in writing and in person my ideas concerning my job and how I might improve it. Have opportunities for experimentation and innovation	Independence Be able to determine nature of work without significant direction from others. Not have to follow instructions or conform to regulations	Status Impress or gain the respect of friends, family and community by the nature and/or level of responsibility of my work
Intellectual status Be regarded as very well informed and a strong theorist. Acknowledged as an expert in a given field	Exercise competence Demonstrate a high degree of proficiency in job skills and knowledge; show above average effectiveness	Fast pace Work in circumstances where there is high pace activity and work done rapidly
Work on the leading edge of knowledge Work in research and development, generating information and new ideas in the academic, scientific, or business communities	Work under pressure Work in time-pressured circumstances, where there is little or no margin for error, or with demanding personal relationships	Community Live in a place where I can meet my neighbors and become active in local politics or service projects
Supervision Have a job in which I am directly responsible for the work done by others	Aesthetics Be involved in studying or appreciating the beauty of things, ideas, etc.	Public contact Have a lot of day-to-day contact with people
Wealth accumulation Have a strong likelihood of accumulating large amounts of money or other material gain through ownership, profit sharing, commissions, merit pay increase and the like	Time freedom Have responsibilities I can work at according to my own time schedule. No specific working hours requires	Stability Have a work routine and job duties that are largely predictable and not likely to change over a long period of time

The Personal Values Sheet

After placing each personal values card under the appropriate heading, place them in priority order. List them on this sheet below.

Remember, you may only have as many values under each heading as there are numbers.

Always valued

Often Valued

Sometimes Valued

Seldom Valued

Never Valued

How To Use These Values

Your personal values are your deepest driving force. If your life and your work are not in line with your values, you simply will not be motivated. The same goes for your employees.

Ask the following question after you have done this exercise:

Did any of my personal values surprise me?

Was the process easy or difficult?

As I look at my life, especially my work life, is there any congruence between what I say my values are and the structure, focus and content of my current job?
If not, what changes would I want to make.

Do this activity with your employees. It will help them understand one another better. If you decide to do this as a team, let them share their values with one another.

Let them compare the “always valued” and "never valued” lists. See if you can notice the differences and similarities.

Let them give each other feedback. Remember there are no “better” values. Ask them not to judge each other.

If you understand the personal values of each employee, it will be so much easier to know what makes them “tick”

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Return from Personal Values to Emotional Intelligence

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Return from This Page to Self Motivation

Return from Personal Values to Sustainable Employee Motivation

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Determine Your Personal Values

YES! To Life

An Overview Of This Exercise

Heading Cards

Personal Values Cards

Avoid pressure & “the rat race” in job role & work setting

Engage in activities which pit my abilities against others

Have work duties, which involve frequent risk taking

Be assured of keeping my job and a reasonable financial award

Control the work activities or (partially) the destinies of others

Do projects by myself without any amount of contact with others

Be involved in helping people directly, either individually or in small groups

Have a job that requires bodily strength, speed or agility

Have close working relationships with groups; work as a team to common goals

Have work responsibilities frequently changed in content and setting

Deal with tasks that have exact specifications, which require careful, accurate attention to detail

Find a place to live (town, geographical area) conducive to my lifestyle, a desirable home base for my leisure, learning and work life

Be able to purchase essentials and the luxuries I wish

Engage in creative work in any of several art forms

Be recognized as a member of a particular organization

Engage myself in pursuit of knowledge, truth and understanding

Have the power to decide the courses of action, policies, etc. – a judgment job

Be able to get ahead rapidly, gaining opportunities for growth and seniority from work well done

Be in a position to change attitudes or opinions of other people

Develop close personal relationships with people as a result of work activity

Do something to contribute to betterment of the world

Feel that my work is contributing to ideals that I feel is very important

Experience a high degree of stimulation or frequent novelty and drama on the job

Create new ideas, programs, organized structures or anything else not following format developed by others

Be able to express in writing and in person my ideas concerning my job and how I might improve it. Have opportunities for experimentation and innovation

Be able to determine nature of work without significant direction from others. Not have to follow instructions or conform to regulations

Impress or gain the respect of friends, family and community by the nature and/or level of responsibility of my work

Be regarded as very well informed and a strong theorist. Acknowledged as an expert in a given field

Demonstrate a high degree of proficiency in job skills and knowledge; show above average effectiveness

Work in circumstances where there is high pace activity and work done rapidly

Work in research and development, generating information and new ideas in the academic, scientific, or business communities

Work in time-pressured circumstances, where there is little or no margin for error, or with demanding personal relationships

Live in a place where I can meet my neighbors and become active in local politics or service projects

Have a job in which I am directly responsible for the work done by others

Be involved in studying or appreciating the beauty of things, ideas, etc.

Have a lot of day-to-day contact with people

Have a strong likelihood of accumulating large amounts of money or other material gain through ownership, profit sharing, commissions, merit pay increase and the like

Have responsibilities I can work at according to my own time schedule. No specific working hours requires

Have a work routine and job duties that are largely predictable and not likely to change over a long period of time

The Personal Values Sheet

How To Use These Values