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If you are an employee, do you know the core val­ues of the busi­ness or orga­ni­za­tion that you work for?  Do you know the core val­ues of your super­vi­sor?  Of your colleagues?

If you are a busi­ness owner, have you clearly iden­ti­fied the core val­ues of your busi­ness? Have you artic­u­lated them to your employ­ees? And do you insist that the com­pany cul­ture and code of behav­ior reflect those values?

Core val­ues help you get to the root cause of dis­agree­ments and issues that cause stress, con­flict and anx­i­ety in the work­place.  Core val­ues address the root cause instead of solv­ing a symptom.

In my strat­egy con­sult­ing busi­ness, I see lots of peo­ple in orga­ni­za­tions solv­ing symp­toms instead of resolv­ing root causes. The trou­ble with solv­ing a symp­tom is another symp­tom will just sur­face to take its place because the root cause has not been addressed.  This causes more time to be spent on solv­ing another symp­tom tak­ing time away from work­ing on the work of the orga­ni­za­tion.  It also causes more stress, anx­i­ety and dis­sat­is­fac­tion in the work­place. Who needs that?

So if you are feel­ing stress, anx­i­ety or dis­sat­is­fac­tion in the work­place, check in with your core values.

Here’s a lit­tle activ­ity to help you deter­mine if you core val­ues are a good fit with your employer’s.  On a piece of paper, 1.write down your core val­ues. (See post in Your Life.)  2. Write down exam­ples of how each core value is “drawn into play” in your work­place.  3. Write the core val­ues of your employer.  (If you don’t know the core val­ues, check if any are pub­lished on the company’s web­site.  Or ask some­one who might know.)  Then com­pare your core val­ues to the those of the orga­ni­za­tion.  Are they aligned? Are there areas of conflict?

Know­ing if there is align­ment or dif­fer­ences will help you deter­mine if you need to take action to make changes — In your own life or in your workplace.

And if you need a resource to help you clar­ify your core val­ues, check out the Core Val­ues eCourse.  It is a good tool to get you started.

Visit www.StrengthenTheHarmony.com to reg­is­ter for a webi­nar. Or give the Gift of Webi­nar to some­one you care about.

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