How to Create a Values-Led Career
Image by Aditya Saxena via Unsplash
Think about a situation at work when someone said or did something that caused a strong, negative emotional response in you.
You probably kept it under wraps at the time, but inside you raged - hurt or frustrated beyond belief. No doubt you downloaded the situation to a trusted colleague as soon as you could, forensically picking over each detail and getting re-outraged all over again. The unfairness of it all! The lack of integrity! The nerve of that person!
Reflecting back now, your response may seem a little out-sized. You may even wonder why you reacted as strongly as you did.
Well, there’s a very good reason. That situation was a case of values-conflict.
Values Are Fundamental
Our values are core to who we are and how we experience the world, and when a person or situation conflicts with them it’s like they are conflicting with the deepest parts of ourselves.
When our values are met at work, we feel aligned and fulfilled.
Conversely, when our values are directly challenged it causes a visceral response - emotionally and sometimes physically too. Over time, too much of this values-conflict in the workplace leads to frustration, demotivation and exhaustion. Eventually we disengage or we burnout.
In my work as an Executive Career Coach, I can tie almost all of my client’s biggest career frustrations and pain points back to their values.
Have you fantasised about quitting your job recently? I’m sure I could tie that back to your values too - to a series of values-conflicts repeated over time.
My own Growth value has led to me leaving roles I’d once loved because the opportunity to develop and grow was no longer there. I’ve had more than one client explain a situation that caused them a lot of pain at work because of how unfair it had been – when asked, they confirmed indeed that Fairness was one of their core values.
Creating A Values-Led Career
The good news is that once you understand your core values, you can immediately begin creating a more values-led career – and you don’t even have to quit your job to do it.
Giving your career a values tune-up is one of the simplest and most effective ways to revitalise your work and life.
The first step is getting very clear about your core values:
What do you value most?
What is really important to you?
What elements are central to your identity, your feelings of contentment and ease?
What traits to you admire in others?
Reflect on these things and your values will become clear.
Another way to think about it is in reverse.
What things really outrage you?
What traits in other people do you find the most off-putting?
Is it a lack of fairness or integrity? Or things that are boring and uptight?
There will be clues here as to what your values are.
Find dishonesty completely reprehensible? Honesty is probably one of your values.
Loathe risk-taking and hate surprises? Perhaps Safety or Security are core values.
Try to narrow your core values down to about 3-5. The less you have on your core list, the more focused you can be in creating greater values-alignment at work.
Now, for each value, consider how fulfilled or unfulfilled this value is in your life and work right now.
List all of the ways you are in alignment or in conflict with this value in your career.
Then list all of the ways you could get into greater alignment with this value
And mitigate (wherever possible) the likelihood that you will be in conflict with it.
Are their new projects you could pick up?
Do you need to be rolled off a project that’s causing you to become stagnant?
Do you need to explore secondment opportunities?
Should you put your hand up for a new opportunity or should you ask your boss to reduce your workload and go part-time?
What’s important to you right now and how can you get more of what you need and less of what you don’t.
Maintain An Ongoing Values Dialogue
In an imaginary ideal world we would all work in workplaces that were in complete harmony with our values all of the time. And we’d be surrounded by people who shared the same values as us too. But that isn’t reality and it would actually be pretty dull.
The goal isn’t to entirely reduce contact with spaces, projects or people who challenge our values; the goal is to maximise our alignment and minimise our conflict wherever is reasonaby possible.
I had a client once who was sitting in a meeting with a potential client who said something that caused a very strong and visceral reaction in her. As it happened, we had just been doing values work in our sessions together so she had a very clear understanding of her core values. She recognised immediately what was happening -and was able to she calmly determine that this was not a client she wanted to work with. She declined the project.
When you understand your values and have a healthy dialogue with yourself about them, you can easily spot a situation that is causing a values-conflict. This allows you to identify the issue and approach it with calm intention, rather than emotional outburst or seething rage. Learning to do this acts as a circuit breaker and gives you a sense of personal power. You choose how to react, and you choose what is right or wrong for you.
Your values are your compass.
Whenever you’re in doubt, return to that compass and led your values guide the way.
When you align your career decisions – big and small – to your values, what you are doing is aligning your career more fully to who you really are. In this state you are able to get into flow more readily, play to your true nature and be in your own slip stream.
This is what it means to create a values-led career.
And you can start right now.
Monique Shaw is an Executive Career & Leadership Coach and Brand Story Specialist helping passionate, frustrated and ambitious professionals create values-aligned careers, teams and businesses. Book a consult or get in touch to explore how she can support you.
