What's It Worth To You?
Your work-life values hierarchy

From The Simple-Minded Manager, Cutting Through Your Work-Life Chaos

One day Kelly, a key member of our company's executive team, came into my office. She was obviously agitated. She asserted her disapproval of my interactions with a young project manager. Kelly felt that I had not provided this young man with adequate guidance, "Forrest, you let him just twist in the wind." As we discussed the issue further, it became clear to both Kelly and me that we had quite different values related to supervision. Interestingly, we both used the same word to describe our approach to supervision -- we both believed in "nurturing" employees. Kelly valued protecting employees from discomfort, confusion and anxiety. I valued protecting employee's autonomy and opportunity to solve problems on their own.

Of course, we were both right!

Over the next several weeks, Kelly and I had a number of similar discussions. We came to understand that, while we shared the same mission goals and objectives for the organization, we had rather different personal and professional values systems. We learned to better understand the values contexts of each other's language. We gained more respect for each other's approaches, because we were more aware of the values that underpinned them.

I began to appreciate the powerful influence that people's work-life values have on the way they make decisions. I began to comprehend how the values hierarchies of the individuals on the leadership team must be considered in framing the operating principles and strategic plan of the organization. I came to understand that, if I didn't pay attention to the values hierarchies of the entire staff, it would be virtually impossible to gain sufficient consensus for executing the plan.

Here is simple tool that I found very useful. You can use it to define your work-life values hierarchy. There are 25 values that most people hold as important.

• Financial Security
• Acquisition of Wealth
• Stability and Order
• Power and Authority
• Good Health, Safety and Comfort
• Independence, Autonomy
• Peace of Mind
• Gaining Knowledge
• Having Close Friends
• Mastering Skills
• Pleasure, Relaxation and Leisure
• Professional Growth
• Self Fulfillment
• Self Esteem, Self Respect
• Personal Growth
• Prestige, Status, Respect from Others
• Adventure, Excitement
• Accomplishment, Achievement of Goals
• Change, New Experiences
• Doing Something Important
• Making Acquaintances
• Spirituality
• Responsibility
• Helping Others, Improving Society
• Family Responsibilities

  Write down each of these values on separate scraps of paper, or enter them into your computer. Now, arrange them in order of their importance to you. Place the most important at the top and order them to the least important at the bottom. This is your own work-life values hierarchy. Write it down. Carry it with you. Use it, along with your personal-professional mission statement, as a decision-making tool.

  Feel comfortable to share your values hierarchy with friends and colleagues. This helps the people who are most important to you to better understand what is most important to you.

  Keep this tool handy and use every day. For each important decision that you must make, ask yourself -- What's it worth to me?

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