Hey Leader! Did You Bring Your Personal Values to Work Today?

Photo Credit: Helena Lopes, Unsplash.com

We all know that, as leaders, we need to create a business that is value-based. Those values should be well-established and communicated to both new hires and to those who have been with the company for years. Company values are often based on how you and your team treat your clients or customers, as well as how leadership treats their employees. Honest, integrity, and a strong work ethic are common company values.

However, many leaders seem to think that their personal values have no place in their business because they’re, well, personal.

Personal values are your principals and guidelines that govern your ethical and moral conduct, and they are the core of how you live your life. When you put it this way, it seems kind of silly that you could even think they should be kept separate from how you conduct yourself at work. After all, no one expects you to be one person at work and someone completely different in your personal life, right?

When leaders try to check their personal values at the proverbial office door, big problems happen. Leaders are the heart and soul of an organization and if their personal values don’t sync up the values of the company, there is a huge disconnect. Here are more reasons why you need to bring your personal values to work with you every day to be an effective leader.

Why Your Personal Values Have a Place at Work

Lead by example. Everyone wants to work for a leader who stands for something. Does this mean that you’ll upset some people or that others won’t want to work for your business? Absolutely. And that’s okay. When your employees see that you are passionate about your own personal values, they will be more likely to embrace their own values and develop strong management and leadership skills. Working for a wishy-washy leader who seems to waffle on every issue is the recipe for a weak organization with no real vision.

Create the right culture. Remember how I said some people won’t want to come work for you if your personal values are front and center in your organization? Well, guess what? It also means that the right type of people will want to work for you for those exact same reasons. By right type of people I mean those who share your personal values and will get behind your causes. Not only will help create unified front in the workplace, but it will also enhance the fulfillment of everyone on the team.

Values = passion. What is one thing all the best leaders have in common? They are passionate about what they do. And the only way to be truly passionate about what you do is to believe in it to your very core. When your personal values sync up with those of the company and the rest of the team, your entire organization is working toward a goal you’re all passionate about. As the author so eloquently put it in this article on Inc.com:

“Climbing a mountain is a struggle. So is running a business. But both allow you to experience the exhilarating thrill of accomplishing something difficult. If you do it while sticking to your core values, the thrill will be that much sweeter.”

When you incorporate your personal values into every fiber of your company, you are then showing up authentically, transparently and in integrity with who you are as a leader. No one wants to follow a leader who creates an atmosphere of distrust, and when you appear one way at work, and another way in your personal life, that is exactly what you are conveying. So make sure your personal values are woven into the relationships you are building and the decisions you are making in your business, and you will be creating a strong brand that your team and your clients can get behind.

Originally published at One Idea Away

Trish Cody is an Executive Awareness Coach and Speaker who focuses on optimizing results for business leaders. With over 20 years of experience as a strategic consultant for some of the world’s top Fortune 500 companies, Trish has coached and consulted with senior level teams in planning, designing, launching, and measuring the return for major initiatives. As a Certified Professional Coach and Energy Leadership Master Practitioner, Trish works with senior level leaders and business owners to raise their levels of self-awareness, and create more trust, loyalty and success in their businesses and teams. Contact Trish at trish@trishcody.com.