Have a value-driven day!
Anyone who has received an email from me in the last 10 years has seen in my signature "Have a value driven day!"
This refrain is meant to act as a constant reminder for me and the team to focus most on the things we value. Below is a brief account of my journey. This is not meant to focus on that which I value but rather to illustrate the thought process of how to "have a value driven day."
One of the most valuable lessons I have learned from mentors and professional coaches is the importance of documenting your professional goals, analyzing those goals, and formulating a plan to achieve them. Upon completing this exercise, I identified 3 things I valued most professionally in both my coaching or technology career:
My values
- Being around smart people with whom I can laugh and learn; people who are "willing to leap out of dugout, should I need to charge the mound"
- Owning solutions to reasonable challenges
- Making enough money to provide options for myself and my family
As I began to work towards the 3 things I valued most, it quickly became apparent I would need to better understand what the people around me valued. I understood that in most professional situations, the people nearest me: my manager, peers, and direct reports wouldn't have as a goal to "provide for my family". However, if I spent the time to understand what they DO value, I could provide that value which, in turn, should help me achieve the things I value.
Providing value to get value should seem obvious. However, it was this realization that changed my perspective. Rather than viewing tasks as things I had to do to keep my manager happy or taking the time to be a mentor just for the sake of building the skills of another, I viewed them as ways to build myself and my team so that I could better provide for my family or ways which I could earn the trust of co-workers so they would want to "leap out of the dugout". This small shift in thinking changed the glass from 1/2 empty to 5/8 full.
As I came to view the glass as 5/8 full, it made my concerns genuine for what everyone around me valued. For me, this was extremely important because the type of clients, peers, management, and employees which I valued would not be easily manipulated by catch phrases in all-hands meetings or wall coverings in the office. Everything from recruiting to the sales process to daily meetings had to compliment these core values.
- If I want to learn from people, I can't hire "yes" men / woman.
- If I want to learn with people, I need people who value learning.
- If I want people who "would leap out of the dugout for me", I have to show them that I would do the same.
- If I want to own solutions, I have to deliver results
Finally, as I started to expand the circle further outside of my team, I realized that clients, investors, and executive leadership teams would not necessarily value the environment which I was trying to create. Clients want deliverables at a reasonable cost; investors want a return on their money; and each person on the executive leadership team has certain things they value. It was at this point it became clear the true challenges of leadership. I needed to align all of those values and drive towards them. It's not important for each individuals values to be the same, but they must work together in alignment, not against one another. If these values could not be aligned, it would be a good sign I should be looking for another job. If that other job doesn't exist, perhaps it means I needed to re-evaluate whether the things I value are realistic. Again, this small change in thought process shifted my mindset from one of feeling as if I am being taken advantage of by my employer to one of owning my part in the process -- that my current skillset needs to advance to have a job I value.
My signature attempts to reinforce that process with each email: be conscious of what you value, be conscious of what others around you value, then align those values with the business and let them drive your day. Or, put simply, Have a value-driven day!