Leading with Conviction: Making Your Core Values the Foundation of Impactful Leadership
As I have been through my own leadership journey and observed so many good and bad leaders over the years, I've noticed that the most effective and successful leaders all exemplify one key trait: they have a deep understanding of their personal core values and align their leadership approach and decisions to reflect those values.
?In contrast, leaders who lack clarity and conviction around their core values tend to flounder. Their leadership style can feel inconsistent, unreliable, or unethical. Their teams suffer from poor culture and lack of trust. And these leaders struggle to make clear decisions, especially under pressure.
?In this week’s article, we will define what core values are and why they matter so much for leadership excellence. Then we will look at a step-by-step guide on how to identify your core values, which is essential self-reflection for any leader. Finally, I'll share some practical tips and strategies to integrate your core values into your leadership, so they become a living, breathing part of how you lead your team and organization. Let's dive in!
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What Are Core Values?
?Your core values represent your most deeply held beliefs about what matters most to you in life and work. They form the very bedrock of your character and personality, reflecting the ideals and principles that you care most about.
For instance, common examples of core values include integrity, excellence, accountability, transparency, collaboration, growth, and diversity. Your core values speak to the fundamental priorities and standards that you use to make important choices and guide your behavior each day. They reflect your highest ambitions for who you want to be and how you want to lead.
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Why Are Core Values Important for Leaders?
?There are four primary reasons why self-awareness and commitment to your core values is critical for impactful leadership:
?1. Values Shape Organizational Culture
?As a leader, you set the tone for your team or organization. The culture of any group stems first from the values and priorities of its leader. Your core values inform the attitudes, norms, and standards that you instill across your organization. Your values determine what behaviors you reward and punish. They influence every policy you create and initiative you launch. In essence, your values become baked into the cultural DNA of your team. Research clearly shows that leaders who build cultures rooted in strong, ethical values create more productive, innovative, and committed organizations.
?For example, if you value transparency as a leader, you will emphasize open communication, frequent town halls, insight into financials and strategy, and giving critical feedback. Your team will embody those norms of transparency. But if you don't prioritize transparency, secrecy and distrust will likely take root instead.
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2. Values Build Trust and Credibility?
?When your actions and decisions as a leader consistently align with your stated values over time, you develop immense credibility and trust. Your employees know that they can rely on you to live up to your word, rather than being unpredictable or hypocritical. They learn that you will stick to your values, even when it is hard to do so. This integrity generates tremendous confidence in your leadership.
?Moreover, values-driven leadership fosters engagement and loyalty. Teams give their all when they firmly believe in the values and vision of the leader they are following. But wishy-washy leaders who lack conviction in their principles fail to earn trust and struggle to motivate others to action.
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3. Values Guide Decision-Making
?Core values provide an ethical North Star to guide decision-making, especially when facing difficult dilemmas with no easy answers. Values help leaders analyze options in light of what matters most, rather than making reactive choices in the moment.
?Leaders who know their values can consistently apply them as a checklist or framework. For example, when considering a strategic decision, you may ask yourself questions like: Does this align with our value of integrity? Does it live up to our commitment to customer service? Does it reflect our belief in innovation? This values-based reflective process boosts the quality of decision-making.
?In addition, values offer stability amidst uncertainty. In volatile, chaotic times, leaders anchored by their values can maintain focus on true North when everything around them changes. Values pull leaders through the storms.
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4. Values Inspire Commitment and Dedication
?Finally, when you genuinely live your values as a leader, it inspires others to commit to that same vision. Your authenticity and conviction sparks passion and purpose in employees. When you honor values like excellence and growth in your own example, team members feel intrinsically motivated to align around those same standards that matter to you.?
?In contrast, teams quickly become disillusioned by leaders who don't practice what they preach. Why should employees care about values their own leaders disregard? But values-driven leadership builds an emotional bond between teams and leaders, fueling extraordinary dedication.?
?In summary, making core values the foundation of your leadership strengthens culture, trust, decisions, and commitment. Your values define 'how we do things around here' while guiding teams toward shared goals. Leadership absent values is like a ship without a rudder. Clarifying your core values is utterly foundational.
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Steps to Identify Your Core Values
?Now that you understand why core values are so essential for impactful leadership, how can you identify what your core values actually are? It takes careful self-reflection to clarify one's values. Here are five steps to guide you in this introspective process:
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1. Reflect Deeply on What Matters Most
?Set aside quiet time to ask yourself open-ended probing questions like: What principles do I care most about in this life? What ideals form the bedrock of who I am? What values do I admire most in the leaders I respect? How do I want to positively impact my team and organization?
?Really look inward to tap into your deepest beliefs about meaning, ethics, service, and legacy. Listen to your intuitions and instincts on what matters most to you at the very core. Take time to dig beneath surface-level thoughts to unearth the values that form your true north.
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2. Review Major Past Decisions and Pivotal Moments
?Take a reflective walk-through major fork-in-the-road choices you made in your career and life. Look back on key decisions about jobs, moves, projects, and professional growth. Consider what principled values influenced you in those vital moments.
?For instance, perhaps a value like courage drove you to take a bold career risk that paid off, while a passion for innovation led you to volunteer to lead a cutting-edge initiative no one else stepped up for. Look for the values woven through your most crucial choices.
?Also, reflect on pivotal moments that revealed your values. Reflecting on times when you took a hard stand based on ethics and convictions can illuminate what matters most to you. Write down values that surfaced in those defining situations.
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3. Ask Trusted Mentors How They Perceive Your Values
?Get insight from others who know you well, like close colleagues, mentors, or friends. Ask them: What core values or principles do you think most define me and my leadership? Why? What examples have you seen where my values shone through?
?You may be surprised by how others experience you and what values they pick up from working with you. Their outside perspective can raise self-awareness of values you embody without even realizing it.
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4. Review Your Calendar, Tasks, and Goals
?Examine how you spend your time and attention, really. Analyze your calendar, to-do lists, and goals for indicators of what you truly value. For instance, dedicating time to mentoring young team members may signal you value development. Or setting ambitious innovation goals reflects a priority for growth. Let your actions reveal the values behind them.
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5. Make a List of Values-Oriented Words That Resonate
?As you reflect from various angles, keep a running list of words and phrases that capture principles and qualities you connect with. For example, words like passion, insight, dedication, wisdom, and positivity may stand out to you. Look up definitions and synonyms of compelling words to find the ones that best encapsulate your core values.
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6. Narrow Down to Your Top 5-8 Core Values
?Once you have a broad list of value-laden words, narrow it down by choosing the 5-8 terms that resonate most strongly for you. Those likely indicate your true core values. For example, you may realize excellence, authenticity, and growth are most central versus a longer list you brainstormed. Distill to the essentials.
?Get very clear on exactly why each value matters so much to you. Write those explanations down. Keep honing until you have unearthed the fundamental core values at your center. This self-inquiry lays the foundation for values-driven leadership.
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Integrating Your Core Values into Leadership
?Now that you've done the difficult work to clarify your core leadership values, it's time to put them into action. Don't keep your values as nice theory in your journal. Integrate them into the fabric of how you lead. Here are impactful ways to turn your values into living leadership:
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1. Proactively Communicate Your Core Values
?First, consciously communicate your values consistently across your organization. In meetings, one-on-ones, presentations, and team emails, explain what principles are most important to you as a leader and why. Tie your values directly to how you hope to lead the team to accomplish its mission.
?Create flyers, posters, or other visuals highlighting core values to display around the office. Use stories and examples of how past successes stemmed from strong values. Your transparency will help leaders and employees understand what you stand for and enable them to align around shared values.
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2. Use Values as Decision-Making Filters
When evaluating any major decision, explicitly reference your core values as key factors in your decision analysis. Look at options through the lens of each value, asking questions like:
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Assessing decisions against your values will ensure greater integrity and prevent choosing options that don't reflect what's most important. Make values alignment a standard part of decision protocols.
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3. Model Your Values Consistently Through Actions
?The most powerful way to reinforce values is leading by example. When employees witness you consistently modeling values like excellence, courage, respect, or growth day after day, it builds trust and inspires emulation. Like pausing to prepare diligently for a high-stakes presentation, demonstrating your commitment to excellence. Or having a difficult talk with an employee who made a mistake, reflecting courage.
?Be on the lookout for opportunities both big and small to walk your talk. When action matches words, values come alive.
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4. Publicly Recognize Employees Demonstrating Values
?Catch people enacting your organization's shared values and recognize them publicly. At team meetings, shout out those who modeled collaboration. Email the wider team praising an employee's creative solution, thanking them for living your value of innovation.
?Celebrating values made visible through people's actions reinforces and spreads those behaviors across your culture. Values transform from abstract theory into concrete reality.
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5. Incorporate Values Into Hiring Criteria and Assessments
?Build your core values directly into your hiring, promotion, and performance management processes. Develop criteria to assess candidates' alignment to values during interviews. Prioritize hiring those whose values match the team's culture.
?Incorporate values into 360 reviews and other performance tools. Evaluate leaders and managers on how well they role model core values. This integrates values into your talent processes from start to finish.
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6. Conduct a Regular Values Audit of Your Leadership
?Schedule time every quarter to audit yourself against your core values. How well did you lead according to each value this period? Where did you fall short? Enlist a mentor or coach to enhance your honesty and accountability.
?Analyze any gaps between your values and actual practices. Course correct as needed. Continually realigning your leadership to your values maintains integrity and growth.
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7. Address Incongruences Between Your Values and Actions
?When you inevitably act out of alignment with a core value, own it. Have the courage to admit to yourself and others where you failed to uphold the standards you espouse. Analyze what led to the lapse and develop a plan to improve.
?Model accountability by publicly sharing when you didn't walk your talk. Then demonstrate how you will realign going forward. Your authentic transparency will build immense trust and respect.
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8. Adapt Your Values as You Grow
?Periodically revisit your core values and evaluate if they still capture your highest principles as a leader. Your values may evolve over time as you mature. New life experiences shape what matters most.
?Be open to amending your core values, while staying grounded in consistency. Changes should reflect real transformation, not chasing trends. Keeping your values current ensures your leadership continues growing on solid ethical ground.?
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In summary, truly integrating your core values into your leadership practice takes commitment, self-discipline, and courage. But living your values makes leading more meaningful while unlocking higher levels of performance. Grounding your leadership in core values forges a foundation of trust, engagement, decision-making, and culture upon which extraordinary organizations flourish. Your values define your legacy.
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Well explained article ??As a leader, you set the tone for your team or organization. The culture of any group stems first from the values and priorities of its leader.