Value Stories

Introduction

I still remember the first time I read Patrick Lencioni’s “Make Your Values Mean Something” in HBR. It sure rang a bell with me. This was way back before I learned about agile, and I was used to having hollow values inflicted on me. I am willing to bet a bunch of you people out there reading this can empathize with me. When “values” have no value, they aren’t valuable!

Nowadays, when I help orgs build a healthy ecosystem, figuring out their meaningful values is part of that process. When an org truly understands what’s important to them, they can start to amplify the values they already value and to nurture the growth of values they aspire to. And this is especially true at the team level, where a team’s values can make a team wonderful or dreadful.

So, if you are into lifting off teams, this is a must read!

Explain the Practice

You get your team together. You talk about your individual and collective values. You agree on what the team values. You proudly radiate those values. You embrace those values. You reflect on those values on a regular basis. Bam.

Why did you decide to use this practice

It’s not because you’re creating a meaningless value statement for your annual corporate report, like Enron did. You have this conversation with teams because it helps the people on the team truly understand each other. Like on a soul-deep level. And that builds psychological safety. And then the people on the team can start to work together effectively. And they have a code they abide by, and a code to aspire to! This is how high-performing teams are built. With a relatively simple process, but with extraordinary meaning, the values of the team and your org are critical to your success.

I just did this activity like two weeks ago with a team! I do it all the time, so it’s not a shocking thing for me to write. And I have done it many ways; I will review one of my favorite ways, which I did with that team.

How did you use this practice

OK, here is the step-by-step process I used with that team:

• I welcomed the team to the event. In my case it was a workshop on helping a team work together. In your case it could be a team lift off, or maybe a retro.
• I invited the team to contemplate a world where they are a more awesome team than they already are. I usually stare into the distance as I do this, it’s very inspirational.
• I then ask the team a question, in my case about 20-25 people. “Who do you admire?”
• I follow that up with some clarifying statements to help them contemplate. I say things like “It could be anyone! They might be a real person, or fictional. Maybe from a book or movie? They could be from ancient history or our current timeline. It can be someone you know personally or have heard stories about. It might even be a group of people!”
• I let that sink in and give them about 1-2 minutes of silent reflection time.
• Now I follow up with the BIG question. “Why do you admire them?”
• And I follow up with “What is it about them that you admire? What do they value that you value? What do you value about them?”
• And then we all share who we admired and why.
• Now in our case, we left it there. I suggested they refer to the Big Values List for inspiration, then to co-create a set of values for the team, and add it to their team canvas.

If you were lifting off a team, you would totally do that last part above with the team, and make it part of lift off.

Attribution – this is my current favorite way to talk about and co-create values for a team or org. My friend Soma Mazumder taught me this technique some time ago!

Your learnings as facilitator

• This technique is as fresh now, as it was when I first learned it. The results are always uplifting. If you and your team need a refreshing activity, I give this 5 stars, highly recommend.
• As a facilitator, you can build a safe space really quick with this activity. I sometimes run it when I need an uplifiting activity before another event, or within an event. For example, it can be a great icebreaker in a retro or strategy session.
• I have always left it open, like who the people can select to admire. But I could see a world where you might modify it and see what happens. You might invite your team to select a loved one, or a famous historical person, or their spirit animal. As long as you get to the “why” and values!
• In the past I have also started the whole-group with the questions and then broken them down into duets or trios or quartets to have deep meaningful conversations about the “why”. That works great.
• The mechanics of the eventual value selection for the team can be accomplished in a variety of ways. Whatever mechanics you use, you do need team consensus for agreement for the finalized values.
• Radiate those values after you select them! Be proud of them and encourage the team to embody those values in healthy ways.
• Encourage the team to reflect on the values on a regular basis, retros are great for that. It’s not a ruleset or a punishment tool. Rather, you invite the team to consider if they have been embracing their values, why, or why not? And then invite them to think about things they might try or do to embrace those values.
• Try using an online synonym tool when you need to reword a value that the team is struggling with.
• Can you convert your values into a value statement? Or hashtags? Or I have even used online acronym generators to create a cool acronym, for example like INVEST.

Well, I hope you find this info useful and enjoy Value Stories! #CoP #Management30 #ValueStories https://management30.com/practice/value-stories/