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At Ember, we emphasize the importance of having values and striving to live up to them. This starts with determining what your values are. The values we stand behind are care, connection, conscious transformation, and growth & evolution. These are what we believe in, and they are how we strive to live out our day-to-day. These principles are what we stand for. And implementing these values is how we want to make the workplace a better place. Why these specific values? They focus on the importance of personal and professional growth and transformation. To us, it’s not simply about experiencing change, it’s about constant evolution, which requires development, conscious effort, and acknowledgment.
Life is always happening, and just like growing trees, people are always evolving too. These concepts have deep roots both at home and at work. A way we can experience growth is through engaging in connection – deepening our relationships with ourselves and experiencing connections with others. This process can help us to determine our values. Bonding with yourself allows you to get to know what’s important to you and getting in touch with others can help provide support and accountability in living up to what is important.
The reason that caring is something we deeply value is that it ties everything together. While we reach for connection and transformation, we do this compassionately by exercising care. We need to express care for ourselves and for others. When we move towards genuinely caring for ourselves and others, we can rise to our potential and be the best versions of ourselves.
Reigniting your values
Determining what your values are is a significant factor in personal growth. We have created a step-by-step process - see the takeaway sheet at the end of the blog or keep reading to learn more about how we determine and define our values.
Answer the following questions:
What is important to you?
What do you care about?
What do you want to get out of this world?
What do you hope to see in it?
What do you want your legacy to be?
The answers to these questions will reveal your personal values. Look at the common words in your answers and pick the top three most important to you. When defining your values, it is important to remember that they are not negotiable so if you would ever compromise any of them then you should keep exploring the questions.
Values become the definition of your life and your character. Do the words you selected as your values align with that? Values help you relate to yourself and uphold your boundaries, but they can also help you relate to your team. This is why defining them is an important starting point.
Values can be ever-changing and constantly evolving. You can return to them, reassess them, and re-evaluate them to form new beliefs or better understand limiting ones. But the importance lies in the learning process. Your values are your own moral compass, and they guide you through life. They help you set boundaries and make relationships with others. They allow you to find your place in the world and they contribute to a system of understanding the world. The words matter. The definitions are important.
Reframing your "how"
Your defined values let your workplace know your intentions, and if your values align with theirs, it means your team may feel connected to align themselves with you. However, a lack of clearly defined values can create confusion and make it more difficult to develop authentic connections. Likewise, naming what your values are, but not demonstrating them with your actions may be disingenuous and can lead to frustration or disappointment.
We want to reframe the “how” of the values. How do you believe in your values and how do you live them? In what manner? By what means? This means being aware of your actions and determining if they align with your values. If one of your values is “family” and your manager asks you to stay late for a meeting, how do you put this value into action? If one of our values is “connection” how do you approach a difficult conversation with a coworker?
The how is an important step in your conscious transformation. The how keeps you and enables others to keep you accountable to your beliefs. The how helps others believe you. The definitions can help you navigate through life when facing adversity. They become a stable pillar that you can lean on when you aren’t sure which path is the right path for you to follow. When facing new challenges that feel hard to navigate, looking inwards to your core values and beliefs can help guide you.
Reconnecting with yourself and your team
Once you’ve determined what your values are and why they are important to you, it’s time to take actionable steps to become accountable to them. Ultimately these help you to be responsible to yourself, your family, your friends, and your teammates. Reconnecting to your values through daily practice helps reconnect you to the people in your life. And that connection is what creates and deepens authentic relationships.
We can hold ourselves accountable by looking inwards even when it is uncomfortable. When we allow ourselves to sit in discomfort to help us evaluate ourselves and the things that are important to us then we hold space for our team to do the same.
Key takeaways
Having values is important to us, but we want to show you why they should be important to you. The key takeaway here is the process by which you can define your values for yourself. This will help you be aware of how you are showing up for yourself and to others and will help you lead a more intentional life that aligns with your core beliefs and ultimately gives you the comfortable feeling of being who you want to be. This way we can connect our values to our behaviours and create actionable change in ourselves and others.
Make values a priority for yourself so you can make them a priority for your team. We can help you with this process. We are specifically trained to help you reconnect to your staff so you can develop genuine bonds and define your values together. Discussion and conversation are tools that help us in this process. Return to your values and review them frequently. Build this method into your process and watch how your mindset and the atmosphere around you change and become more intentional.
