It is important to remember that your individual core values are not necessarily set by you consciously. In fact, most people’s values and beliefs are established as a consequence of their childhood up bringing, the education system and other influential people in their lives such as friends, mentors, sporting coaches and off-course the media. Both traditional and modern, such as social media.
These values and beliefs have a direct influence on our attitude and can change overtime as we adapt overtime and grow as a result of personal development work, spirituality and conscious awareness.
What Are Your Core Values?
To get a sense of what your core values are, ask yourself what activities bring you the most joy, or what you couldn’t live without. What gives your life meaning or what do you want to achieve? If you can articulate those answers, you’ll likely see a pattern that you can boil down into a single concept, such as a consistently having a positive attitude or using your creativity to make the world a better place.
Figure 1: Definitions of values, belief and attitude. ©University of Reading
The combination of your personal values, beliefs and attitudes are your moral principles that guide you in life and affect your behaviour. However, your views can wildly differ to others and in an institution such as a school, these beliefs may be counter to the values of the school, child development or indeed the law.
Beliefs – as defined in the oxford dictionary – an acceptance that something exists or is true, especially one without proof. “his belief in extraterrestrial life”
– trust, faith, or confidence in (someone or something).
There are countless types of personal and company values. You’ll need to choose the ones that are right for you. It’s natural to want to choose a long list of core values in an effort to be the best you can be, but limiting your selection to a few helps you really focus on the most integral values in life without becoming distracted.
Excercise 1.1 Choose 5 values from each of the 4 list below and write them down. This will give you a broad list of values from both a personal, ethical and commercial perspective. From your list of twenty choose the top 10 that most resonate with you. Some of these will be similar or have overlap. Narrow the final list down to between 5 and 7…..these will be your list of values….
25 Personal Values for Behavior and Traits
The way a person acts and treats others is impacted by the individual’s core values. Others often interpret a person’s core values as character traits:
- adventurous
- authenticity
- commitment
- compassion
- concern for others
- consistency
- courage
- dependability
- enthusiasm
- fearlessness
- friendliness
- good humor
- honesty
- honor
- independence
- integrity
- kindness
- loyalty
- open-mindedness
- optimism
- perseverance
- pragmatism
- positivity
- reliability
- respect
25 Personal Values About Rights and Causes
Core values also impact which rights and causes tend to matter the most to a person.
- altruism
- animal rights
- charity
- civil disobedience
- community development
- education
- environmentalism
- equality
- fitness
- freedom
- giving back
- historic preservation
- human rights
- individual liberties
- justice
- nurturing the next generation
- patriotism
- philanthropy
- respect for individuals
- rule of law
- social justice
- stand up for the underdog
- stewardship
- support for the arts
- tolerance
25 Core Company Values About Business Practices
The way an organization conducts business is greatly impacted by the company’s core values. These values impact what products or services a company offers and how they are produced and/or brought to market.
- accountability
- adaptability
- aggressive
- attention to detail
- capability
- collaborative
- competitive
- continuous improvement
- craftsmanship
- dominance
- customer-focused
- efficiency
- ethical
- excellence
- expertise
- fairness
- flexibility
- high performance
- innovation
- market leader
- ownership
- responsive
- quality
- service
- transparency
25 Core Company Values About Company Culture
A company’s core values directly impact the People will generally be most comfortable working in a company that has a corporate culture that reflects their own personal values.
- agility
- approachable
- belonging
- creativity
- diversity
- empowering
- entrepreneurial
- family-oriented
- fun
- hard work
- inclusion
- individualistic
- learning
- meritocracy
- modern
- nimble
- originality
- passion
- respect for boundaries
- shared prosperity
- social responsibility
- sustainability
- team-focused
- traditional
- work-life balance