Personal values assessment

https://elements.envato.com/thinking-of-something-V8C9GUN

Increasing the personal awareness of your values is of utmost importance to understand the direction of your civic engagement and empowerment in society.

In simplest terms, personal value is something that person values, one’s judgment of what is important in life, principles or standards of behavior on which basis your perceptions are built, and the decisions are done. Consciously or not, our values and principles determine our everyday actions, and ultimately the course of our lives. Values are defined as positions and the “red lines” (standpoints) of an individual.

The personal values assessment tool (link) that I recommend in this material is written by Richard Barrett, a British author who writes about leadership, leadership development, values, and consciousness. The Personal Values Assessment (PVA) from the Barrett Values Centre, offered in partnership with Massively Human™ is a FREE online, powerful introductory tool that allows you to begin making the intangible tangible, by discovering your top 10 values.

From the top 10 values, you will get as a result of the test, you can reflect to define your 5 and ultimately the 3 most important values in life.

If you are doing this within a group, as a trainer, you will notice how its dynamics evolve into more open and trustworthy communication between the participants. The discussions that emerge from the assessment of the personal values are profound and meaningful, touching the core of the individual.

Ultimately, the message of this tool is twofold:

1. Understanding of your personal values will determine the course of your civic engagement, and political perspectives, because it determines the ideology that you will feel close to;
2. The personal values awareness is a continuous and ongoing process because many underlying reasons and layers are being installed in one’s perceptions due to parents, education system, and social circles. This requires continuous brushing that comes with self-reflection and group discussions on the topic.

Instructions:

1. Understanding of the importance of personal values

Firstly, in this part you need to understand what a value is, and secondly, the importance of being aware of one’s own values.

If you are implementing in a group, it can be organized as an open discussion. You should understand and explain what a value is.

1. Your values reflect what is important to you; it is one’s judgment of what is important in life; principles, or standards of behavior.

2. It is the values and principles that determine one’s paradigm/ perception, in a metaphoric way, they determine “the color of the eye-glasses” of how you see the world.

Questions that can help you guide the reflection, or a discussion:

2. Personal Values Assessment – choosing your top 3 values

After you have reached an understanding of what is a value and why it is important to be aware of your own values, you can go to the assessment. If you are doing this in a group, in order to give credibility to the tool, give a brief introduction of the Barret Values Centre, and you are ready to share it with the group.

The process of answering the survey is individual work. 15-20 minutes would be enough for yourself, or the participants to come to the top 10 personal values.

When you reach the top 10 values, continue with the self-reflection and choose your 5 values. Finally, circle your top 3 values. For some, the process will be easier, for some, harder (more of them will find it harder). You will notice how values start to group themselves, and one value will fall behind another. We will address this later.

How do you feel after doing this exercise? If it’s group work ask the group how it feels. Reflect on yourself, or the group:

• How was the process for you? Why?
• What did you find out? What did you learn about yourself?
• What approach did you take to choose your top 3 values?
• Which value came behind another? Why?
• Are there any values that conflict with each other?

3. Semantics and meaning

If you are in a group, make some of the participants share their choices. Not only share the word but make them share the meaning behind the word, their understanding of it. You will notice that people have different understandings and different meanings for the same word which is important for them to become aware of, and understand the meaning behind.

Example:

some people can choose the value of “peace”. People associate that value with “peace in the world”. Others can think of “inner peace”, or “peace within myself”.

Considering the word “success”, some may think of “career success”, and others of “personal satisfaction through the creation of a family nest”.

About the value of “love”, someone can think of erotic love, while someone of family love. The others can think of the love for the church, and the divine.

To sum up, it is important to stress the fact that the word is just a label, and you should go deeper into understanding what that means for you. The value is usually connected with some other underlying values that you should become aware of. In time, the values you will choose might change (in words), but the meaning will remain more or less similar.

Remember: Values do not change, they evolve.

4. Partner dialogue sharing 

Personal values are a personal matter, and you might not feel comfortable sharing it, but sharing is important to go over your story and the process of understanding. If it’s easier for you, share it with someone you feel close to or with a complete stranger. If you are doing this with a group, tell the participants to share it with one person, but not the whole group. Make them turn to the person next to them, and share their personal values and the meaning behind it. You can have 15-30 minutes for the sharing depending on how deep the conversations can go. Questions that can help steering discussions are:

• Why did I choose these values? Why is this important to me?
• What is the meaning behind the words?
• What do you do to show these values to people?
• What is your behavior?

5. Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to forward the following conclusions drawn from each section:

The importance of the awareness of personal values, because they determine the drive for change and the civic engagement in the local community;

The awareness of personal values is an ongoing process that needs to be “brushed” continuously by personal reflection, observation of oneself, and the values that reflect the everyday behavior;

Personal values define the culture of the group, and in larger terms, the culture of the society;

Personal values define the political ideologies and perspectives that are close to you by being able to relate to them so that they can determine the course of your political action;

6. Next steps

The Barret Values Centre gives worksheets so that you can continue with the work related to “family values” and “organizational values”. The “FAMILY VALUES” worksheet is designed to help in discovering the family values and opening discussions on the topic. It is designed for children and adults. You can also make access by clicking here.

The “VALUES IN ORGANISATIONS” are meant for schools, NGOs, Companies, Governments, and Communities. You can find them by clicking here.

Why did I choose this tool?

This tool is free and easy to use. The trainers can simply direct themselves, or the participants, to the link. In case they do not have the internet on the venue, they can simply copy-paste the values in a word document and make handouts.

The aim of education is the knowledge, not of facts, but of values

– William S. Burroughs

When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier

– Roy. E. Disney

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Author of the article Richard Barrett

 Richard has been a visiting lecturer at the Consulting and Coaching for Change, Leadership Course run by the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford and HEC in Paris. He has also been an Adjunct Professor at Royal Roads University, Institute for Values-based Leadership, and a visiting lecturer at the One Planet MBA at Exeter University. Richard Barrett is an author, speaker and internationally recognized thought leader on the evolution of human values in business and society. He is the founder and chairman of the Barrett Values Centre®, a Fellow of the World Business Academy and Former Values Coordinator at the World Bank.

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Editor: Antonio Jovanovski

Antonio Jovanovski has extensive experience of training and facilitating diverse groups all over Europe. His training and facilitating experience started during his AIESEC years (www.aiesec.org) where he served as President of AIESEC in N. Macedonia and France. Currently, he is a director of a youth environmental NGO (www.gogreen.mk) where he works on the topics of climate change, youth eco-activism, greening of economy, greening of education and jobs. He is also a member of the Pool of trainers of Youth@Work partnership on employability and entrepreneurship (www.youthatworkpartnership.org)

Click here to read more about Antonio Jovanovski

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Author of the article: Antonio Jovanovski