Understanding
and communicating our values and the values of our organizations are extremely
important. Below is a link to an assessment, which will allow you to compare
your values with the values of your workplace. Individuals whose personal
values are aligned with those of their workplace tend to be better performers.
Take
this assessment, and create a Reflective Blog posting that discusses how your
values align with the values of your workplace; be certain to point out the
major similarities and differences and address how you might mitigate those
differences.
The
assessment was not an eye opening experience for me. What it was, was a good
review of my values and those that are necessary in order to sustain an
organization in today's world of half truths, misleading rhetoric and getting
the number of the bus you are about to see the under side of.
Of
the 33 questions in the first portion of the assessment, I rated 20 as Very
important to me. 7 were rated Reasonably important to me, 5 were somewhat
important to me, and 1 was rated, Not important to me at all.
The
second step was to identify 10 of the most important values to me… I chose the
following, not in any particular order.
1.
Integrity
and truth
2.
Rewarding
loyalty and dependability
3.
Having
self respect and pride in work
4.
Being
recognized for quality of work in a visible/public way
5.
Having
a positive impact on others and society
6.
Variety
and a changing work place
7.
Professional
development and on-going learning and growth
8.
Friendships
and warm working relationships
9.
Clear
advancement tracks/opportunities for advancement
10. Respect, recognition and
being valued
The third and final assessment process was to
narrow the list of ten values into 5 core values that I cannot live without in
a work place.
The five below are in ascending order according to
my personal values, one being the most important.
1.
Integrity
and truth
2.
Respect,
recognition and being valued
3.
Having
self respect and pride in work
4.
Rewarding
loyalty and dependability
5.
Professional
development
The following is based upon my finding stemming
from this assessment. The data was used to reconfirm my first hand experience
and knowledge of my organizations practices, both past and present.
Integrity and truth can be somewhat a challenge as
some (not all,) managers and employees tend to talk out of both side of their
mouth depending upon the situation and the stakes at hand. In other words, the
truth can be somewhat subjective, with mission and personnel livelihood
paramount.
Respect, recognition and being valued are all
three likely to be dismissed in the name of minimizing and diminishing those
who challenge the organizational past practices, right wrong or indifferent. In
other words, if you challenge what has worked in the past, regardless of the
legitimacy or correctness of the practice, you will likely alienate yourself
and become the messenger that is ignored and have the creditability of accurate
and proven information discounted.
Having respect and pride in ones work, is alive
and well in most situations. The concern would be the past practice of not
holding those accountable who do not adhere to policy, procedure and practice.
Rewarding loyalty and dependability is somewhat
apparent through quarterly awards and incentives toward identification of
hazards and corrective actions.
Professional development is somewhat remiss in
situations depending upon which side of the organizational fence you may sit.
Mitigation of the negative differences is somewhat
a stalemate for myself and those who share similar values. We believe it is
better to not fall into the abyss of the status que, and to remain vigilant,
forthright and unwavering in our values that most of us brought from our
upbringing and the military.
In other words… there are those (like me,) who
refuse to lower our standards that have been proven to be an effective and
correct method, in favor of going with the crowd. It is sometimes lonely from
where we sit… but it is a satisfying type of loneliness.
Kurt,
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