Our core values and principles act as a moral compass, helping to inform our thinking, guide our decisions and drive our actions.

What is the definition of a core value or principle?

According to the Oxford Dictionary, a core value is:

“A principle or belief that a person or organization views as being of central importance.”

Whether we can articulate them or not, we all have such beliefs that shape our thoughts, decisions and actions.

Core values remain true. As Jim Collins and Jerry Porras stated in their book Built To Last (1994), core values are inherent and sacrosanct; they can never be compromised, either for convenience or short-term economic gain.

If we do compromise our principles, it is likely to lead to pain in the long run. Conversely, we are more likely to he happy and fulfilled if we know and follow our core values. As Stephen Covey notes:

“Peace of mind comes when your life is in harmony with true principles and values and in no other way.” – Stephen R Covey

One of the most important aspects of core principles is that they help us make decisions. This is why we often compare values and principles to fixed navigation aids such as the North Star or magnetic north, as displayed on a compass. We use our values to guide our way, especially when we are finding it hard to see an obvious route forward.

“It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.” – Roy Disney

The Moral Compass Tool

Have you ever been lost, not knowing which way to go?

There have been many times in the mountains when I have suddenly found myself in fog, hardly able to see. It is very easy to make a mistake in these moments and wander off in the wrong direction. The cloud can be disorientating. Sometimes you can be sure you are heading the right way until you establish your true heading.

At times like these you must rely on your compass rather than what you can see or even what you feel is the right way to go. The compass, used properly, can help guide the way. And it is the same for our moral compass. When we have to make challenging decisions, where the way ahead may not be obvious, we have to rely on that inner compass.

Therefore, when it comes to The Right Questions toolkit, our core values are represented by the compass. This is a fitting metaphor as many people talk about their moral compass. This is effectively the set of principles that aid us in making choices, be those ethical or everyday decisions.

“I have learned that as long as I hold fast to my beliefs and values – and follow my own moral compass – then the only expectations I need to live up to are my own.” – Michelle Obama

As with a real compass, to be able to use our moral compass effectively, we need to understand the forces that pull on the compass needle. In this case, we need to identify the core values – the hidden forces – that push us in certain directions.

As discussed previously, examining our passions, priorities and personal stories can all give us insights into our core principles. But sometimes finding a word to describe these tenets is a challenge, and that is why a couple of other exercises can help identify and name our values.

The Quest

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 The common work and life principles list exercise

A good exercise to identify your core principles is to use a list of example values. Once you have the list of values you can:

1. Score each word in terms of how important you think that principle is to you.
2. Then score each word in terms of how closely your behaviours and actions match that principle (1 hardly at all through to 10 being always).
3. Add the importance and action scores together for each value.
4. Identify the highest-scoring (most important) core values.
5. If you have more than 3-5 principles scoring equally highly, score them again. This time using fractions, or putting them into priority order.
6. Once you have identified your top 3-5 values, write out a personal definition of why the word is important. Also, describe the actions that reflect that principle.

Here is an example table and a list of common values and principles for reference. You can use the template either by copying it into a spreadsheet or printing it out:

	Value	Importance  (1-10)	Action (1-10)	Combined Score
1	Accountability
2	Accuracy
3	Achievement
4	Adventure
5	Altruism
6	Appearance
7	Ambition
8	Autonomy
9	Assertiveness
10	Balance
11	Beauty
12	Being the best
13	Belonging
14	Boldness
15	Calmness
16	Carefulness
17	Challenge
18	Cheerfulness
19	Clarity
20	Commitment
21	Community
22	Communication
23	Compassion
24	Competitiveness
25	Connectivity
26	Consistency
27	Contentment
28	Continuous Improvement
29	Contribution
30	Control
31	Cooperation
32	Correctness
33	Courtesy
34	Creativity
35	Curiosity
36	Decisiveness
37	Democraticness
38	Dependability
39	Determination
40	Devoutness
41	Diligence
42	Discipline
43	Discretion
44	Diversity
45	Dynamism
46	Economy
47	Effectiveness
48	Efficiency
49	Elegance
50	Empathy
51	Enjoyment
52	Enthusiasm
53	Environment
54	Equality
55	Excellence
56	Excitement
57	Expertise
58	Exploration
59	Expressiveness
60	Fairness
61	Faith
62	Family
63	Flexibility
64	Fidelity
65	Fitness
66	Fluency
67	Focus
68	Freedom
69	Friendship
70	Fulfilment
71	Fun
72	Generosity
73	Goodness
74	Grace
75	Growth
76	Happiness
77	Hard Work
78	Health
79	Helping Society
80	Holiness
81	Honesty
82	Honor
83	Humour
84	Humility
85	Independence
86	Ingenuity
87	Inner Harmony
88	Inquisitiveness
89	Insightfulness
90	Integrity
91	Intelligence
92	Intimacy
93	Intuition
94	Joy
95	Justice
96	Leadership
97	Legacy
98	Love
99	Loyalty
100	Making a difference
101	Mastery
102	Merit
103	Nature
104	Obedience
105	Openness
106	Order
107	Originality
108	Partnership
109	Patriotism
110	Perfection
111	Personal growth
112	Piety
113	Positivity
114	Power
115	Practicality
116	Privacy
117	Preparedness
118	Professionalism
119	Prudence
120	Quality-orientation
121	Recognition
122	Reliability
123	Resourcefulness
124	Respect
125	Restraint
126	Results-oriented
127	Rigor
128	Romance
129	Security
130	Self-actualization
131	Self-control
132	Self-expression
133	Selflessness
134	Self-reliance
135	Sensitivity
136	Serenity
137	Service
138	Shrewdness
139	Simplicity
140	Soundness
141	Speed
142	Spirituality
143	Spontaneity
144	Stability
145	Status
146	Strategic
147	Strength
148	Structure
149	Success
150	Support
151	Teamwork
152	Temperance
153	Thankfulness
154	Thoroughness
155	Thoughtfulness
156	Timeliness
157	Tolerance
158	Traditionalism
159	Trustworthiness
160	Truth
161	Understanding
162	Uniqueness
163	Unity
164	Usefulness
165	Vision
166	Vitality
167	Vulnerability

“Principles are fundamental truths that serve as the foundations for behaviour that gets you what you want out of life. They can be applied again and again in similar situations to help you achieve your goals.” – Ray Dalio

The values cards exercise

Another great way to work out your core values is to use a deck of cards which have example words printed on each card, one principle per card. You can either purchase these decks or create your own. For example, you could write out or print the list of principles given above to do this exercise. Once you have a values card deck you can follow the steps below to get to your top three core values.

“If you have more than three priorities, you have no priorities” – Brené Brown

Values card deck instructions:

1. If there are any blank cards separate these out first.
2. Think of some values or principles that you think are important to you. You can write these (one word per card) on the blank cards.
3. Now sort the pack of cards into three columns of roughly equal size. One column has the most important values to you personally. Another has those of middling importance, and the third contains the principles that are of lesser importance to you.
4. When trying to choose between values with similar meanings, pick the word that resonates the most with you.
5. Take away the columns of cards containing the values of middling and lesser importance.
6. With the remaining cards, now separate them again into three columns. Again, reflecting what you believe are your highest, middling, and lowest-importance principles.
7. Keep the most important cards, once again stacking the others to one side
8. With this final selection now put them into priority order, aiming to select your top three personal values.
9. Now, for these top three values, write your own definition of what they mean to you. Describe the sorts of behaviours that are reflected in this principle.

Using and refining your core values

Once you have identified your top 3 core values it is worth spending some time analysing how you use them. Here are some simple ways to do this:

• When you have to make a choice in the coming days, think about how those values impact the decision.
• Set some time in the diary, a week or month from now so you can reflect upon your chosen values. Ask yourself, do they still feel right? How have your actions over that period reflected your values?
• In another 3-6 months go through the list of principles or values card exercise again and compare your results. Did you come up with the same three core values?

It is worth doing this as it is quite hard to identify your top three values in your first go. Also, our present circumstances influence our priorities at any given moment. Therefore, it is important to examine our values over time. This ensures we have identified the right ones and can properly express what they mean to us.

Most importantly, this reflection allows us to highlight the behaviours that embody those values that are most important to us. We can then make sure that our core values become verbs that drive action, not just nouns that remain conceptual.

When you have properly identified your core values you can see how they impact your everyday life. Don’t just react to circumstances, use your inner compass to direct your behaviours, your decisions and your life direction. As Stephen Covey encourages us:

“Live your life by a compass, not a clock.” – Stephen R. Covey