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 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:

“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

The ‘why’ represents our values.  Our values are part of our identity; they are the things we love, the ideals we prioritise.  They are central things that define why we have a certain vision, why we do the things we do, why we attract or are attracted to certain people. I often think values as being summed up by 3 Ps; our:

• Principles
• Passions and
• Priorities

Values shape our beliefs, our worldview and the paradigm that we operate from. These are often things we hold in common with others at one level, but the particular combination and application of the values make them unique to us as an individual or specific organisation.

“I’d asked around 10 or 15 people for suggestions. Finally one lady friend asked the right question, ‘Well, what do you love most?’ That’s how I started painting for money.” 

Andy Warhol

Should we ask the question ‘why?’

People often avoid asking ‘why’ questions because they can elicit an emotional response. They can make people defensive, or make the questioner appear judgemental. But if we fail to ask ‘why’ questions of ourselves we can really miss a trick.  If, or rather when, things get tough people do start to ask ‘why’ questions. We need to make sure we have some answers before then, particularly if you are a leader.  Let’s face it; things will inevitably get difficult at some point on our journey.  In challenging times we need to understand the deep things that motivate us towards a vision or mission.  It is much better to get those ideals clear ahead of time rather than having to discover them in a time of crisis.

When it comes to why questions we can learn from young children, as they are very good at asking the question ‘why?’  They will often keep asking why until they get a satisfactory answer; children are hard to fool! You can tell when children are following this line of questioning as there are usually accompanied by a red-faced adult who is becoming increasingly irate! The parent’s frustration grows as they start to run out of responses and realise that perhaps they do not actually know the answer themselves.  As adults, it seems we are much better at fooling ourselves and settling for a more superficial answer to a why question.

Simon Sinek identified the importance of asking why in his book Start with why. He argues that people who know their ‘why’ are the ones who lead and inspire others. Therefore we need to ask why, but we can also choose to construct our why questions in such a way that is less confrontational. For example, asking someone ‘what motivates you?’ is often better than ‘why are you doing that?’

“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe”

Simon Sinek

The 5 Whys

Asking why several times over and applying the why to each subsequent answer can help us dig down to the motivational root of an issue.

I was out running one day and spotted someone fishing by a riverbank. Apart from eating the fish, I had never really understood the allure of fishing, so I asked them why they enjoyed it.  Their first answer was because they enjoyed being outdoors.  Instead of asking directly ‘why’ again, I said: “that’s interesting, I love being outdoors too, what particularly do you like about it?” They answered that it was the only time they really slowed down and felt at peace.  When I questioned further they said that the most important thing was getting the time to reflect.  I then left them to enjoy their peace and reflection but by asking ‘why’ several times over I had gained a deeper understanding into the motivations of that person and learned that fishing was not just about catching fish!

The art of asking why in this way was used by great effect by Sakichi Toyoda who developed the ‘5 whys’ approach to problem-solving within the Toyota Motor Corporation and helped to revolutionise their manufacturing and make Toyota production far more efficient. Every system and action was analysed by asking why over and over until the primary reason was revealed and the process could be refined.

Reflection question:

• Which work processes could you do this for? Choose a process that you follow and ask why you do it. Keep asking why until you get the real reason for the existence of the process. Once you know the answer, consider, how could this be done better?

Revealing our values

So we need to look at why we do things and ask ‘why’ of ourselves many times over.  Then, as we delve into our answers we begin to see our principles and values revealed.

As we go through this process we will soon see that there are actually many things that we value or that we would agree are good principles.  The key here is working out what are the things that you value the most.  For example, you could say that you value making new friends as well as maintaining long-standing relationships. But, if in looking at both these activities you see that you spend a lot more time on one than the other, then arguably that is the one you value the most.  Equally, you could say that you value two worthy charities. But again, the one you give the most money to would probably give a good indication of where your priorities lie.

These are simple examples but the principle applies even to more abstract concepts.  Loyalty and integrity are both excellent things to value. It might require some careful thought working out which one you prioritise most, but it can be done. There are further exercises in the posts and links below to help you.

Identifying core values

You will probably start with quite a long list but it is a worthwhile exercise to drill down to a list of 4-6 core values for yourself or your organisation. Any more than that and it becomes harder to see how your values differentiate you from other people.  If you are an organisation trying to discover, agree and instil values into your workforce it is also hard for people to remember many more than this!

Then, of this shortlist, identify your top two. Brené Brown (author of Dare to Lead) has done a lot of research that backs up the importance of knowing your top values and priorities.

Refining the expression of your core values

As you hone down to your core values it can also be useful to use adjectives to really help capture the particular nature of a value.  So, for example, you might value of community, but what sort of community?  Is it close community, global community, fun community, caring community, inclusive community, or diverse community you are thinking about?  Adding the right adjective moves you closer to your unique perspective and combination of values.

There are further exercises and advice on how to identify and refine your values in the post What are your personal values?

The importance of values

The process of exploring your values is one worth spending time on. Values are at least as essential as the discovery of our vision and mission. Don’t worry about getting them perfectly captured, especially on a first try. Even our values evolve over time so think of this as a cyclical process, as with other decision making approaches. Do some thinking, record or communicate your thoughts, and then return to reflect on them again regularly in the future.

Once we have identified our values we may not always need to refer to them all the time but they are always there steering us, even if it is just at a subconscious level.

When I was in the Alps for the first time I had a particular dream in mind: a dream of standing on the summit of Mont Blanc.  Success was therefore easy to define; my aim was to get to the top of Mont Blanc and back safely.  Most of the time the vision was there to see, as Mont Blanc loomed large above me. The mission was also clear when I looked at the route on the map.  But, as I climbed higher up and the cloud started to roll in, I could no longer see the mountain clearly.  I could see the route on the map but I could not relate it to the ground.  It was at this point that I had to rely on my compass and altimeter to keep me on the right track.

Values are like a compass; they help us keep on track even when the route to achieving our dream is unclear or the mission is challenged.  Values are therefore invaluable.

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.“

Friedrich Nietzsche

Reflection question:

• Once you have identified them, what can you do to keep your values in mind?

One thing I do is to have my personal values and vision at the top of my to-do list. My list of tasks is organised by role and having my values at the top helps me to weigh my priorities correctly.

If you want to read more about values then check out why things we value define our personal identity.