Chaotic much? Let's Look at Your Values

From chaotic schedules to needing to swoop in to “save the day” to rogue goals and strategies by others, one culprit is behind them all: values.  Whether a soloprenuer or leading a non-profit or Fortune 500, when the values in use are not clear, neither is anything else.

Question whether or not your values matter? If you have influence over the direction of a group of people, you are the leader.  That doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a good leader, but it does mean that people look at you to help them achieve a common goal, and therefore makes you a leader (even if momentarily).  If you work ‘alone,’ but have customers (find me someone who works but has no customers…that would be a hobby, right?) or a graphic designer or a web designer or a printer, you also function in a leadership capacity.

The people you lead crave one major thing: clarity.  The top two things they want to know is why and how things need to get done.  If there is no why for what they're doing, they will not be around for very long.  Everyone wants to know how their role fits into the bigger picture of what is being accomplished.  If they can’t answer the “so what? Why are we doing this?” at the drop of a hat, you won’t be leading them for very long.

Secondly, if they don’t know how you want to get things done, you’ll have rogue goals and strategies creeping in, chaos will abound, and setting priorities will be really hard, if not impossible.  This is where your values come into play.

All of our choices, and actions, are made based on our values.  When they are clear (and everyone knows what they are), everyone knows what to say yes and no to, people can make decisions without you present, priorities are easy to set.  But when they are lacking, or ill-defined, the opposite will be true: decision-making is a slog, conflict and tension is high, chaos abounds, frustration reigns.  And for soloprenuers, it might simply feel like things are always a hot mess.

If your values aren’t clear, and widely known, you are missing opportunities left and right to achieve your goals and succeed. The values at the core of your organization help you, and everyone else, achieve your vision together! Uncertain if your values are clear and well-known? Just ask the people that work with you, they’ll let you know.