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Personal values are individual qualities that reflect a person’s sense of ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ or ‘what ought to be’ and ‘what ought not to be’. Values tend to influence attitudes and behavior. For example, if you value ‘equal rights for all’ and you go to work for an organization that treats its managers much better than it does its workers, you may form the attitude that the company is an unfair place to work; consequently, you may not perform well or may perhaps leave the company. It is likely that if the company had a more egalitarian policy, your attitude and behaviors would have been more positive.
But how does an employee identify those personal values that are important to job performance? In order to improve his or her performance the employee must isolate his or her motivating work values. This involves describing his or her work preferences
Once you know your own natural work preferences , you can use it to expand the way you work and influence your own performance. Start by asking yourself “What kind of work or task would I do willingly without pay?” Use this work or task to describe your work preferences
A complete description of your work preferences should include statements that address three aspects of your ideal work or task:
- Contribution
- Relationship
- Measurement
A contribution statement describes what you believe is important to produce or accomplish through your work. It describes ‘what” you will deliver to your client and ‘how’ you will deliver it. Your contribution should benefit your organization, your co-workers or your clients NOT yourself. A ‘Coach’ may want to “Develop the skills of other people”, while a ‘Developer’ may want to “help people to develop their talents” Both of them make a contribution to their clients
A relationship statement describes who you are and how you prefer to interact with your organization, team, co- workers or clients in making the contribution. Are you a team member, team leader, or steward? In making the contribution would you rather lead or follow? Do you want to work alone or with a team? A Coach may prefer a ‘one to one relationship’ while developing the skills of other people. The developer on the other hand may prefer ‘team work, meeting new people and having close relationships with team members’
A measurement statement describes how you define success or failure in the work you perform or the contribution you make. This statement should emphasize observable responses from co-workers, supervisors or your clients. Success could be ‘creating and leading a cohesive team of deliverers’ or ‘getting more opportunities to help others or to develop an area of expertise’. Success could also be in form of recognition or reward from the team or from society in which you make a contribution
An important step in identifying personal values vital to one’s job performance is isolating your work values from the list of work preferences statements (i.e. contribution, relationship and measurement statements).
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The employee should examine his or work preferences statements and for each of the statements ask “why is this preferences important to me?” For example the coach should ask “why is “Developing the skills of other people” important to me”? Or “Why is “adopting a one to- one relationship” while developing the skills of other people important to me? The “why?” question should be asked until you obtain a ‘terminal statement’. A terminal statement describes how your work preferences statement fulfills your personal needs. It is the terminal statement from each of the work preferences statements that define your motivating work values.
Once an employee discovers his motivating work values he is able to identify personal drivers in his work or actions. He is also able to discover what demotivates him. For example employees who espouse ‘recognition’ as a value are motivated by praise and being appreciated. They react well to praise and may be good at giving praise to others. The ‘flip side’ of this is that such employees may be de-motivated when working in an environment where praise and feedback is not evident.
People have different motivational drivers. They affect the way they work and the level of satisfaction they achieve at their work. When you uncover your motivating work values you discover your driving force and this enables you to assume responsibility and accountability for the work you do.
Working styles and work preferences vary for each individual and in different situations. By understanding this, and developing the skills that help you work in a variety of ways, you make the most of your performance potential. For more information about motivating work values and how you can develop and use them to enhance your career Visit our Email coaching program at http://www.expressexpertise.com/lesson/getting- started/ and make a coaching request
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