Getting to the Real YOU!

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Take the 3-minute Values Alignment Test 

Understanding the differences between your values, how your boss acts and what your company says it values is a critical career insight…

The following terms are a compilation of the values we’ve assembled from periodicals, assessments and books – which is a fairly broad representation of possible categorizations.1

TAKE THE TEST

  1. Create three columns on a piece of paper.
  2. Label column 1 “You”, column 2 “Boss” and column 3 “Company”.
  3. Select the three values mostimportant to you from the list above and place them in column 1.
  4. Select the three values leastimportant to you and place them at the bottom of column 1.
  5. Repeat steps 3 & 4 in column 2 for the values your boss exhibits every day and the values she/he rarely exhibits.
  6. Lastly, do the same for column 3 based on what you think is important/not important to your organization.

Here’s how it should look before you fill in the values:

2So…. Are your three lists identical?

I didn’t think so…

If you are like most people, you’ll probably be surprised by the outcome.

Take a moment to examine the biggest differences and determine how you might use the gap as an opportunity to advance your career, support your boss or drive organizational success.

EXAMPLES

  • If your organization values mentorship and you don’t, what actions might you take to become a proficient mentor?
  • If expertise is highly valued but you feel softer skills are more important to you, you might consider opportunities within the organization and different roles or functions that rely less on the technical aspects of your industry and reward you for what you value.
  • Let’s say you value enthusiasm and optimism, while your organization prefers cautious responsible hard work. Are there other places, functions or roles in the organization that would benefit from your natural energy?

EXCEPTIONAL LEADERSHIP is the product of purposeful self-discovery.

Without a clear understanding of what you value, how can you make informed career decisions or inspire others to adopt and follow your leadership vision?

As always, feel free to share your thoughts and questions with me directly at jeff@jeffkaplan.com.

-Jeff

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