Your values are your core motivations for all of your behaviour, whether you know it or not. This applies both personally and professionally. Whether you prioritise work or family, wealth or wellbeing, learning or leisure, in any decision, you are motivated by your values. These can be conscious or unconscious, and sometimes conflicting - between a range of professional, personal, family and social concerns which do not always seem to align.

By taking the time to reflect and identify our core values, we can better understand what’s really important to us and make conscious decisions on this basis, allowing us to align our external lives with our internal values. By aligning your personal values with your business or organisational values and prioritising these in all the work that you do, you will have a framework for all your future decisions and activities - an inner compass to keep you moving in the right direction for you.

Many modern businesses and organisations have a list of values written down somewhere, but relatively few truly adhere to them. By embedding your values in all aspects of your business, being truly ‘values-driven’, you will find your sense of ‘success’ comes sooner and is better sustained, than by simply chasing financial goals. Every day of work you do that fits with your values will bring you more satisfaction than any measure of success that isn’t your own.

Other coaches, consultants and courses will often tell you what you need to do to be successful, but they don’t often tell you why. It is your why, your values, that will ultimately determine your likelihood of success - a success that is defined by you and what you want to achieve. By identifying your values early on, referring to these regularly and incorporating them in all aspects of your business, your why will remain in focus and provide the motivation to overcome future challenges.

Focusing on personal values doesn’t mean forgoing financial gain - indeed it can help you achieve greater wealth in the long run. I&I believe you will achieve greater financial and personal success, and have a greater impact on the world, by ensuring the work you do aligns with your personal values, and brings real value to your customers.

In the words of philosopher Alan Watts: “Money is a way of measuring wealth but is not wealth in itself.” By focusing on your real values and living and working in alignment with them everyday, you will feel a greater sense of wealth than simply chasing money for money’s sake.

I&I can help you to identify your personal, business or organisational values through a variety of reflective techniques and exercises (ideal for individuals) as well as more expansive approaches involving staff and customer research. The exercises are designed to reveal the truth of what is most important to you and your business or organisation, through an iterative and reflective process, to identify and clarify the core values to build your business or organisation around.

Once identified (with the help of I&I or any previous work around your values), I&I can help you to implement your values by breaking these down into behaviours across all functions of your business or organisation, to support you with internal training and messaging, as well as ongoing monitoring and/or periodic evaluation.

Take a look at I&I's coaching services that help to support you with your values, or get in touch to find out more detail or request a tailored solution.