The Importance Of Values, Beliefs, And Principles In Today’s Workplace
In today’s dynamic job market, aligning your personal beliefs and values with those of potential employers is crucial. This not only ensures a harmonious work environment but also enhances your job satisfaction and career growth. Let’s delve into why identifying your values matters and what employers seek in candidates.
People tend to expect companies and their leaders to have, and espouse, specific sets of beliefs and values.
It is equally important for you, an individual, to have a specific set of beliefs and values to guide your decisions. Without knowing the values that define you and your character, you will have no reference point for determining which companies align with your personal values and beliefs and which companies do not.
If you are looking for a new position or attempting to re-enter the workplace, as you begin to interview with various companies, look at their websites and read their value statements to find out what is important to them. Ask questions during your interview. You are interviewing the potential employer, just as its recruiters are interviewing you.
What Are Your Core Beliefs?
Each individual has his or her own unique perspective, so your own personal list will be somewhat different than someone else’s. The important thing is to identify a specific set of core personal beliefs. I highly recommend that you construct your own short list of beliefs using the advice below to assist you in the exercise.
What Are Your Core Values?
I recommend that you articulate your own list of personal values. Your values define what is important to you, what you will not tolerate, and who you are. Many websites offer word lists, step-by-step strategies, questionnaires, and quizzes that can help you discover your personal core values.
To build your list, career website Indeed.com suggests asking yourself these questions:
What kind of culture do I want to work in?
What things, settings, or resources are necessary for me to do my best work?
What qualities do I feel make strong, healthy relationships?
What qualities do I admire most in my role models?
What motivates me?
What qualities do I wish to develop in myself professionally and personally?
What are my future goals? What qualities will it take to achieve them?
It’s important to identify and clearly articulate your own core values.
Core Values That Employers Look For
Each employer is different, but there are some common characteristics that company leaders consider valuable in new hires.
According to one career-advice website, the top five values that employers look for are a strong work ethic, a positive attitude, honesty and integrity, a motivation to learn, and professionalism.
Those characteristics fall into the category of “soft skills”—personality traits—as opposed to “hard skills,” which are technical or industry-specific skills. It is well known among business leaders that you can teach people technical skills, such as how to operate software, but it is next to impossible to teach someone integrity, honesty, work ethic, coachability, and other important “soft skills.” Knowing that someone has the experience and skills to be successful in a job is paramount, but when two candidates have similar capabilities, often the soft skills are why one person gets hired over another.
Again, it can be helpful to review the values statements of companies that interest you. The corporate value statements on their websites can inform your decision in establishing your list of personal values that will apply in the workplace.
How Beliefs and Values Impact Workplace Behaviors
Identifying your personal values impacts your workplace experience in two ways:
First, once you have completed this exercise, you will be equipped to determine how consistent various corporate strategies, actions, or decisions are with your personal beliefs and values.
You will undoubtedly encounter situations in which your beliefs and values are not perfectly aligned with your company’s beliefs and values. This doesn’t necessarily mean you should consider resigning from the company or lodging a whistleblower complaint; the way you react will depend on the nature of the issue. If something is going on that is illegal or unethical, you will need to decide if it is serious enough for you to take action.
Second, and perhaps more importantly, clearly articulating your own personal beliefs and values allows you to be constantly mindful of the need for you to maintain your moral compass. It provides for greater self-awareness. It gives you criteria and standards for decision making and for assessing your own performance to see how consistent it is with your company’s established beliefs and values.
We all need to be personally aware of the need to act at work in a way that honors our core beliefs and exhibits the values we most admire in others and in ourselves.
Challenges in the Current Business Environment
CEOs and managers who are not willing to adapt their business practices to weather today’s fast pace of change are sometimes tempted to cut corners to increase their position in the marketplace while their competitors invest in upgrading and expanding their processes.
Unethical behavior in the workplace has become more commonplace as pressures build for individuals to achieve aggressive goals. Much of this behavior is driven by a desire to maximize incentive compensation that is based on the achievement of those aggressive goals. Superiors often exert pressure on employees—even those in entry-level positions—to cut corners or to act unethically. Identify such pressures and maintain your moral compass, even if it means risking your future in the current company by communicating your concerns and refusing to compromise your own personal ethics to benefit the company.
If you are encouraged to engage in activities that are against your personal values and beliefs, take a stand. Seek out the counsel and support of others at work whom you trust. In some situations, the only solution is to leave the job. But it would be better to stand up for your principles and lose your job than to succumb to corporate greed and immorality.
For further insights on fast-tracking your career while upholding your values, consider exploring my book, Fast-Starting a Career of Consequence. Dive deeper into the strategies outlined here and embark on a journey towards professional fulfillment and ethical leadership.