Name your values, find your purpose
To sustain in this work, it's critical to know your values, connect with your purpose, and have clarity on why you do the work you do. Join us on Zoom TODAY at 4:30pm ET to explore all that and more!
By Jen Pihlaja of Rowan Strategies
Join us for an interactive Zoom session today - Wednesday, December 4 - at 4:30pm ET to define your personal values. The Zoom link is https://zoom.us/j/95249010406. See you there!
Hello Friend –
This week, we’re going to do some work on “Defining our Personal Values.”
“Values” is a term that gets thrown around pretty broadly and casually. Many folks who come from, or through, or adjacent to electoral/advocacy/other mission-driven work are often keenly-focused and attuned to the macro values in the work — or at least in their perception of the work, their assumptions. Values come into play when developing a message for someone else – such as a candidate’s stump speech, or approaching a challenging deep canvass conversation, etc. There are lots of examples of how values show up in our external work.
But in our personal and internal work, we might not have taken the time to define what "values" means to us individually. And if we have, we may not have taken the time lately to check in with ourselves on how we’re doing about living a life aligned with our values. This is looking inward – for ourselves. Not for the candidate or boss that we’re working for, the issues that we’re communicating around, or whatever good we are trying to advance in the world. This is for you. What do you value? In this week’s session, we’re going to explore a personal values exercise together.
One of the joys I have in my work is working with individuals who are pausing to reflect, defining their values, and sharing them with each other. Until we can actually SAY what our values are, how can we actually know when we aren’t living in alignment with those values? What is it that we are aiming for? Are we living up to what we want for our own lives, or in how we show up for other folks?
Having a defined and explicit approach to my purpose – rather than an implicit and “oh you know, all the good things” approach OR an approach that is solely focused on goals (go go go) – has been a connectedness game changer for me. Having and naming a set of personal values is an exercise that can be a way to connect with yourself and what is important to you, and the self-awareness resulting from this exercise is worth listening to. Our values are a guide, a mirror, and an anchor when we’re feeling uncertain.
So, can you define what your individual values are?
What will we be doing in this session? What are the goals for our time together? Here they are, in the format of the ABCs – which is how we always set out goals for precious time gathering with other folks. At the end of this time together, what is the goal for us to FEEL (Affective), what will we DO (Behavioral), and what will we KNOW (Cognitive)?
Session Goals (ABC)
The ABC goals for our session on Wednesday are:
Affective (to feel) — to feel seen, supported, and stretched a little bit
Behavioral (to do) — to participate, to clarify your individual values in order to feel more connected
Cognitive (to know) — to know what your individual values are and be able to recall/remember them, so they are a ready tool in your toolbelt to support living and working in alignment, while being more impactful in your life.
So, if you haven’t had a chance yet, here’s the link again to an exercise to explore before the session. Spend some time working on narrowing down your values to 10, 4, and ultimately 2 values, if possible.
Looking forward to seeing you on the Zoom!
With curiosity, compassion and connection –
Jen P
Reflection Questions:
In this context, what does “values” mean to you?
Are you able to name your top 3-5 values? What are they?
What are the ways your values show up…
In how you approach opportunities?
In how you approach challenges?
In communicating with other human beings?
In setting goals?
In resolving conflict?
In other ways?
Jen Pihlaja is the founder of Rowan Strategies – a facilitation, strategic consulting, leadership development, and coaching practice. Rooted in her decades of leadership experience, Jen is deeply committed to shifting professional development – ensuring people feel more resilient, confident, and sustained in their work. As a coach, she is passionate about creating structure and space for people to bring their best-selves and strengths to all of the work that they are doing.
She’s also a veteran of more than a dozen campaign cycles and always happy to connect with folks on their journey. Email: jen@rowanstrategies.com
Find Rowan Strategies at our website, on LinkedIn, and Instagram