Values

Lots of discussion about values. What are values? Today I spoke on the phone with a pastor friend of mine as their church seeks to identify their particular values. A real quick note. There are two types of "values" in every organization. The first are our stated values. These values are the ones we print everywhere, we proclaim everywhere, we openly talk about and tell stories about. However, there is a second kind of value: operational values. These are actually the values at work in a specific culture or organization. These are the ones actually moving in and out through the doings of the organization. They are ones we endorse and there are ones not endorsed, even desired. I will speak more about this at another time.

Here is how I define values: these are the ways we go about doing while we pursue our vision and mission. IOW, how we pursue vision and mission defines our values. What guides the way we go about our daily operation? Let me give an example. If respect, dignity, and honor are three stated values, I now ask, "How as I go about implementing this new strategy, how will my respect for the others influence the way I go about the implementation process?" To use church language, "evangelism" is not a value. "Discipleship" is not a value. "Encouraging dissent" may be a value. "Honesty" may be a value. 

Values are these soft ways of being as we pursue vision, mission, and life together. If we say we value "people," what is it about "people" we value? And finally, again, how we treat people as we pursue vision reveals our operational values much more than what we state.