Leadership Skills

Individual and Team Values

Even though they may not have identified their values, everyone has values upon which they base their decisions and actions. Values help individuals determine right from wrong, good from bad, or worthwhile from unimportant. Similarly, team values allow the group to make decision based on expected outcomes or an organization’s mission and purpose.

Team values will most likely align with the company or organization’s values; for example, charitable organizations probably focus on service, whereas for-profit companies will emphasize earnings over charity. Taking the time to assess individual values and develop your team values may help eliminate conflicts in the future. Team values must be owned by the team; otherwise, they are not truly team values.

Realistically, not all teams have the time to work on individual and team values. Below are some values that your team may want to adopt.

Team Values 1

Integrity. Teams that value integrity understand the importance of honest, ethical behavior. Team members conduct themselves appropriately and represent the organization. Integrity also includes being honest with yourself and your expectations (of yourself and others).
Respect. Being respectively of members of the team eliminates gossip and distrust. Knowing that teams value each other’s opinions allows for honest and open sharing. With respectful communications, team members should listen attentively, and be open to acknowledge differences.
Dependability. This means meeting deadlines and following through with tasks. While this may seem an obvious value, if shaming or blaming become a team value, then people are less likely to speak up when there are obstacles. Dependability allows those who cannot meet their obligations to come forward early to have the team reassess how to make progress. It does not include finger-pointing.
Accountability. Related to dependability, accountability means accepting responsible for your attitudes, behaviors, roles, and responsibilities.

Team Values 2

Stewardship. Doing what is right for sustainability and the environment within the organization and community.
Collaboration. Working with divergent groups to seek new ideas and strategies to facilitate shared solutions to common problems.
Creativity. Allowing new thoughts and ideas to be considered when designing products or strategies. This creates a focus towards change rather than staying with the status quo.

Team Values 3

Shared governance. Decisions made by members of cross-functional teams. That means that the team members represent different groups within the organization.
Open communication. Decisions are publicly posted and shared internally so that everyone knows what is happening. Employees are encouraged to share their thoughts and ideas without worrying about punishments. This is also known as transparency.
Positive work environment. This is an environment that values employee feedback and eliminates gossip and negativity. Usually managers allow for flexible work schedules to accommodate family needs, people are appreciated for the work they do, and employees feel valued.
Value diversity. Diversity is about the differences between people, and valuing diversity allows for those differences to be acknowledged and appreciated.

The values listed above are random and do not represent any particular organization or work group; however, taking as groups, these form very different teams.

Leading & Motivating
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Velda Arnaud, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Lead, Educate, Serve Society
leadeducateserve@gmail.com