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Calibrating Values
The following set of discussion prompts is part of a series on Exploring Intentional Collaborations and builds on the earlier step of articulating intentions for collaborating on a specific project.
In this step, the focus is on discussing how our values motivate us to participate in this project, how our values align and diverge, and which values we want to guide our collaboration.
What are values?
Values are typically understood as the set of attitudes, unique to each individual (or group), which guide the way we look at the world and govern our behaviour.
Values are not about what you want to get or achieve; they are about how you want to behave or act on an ongoing basis.
There are many approaches to identifying and articulating personal and shared values for different contexts. We will be drawing on several of these.
Remember that you get to decide what your personal values are and how to decribe them. If you want to articulate shared-values as a group, it can help to reflect on your personal values before collectively deciding which values you share, how to describe them, and how you intend to act in alignment with these values in your collaboration.
Individually reflecting on our personal values in context
Takes some time to each individually reflect on your personal values as they relate to the context of this collaboration.
If you're not sure where to start, consider the following reflective practice:
Set a time to allow yourself to brainstorming any attitudes and behaviours that you positively associate with the context (see the lists below for examples if needed). At the end of that time, sort the values that emerged into themed groups From each of the themes, select one of the values that is most important to you when thinking about this collaboration project.
Describe the relevance of your personal values to this collaboration
Drawing on this list personal values, choose 3-5 values that are most relevent to why and how you want to participate in this project. Share a short description of each of these values, along with a short explanation of it's relevance to the following questions:
- How do my motivations for participating in this project reflect my personal values?
- When collaborating, what are the types of behaviours/practices do I most value in myself and others?
Sharing and discussing our personal values
Take turns to share each of the values described in the previous step, asking/answering clarification questions along the way.
Note that this process can help uncover assumptions that aren’t shared so it is important to engage with curiosity and try not to assume that your associations with a given term are shared by others.
Reflecting on how our values align and diverge
To explore where the values associated with this project align and/or diverge, discuss the following questions:
- What themes appear across these individually articulated values?
- Which of the values appear as outliers to these themes?
Again, try to engage with curiosity - valuable insights can emerge form values that diverge as well as those that represent alignments.
Articulating Shared Values
Take some time to individually reflect on the following questions:
- Of the values discussed, which do I most want to see enacted within the project?
- Of the values discussed, which do I consider most distinctive to this project?
Following reflection, take turns to share responses to these questions, asking/answering clarifying questions along the way.
When ready, discuss your responses the following question:
- Which of our shared values will best help guide us to collabortate well on this project?
What next?
For the next step in the Exploring Intentional Collaborations series, see prompts for discussing Aligning Expectations. Also see the additional resources on identifying values below.
Resources:
For an example of individual reflections on identifying values within specific collaboraiton contexts, see Example Responses to Value Questions
For some examples of shared-values lists, see:
- the 'values and visioning' resource set.
- An example response to Values Questions
For examples of personal values in broader contexts, see the Rokeach Value Survey (an old tool that is still popular). For another perspective, see the list of 83 Core Value Examples for the Workplace compiled by Hanne Keiling (2021).
Next steps?
The next step in the Exploring Intentional Collaborations offers prompts for discussing the meaning making context of the collaboration to help in the process of Aligning Intentions.
tags: intentional collaborations, discussion-prompt,collaborative-practices, intentional-relationships, meta-communication
Date initially created: 2023
Version: 2.0 (2024)
Created for: Intentional Collaborations Project
Attribution: created by E. T. Smith on unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people.
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