How do personal values affect leadership behavior? | The Power Of Values In Leadership

Values are deeply-held beliefs about Leadership what is good, bad, appropriate or acceptable, and can be individually unique, or shared by an organization, community or even a country. Your personal values are deep-rooted in you and have become so throughout a lifetime of experience.

Like most people, you may not think too deeply about your own values on a day to day basis, but they are there in the background, influencing the choices you make, and, consciously or sub-consciously, they guide how you act and behave, particularly when faced with challenging decisions. (Leadership Essential)

Values-based leadership is about defining the core values that matter to you and using them to guide you in how you lead others. The most admired leaders always identify their deeply-held values and seek to e by them every day, ensuring that these values directly influence their behavior at work and contribute to all their important decisions and actions.

To strengthen the impact that your values have on how you lead others, the first step is to deepen your understanding of those values. Simply reflecting on what really matters to you in life can help you pinpoint your personal values. Consider:

• Which of your values are non-negotiable?
• How well do you currently live by those values?
• How have you felt in the past if you were forced to compromise them?

Armed with a better understanding of self, you can strive to align what you do on a daily basis more closely to what you believe in.

 Unfortunately, life is never all plain sailing and, from time to time, every leader is faced with a moral dilemma in terms of matching their actions as a leader with their fundamental values. On occasion, leaders, often following instructions from above, find themselves forced to walk a tight -rope between what they really believe in and what they are required to do at work. (Leadership)

You may have found yourself in similar circumstances in the past, or may do so in the future. There is no simple solution to resolving such dilemmas, as it depends on how strong your values are in the first place, how far you are being asked to compromise them and what the likely consequences of going against them, or not, will be.

However, occasional compromise apart, constantly going against your values is likely to lead to deep unhappiness – and who wants that in life? Equally, if you are working for an organization where there is constant conflict between your personal values and those of the business, then clearly you are in the wrong place. (Leadership)