Values mind mapped

Submitted by Colin Scowen on June 24, 2009 - 8:35pm.

Not sure how this will work, but I'll give it a try. If you read my previous blog post, you will remember that I was planning to mind map my values. Well, I downloaded a package called FreeMind, which is fairly easy to use, but somewhat limited in some ways.

Anyway, the map is now available, and I have found that there are some sub-values, (only called that because they were not part of the final 16), that I considered to be a part of one or more of those 16, as I saw them, that crop up a lot. That begs teh question, are those actually the true set of values, that I only realise now because of that whole mapping exercise.

I will try to attach a pdf of the map. If you do look at it, the blue are the core 16, with their ranking , then the value, and then, in brackets, the sum of the number of times that sub values occured in the whole group of 16.

Anyway, if anyone has ever done any analysis of their values and thinks there is an extra step to take, I would appreciate hearing from them.

Regards,

Colin.

Attachment	Size
My Values.pdf	282.06 KB

Colin Scowen's blog

Values map: extraordinary

By Zen Master on June 29, 2009 - 9:59am

That's fascinating, Colin. I love the fact the word 'grace' is in there. I think great leaders act with good grace in whatever situation, but it's not a word that appears in the usual list of leader competencies. Like you say, those sub-categories look like a world of categories all their own - many of them values in themselves, or at least an expression of a core value. Our values, when we list them - the things we try and live by - are always good. No-one ever lists 'jealousy' or 'a slight sense of vindictiveness when I'm in a foul mood' or 'need to make others seem unsure of themselves'. Yet, in practice, that is a lot of what we see in the workplace. So, that raises the whole 'shadow' side of how we behave - You said what next. I'm interested in how individuals and, cumulatively, all of us, have a stated set of values (some of us do anyway) that we explicitly try and live by, but that how we behave can be very different. The 360 thing - asking other people who work with us to rate our values - helps us get a closer grip on reality (as in how we behave versus how we think or hope or want to behave) and live the values more effectively. That wasn't very short for a Zen Master, was it. Must work on my pithiness.

Values Map

By Joseph Scott on June 29, 2009 - 12:19pm

Im not sure that asking other people if we live our 'values' is getting us any closer to reality at all. That seems kind of like asking one drunk he he thinks you are too drunk to drive home safely.

I suggest that is we have the quality of life and experience the responses we would hope to see in the world from our interaction with it, that could be a good feedback system.

Unfortunately, it is all very subjective

By Colin Scowen on June 29, 2009 - 6:46pm

and, as such, very difficult to actually get feedback on, since one person's use and understanding of the word grace as a value may be different to anothers.

Would be great to get such feedback though, and there is one person who I will ask, because 1) he doesn't work here anymore, so is removed from the environment where his answers may have an effect, and 2) he understands leadership well enough to be close to my meanings for the values as I have expressed them.

The other method I was thinking about, having read these two posts, was to take a look at how others treat me. This is also not a complete tool though, because just as I may strive to live by a value, I have to expect that others are doing the same as well, so, as an example, I cannot assume that I am living 'Patience', just because people are patient with me. They may also be living 'Patience' as well.

At the moment, I am thinking that the closest I can come to an objective assesment is to video myself, or at least record myself, and then leave it a day or two before playing it back, to check if there have been any sitauations where I obviously have, or have not, lived a value.

Regards,

Colin.
As the great philosopher K said.
1500 years ago, everybody knew that the earth was the centre of the universe.
500 years ago, everybody knew the world was flat.
Imagine what you'll know tomorrow.

Observing how we behave: using video as a tool

By Phil Dourado on June 30, 2009 - 11:14am

Hey Colin - I think this is fascinating. I know we are all supposed to live 'an examined life', but I don't know many people who are as creative about it and who are as aware of the difficulty of objectively observing ourselves to see if we are the same from the outside as we think we are from the inside (wow, how to garble a sentence).

Video is a useful tool that others have used: Professor Aidan Halligan (whom I'm a fan of), a member of this Hub, used to be Chief Medical Officer for England and Director of the National Health Service's Department of Clinical Governance. Part of his role there was to send teams into hospitals that had experienced a crisis, and get the doctors, especially the consultants, to examine how they behaved and how that contributed towards a toxic culture, so that they could change how they lead.

He got his team to video consultants as they did their rounds. They then challenged the consultants, saying things like, "Do you realize how arrogant and intimidating you were to your junior colleagues and to the patients on that round? They'll never openly communicate problems with you if you are like that all the time." "What do you mean? I wasn't arrogant!" Aidan told me they'd bluster. Then they'd watch the video and say something like "My God, I was! How did I not see that?!" Not always, but sometimes.