When I began this blog a couple of weeks ago to launch Why Not, I thought I would just be writing about all things midwifery leadership and identity. So how did I come to be writing a post about knowing your values?
I’ve realised that in reflecting on the process of setting up the business I’m also finding lots of links with the work I do around developing career and leadership thinking. So I’ve decided to blog about the path I’m on personally as well – establishing Why Not is quite the journey (oops, there’s that word – but actually, it’s entirely apt). I’ll be writing some of my posts to reflect on my experiences along the way, and to suggest how these reflections might also link to leadership more generally.
I’m a big fan of books (and podcasts, and videos, and websites…) that can offer guidance when I do something new and exciting, so I’ll be discussing some of these from time to time. This week, I wanted to mention Rebecca Jones‘s very clear and thought-provoking book, Business Start-up Your Own Way. In it, Rebecca guides the reader through the start-up process, beginning with the big questions about why you might want to run your own business. This week, I was doing some work on the chapter, Your Value System, and this stood out for me:
‘If you feel your business is in line with your morals, values and beliefs you will believe in your business… Ultimately, your value system will help underpin your mission statement and your purpose’.
The importance of knowing our personal values is discussed in the leadership context, too, in terms of both self-leadership and leading others:
In the context of self-leadership, values are linked to the central theme of self-awareness: ‘Self-awareness is about knowing your intentions and values’ – Andrew Bryant
And in leading others: ‘We are able to lead with greater clarity around who we are and what vision we’re working towards when we lead with our values’ – Carly Sime
So while I’ve discussed the importance and development of personal values in relation to leadership before, the idea of how my own values might impact the development of Why Not has been a new thought exercise.
The funny thing is, I actually found it quite tricky to write down my personal values, which is part one of the exercise. It turns out that even if you feel like you know what guides you, it can be a challenge to get this into words and phrases! Luckily, I found this page at Mindtools to help, and was able to identify particular words I might associate with my values. From there, I wrote down five key phrases, and these are a summary of my values:
Stay curious
Count your blessings
Value relationships
Do your best
Be kind
In doing that exercise, I realised that the values I identified are my guides in whichever bit of my life I’m thinking about. I could apply these values to my home life, to the work roles I’ve held in the past (whether in music, midwifery or academia), and to this latest adventure in business building. My next step is to condense and mould those phrases into my mission statement, and that’s a work in progress. For now, I’m playing with words and thinking a lot.
Now, over to you – are you able to articulate your personal values and make links between them and how you live and work? I’d recommend this as a really useful reflective exercise, particularly if you’re thinking about how you might behave as a leader (of self or others). And if you’re considering starting your own business, Rebecca Jones’s book is fab – her positive language is especially good for those times when you’re questioning whether it’s really possible to go it alone!
