Your Hidden Value – discover what REALLY motivates you to win at work

This 10 minute video is a sneak preview of one of the learning activities in my online course My Hidden Value. It explores the connection between your values, your beliefs, a sense of meaning in your work, and the impact of these on your motivation to win at work. Let me know what you think about the information in the video Values, Meaning and Beliefs.

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What does it mean to "live your values?"

G’day from Sydney, Australia …

A recent controversial performance on American Idol provides a great example of the power generated by being clear about what you value (your motivation code) and what action you are willing to take to express that value fully in your life.

The performance triggered a massive number of postings and responses on YouTube. Here’s what happened … on April 9 American Idol closed with a performance of Darlene Zschech’s contemporary Christian worship song, "Shout to the Lord."

Just one small oversight … they changed the lyrics without the composer’s permission. Their version started with "My shepherd …" instead of "My Jesus …" Here’s the April 9 version

So Darlene, being true to her highest core value (worshiping Jesus), contacted them and pointed out their error. Not because she wanted any recognition or to wield power, but because she believes that the lyrics were given to her by God to inspire Christians around the world to heartfelt worship, and because she would be denying her most deeply held value if she lay down and played doormat to such a blatant dilution of the lyrics.

The result? On April 10 Idol presented a revised arrangement and included the God given lyrics of "Shout to the Lord". In my opinion (and I’m not a musician) the second version was a much more inspired and inspiring arrangement. Here’s the April 10 rendition

The big question is: what motivated the producers of American Idol to take liberties with the lyrics of a copyrighted song?

In exploring the possibilites the first thing we need remember is that our values are our primary motivators, our lifestyle priorities and preferences, our motivation code. What we value is what we want more of in our life. So we make decisions and take certain actions in an attempt to get more of what we want. When we get more of what we want, we are living our values.

The second thing we need to recognize about values is that our values compete with each other for our attention, sometimes causing value conflicts within ourselves.

A third and very significant factor is that our core values can create powerful passions that call for a deep emotional response when threatened or stifled.

So here’s my educated guess about what led the American Idol producers to change the lyrics of Shout to the Lord … a misguided marketing decision, based on a lack of clarity about the core values of a huge chunk of their viewers.

Wanting to reach the widest possible audience, without offending anyone, they assumed the best way of doing that would be to water down the lyrics, to avoid alienating the non Christians or anti Christians in the Idol tribe.

In effect, they tried to represent a worship song as a "generic" inspirational song. The difficulty with that approach is that our values are NOT generic, they are specific and in reality it is impossible to present "value neutral" entertainment, because every decision and action in each person’s life is based on values that are not only specific, but are also personal and emotionally charged.

What the American Idol producers grossly underestimated was the passion of millions of Christians around the world for the core values expressed in "Shout to the Lord", which is the most widely recognized and sung contemporary Christian worship song across the globe.

Responding to the outcry of tens of thousands of viewers globally, Idol producers made the smart marketing move to represent the song with a new arrangement and the original lyrics.

Millions of Christians loved it. Tens of thousands expressed their appreciation in comments on YouTube. Some expressed their opposition. Thank God for democracy! Personally, I’m grateful to live in a democratic society where we have freedom of religious expression.What we all need to remember is that freedom walks hand in hand with responsibility … and responsibility walks hand in hand with respect for the values of others.

Full credit to American Idol for a timely response to what could have been a marketing disaster. They recognized and responded to the values driven call for a change of direction, and the publicity that has resulted from the initial blunder and the subsequent correction could not be purchased at any price.

And full credit to Darlene Zschech for walking her talk (or should that be "singing her song"?)… clearly she has cracked her personal and unique motivation code and is willing to allow her values and actions to shout to the Lord.

An invitation to comment on this post … Is my take on the Idol happenings on the mark? What do you feel was behind it all?

Do you know your unique motivation code (your values)? Do your actions align with your values?

To win at work AND stay true to your values, you need to be able to answer YES to both questions.

Here’s a story that illustrates the point …

The Tale of the Man, the Boy and the Donkey

An old man, a boy and their donkey were going to town. The boy rode the donkey and the old man walked. As they went along, they passed some people who remarked it was a shame that the old man was walking when the boy was riding. The man and boy thought maybe these critics were right, so they changed places.

Later, they passed some people who remarked, "What a shame that he makes the little boy walk". So they then decided they would both walk.

Soon, they passed some more people who thought they were stupid to walk when they had a decent donkey to ride. So they both rode the donkey.

Next they passed some people that shamed them by saying how awful to put such a load on a poor donkey. The boy and man thought they were probably right, so they decided to carry the donkey.

As they crossed a bridge, they lost their grip on the animal and it fell into the river and drowned.

The moral of the story … If you try to please everyone, you might as well kiss your ass good-bye!

How does this apply to winning at work, without sacrificing your values?

When your goals and actions are based on your own values and value priorities, (your unique motivation code), you are much more likely to remain consistent in your focus, and therefore achieve your professional performance targets more readily.

Take a minute to share one of your wins or losses based on being true or NOT true to your personal values, in the comments box below …

Customer service focus: essential to excellence in professional performance

In previous posts I’ve identified two of the three dimensions that are essential for you to win at work without sacrificing your values:

• Engagement of your talent code
• Meaning, which stems from values alignment, your unique motivation code

In this post I’ll give a quick overview of the third:

• Customer service focus.

 Your customers or clients might be internal or external, individuals or corporations, paying or non-paying (as in community service clients)

Your customer service knowledge and skills may be expanded by training, strengthened by practising, or adjusted to meet changed needs or circumstances.

Your customer service attitude however cannot be improved by the above methods because it stems directly from your values. Your attitude can change if you CHOOSE a suitable path of integrated personal and professional development, which is based on your unique motivation code AND the aligned values of your employer.

Your customer service knowledge, skills and attitude can be maximized if:

• your personal values are service oriented (it’s not about you) AND
• your employer’s values behind their customer service practices are service oriented

The points I’ve just made have one thing in common – values alignment. We can conclude that identifying and prioritizing your core values (your unique motivation code) is essential if you want to excel in each of the three dimensions of winning at work: Engagement Meaning Customer Service Focus

Do you know how to identify and prioritize your values, how to crack your unique motivation code? Post your comments, questions or suggestions in the comments box below.

Next post: Value Your Life, Live Your Values – Why you need to live your values in order to win at work and avoid burnout

Unfold more meaning in your work to win at work without sacrificing your values

Here’s a true story about a colleague who had identified and prioritized his personal values (his unique motivation code), and how that self knowledge saved him from a potential professional disaster.

Paul, a colleague who is passionate about environmental conservation, told of the excitement he felt when invited by a legal firm who specialized in Environmental Law, to discuss a possible consulting contract. He envisioned the positive impact the partnership could have on the application of environmental legislation within the nation.

Imagine his horror when, at their first meeting to explore how they might work together, he learned that the focus of their firm was to find loop-holes in environmental legislation in defence of their clients. He declined their invitation, of course.

Can you imagine the scenario if he had not been 100% certain of his motivation code? If he had not been true to his personal values?

What if he had convinced himself that he needed the contract for financial reasons and decided to go ahead? How soon would he have experienced the first symptoms of stress? How soon would he have started coming home from work with feelings of anger and resentment, and directed those feelings towards his wife and kids? How soon before he could barely get out of bed to face another day working on that project? How soon before he was in full burnout … weeks, months? You get the picture …

We can avoid burnout by being very clear about our personal values and not engaging in work that has little or no meaning for us.

Meaning arises from values alignment

If you believe that your work contributes something of worth to an organization that offers a service or product that you value to the community, then you are likely to experience your work as meaningful and satisfying. In other words, values alignment creates a feeling of connection to the mission of your employer and your colleagues.

A healthy sense of meaning, along with a high level of engagement, plus a customer service focus, are three key indicators of high professional performance.

Was this information useful? Please post your comments, questions or suggestions in the comments box below.

Customer focus

My next post will reveal why your focus on customer service will help you to win at work.

Engagement, meaning and service: how to win at work without sacrificing your values

You might be surprised to discover that these 3 things are vital to your professional performance – out of a dozen or so common Quality Management Practices, development in these 3 areas ensures your value as an employee:

Engagement

Engagement happens when you are actively working with your natural talent set and developing them into strengths. If you are engaged with your work, you will feel confident, be focused and productive, and contribute well to your employer’s business outcomes, while enjoying a greater sense of success than around 80% of your colleagues

Meaning

A sense of meaning or purpose in your work arises from the alignment of your values with your employer’s values. When you believe that the work you do contributes something worthwhile to an organisation that is offering a useful product or service to the community, you are likely to experience your work as meaningful and satisfying

Service

An attitide of service is the mark of all real winners. If you gain great satisfaction from delivering a high level of customer service, (internal or external customers), doing everything in your power to meet your customer’s needs, and sticking with a challenge until you have found a solution for your customer, then you are likely to be valued highly by your boss

Contribution to business results and your professional performance

If you ranked yourself highly on the 3 dimensions above, chances are that you are highly productive, have an immense sense of satisfaction, and are making a valuable contribution to the business outcomes of your employer … creating a win-win outcome.

Engaged workers are more productive …

My next post will reveal why you need to find a way to be an engaged worker.

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