Values are key to mobilising yourself and others to act

Our values can be instrumental in how we engage with a thought or an idea, as well as in determining whether we do something about it. This is why the topic crops up as regularly in my communications work, helping people and organisations to build their influence, as it does in my coaching conversations.

How do values help us take action?

When we tap into a value, this can strengthen our resolve to act.

Countless organisations researching how best to communicate campaign messages have come to understand how important it is to frame their messages around shared values.

In our communications training, we often point to the National Trust’s ’50 things to do before you’re 11 ¾’ as a beautiful example of a campaign that chimes first with the values of the decision-maker (parents with a distinct set of beliefs around childhood) before moving on to any calls to action (visit us and bring your children).

How can values act as a block?

Equally, if an idea or message conflicts with our values we are predisposed not only to dismiss it, but to build our own case against it.  

Neuroscientist Tali Sharot is one of many writers to explain that if we want to influence someone we must start with the areas of common ground. And the golden rule is never to try to argue down a value or strongly held belief. This triggers and actively builds our resistance.

Public health communicators have learned fast over the last year that to promote uptake in vaccination, for example, they gain far less traction from myth busting communications than they do by tapping into trigger motivations for booking a jab, which can include a sense of the common good.

These examples highlight the way our values operate at multiple levels: individual, family, community and societal.

Working with values in coaching

In our last post, Sarah Leach made a compelling case for bringing values to the fore in our coaching conversations. But how do we handle those moments when values appear to be blocking someone from reaching their desired outcome?

Here’s one very practical example:

I have coached a number of people who believe that if they pushed themselves forward more at work, in meetings and sometimes also online, they would prosper. Yet they also value collaboration and feel held back by a dislike of individualism and self-promotion.

In such cases, the aim is never to seek to ignore or diminish this value. Instead, the following questions can be helpful:

·       What other values are important here? Let’s say that through the coaching conversation you uncover together how much they prize being part of their team.

·       What does this mean to them? Could this particular value help unlock their motivation to make that presentation or become more visible online?

·       How might they tap into these positive motivations? Would they find it more fulfilling to attend that meeting to make a case on behalf of their team? When they post online, could they tag their team members for comment?

·       What’s another way of looking at this? Does taking up these opportunities also give their team a platform? Is there a metaphor they like that helps them visualise themselves as a presenter in less individualistic terms?

What stands out for us

One of the joys of Coaching Reading is the opportunities it gives us as coaches and coaching enthusiasts to share our experiences.

When Sarah and I met over a coffee to discuss the role of values in our work, we arrived at the following conclusions:

1.       For coaches: it is important to uncover the full suite of values held by a client – some may be latent and provide a way forward if people feel stuck. When someone needs the motivation to act, values are the springboard.

2.       For recipients of coaching: as we become more curious about our own values, and how we can tap into them for self-motivation, we also stimulate more curiosity about the values held by others. And we become more influential in the process.

See our last Coaching Reading post for more practical ideas for coaches around ways to use values in your work.

In our next article, we will explore how values can be important in a group setting, and what this has meant to us as members of Coaching Reading.

Susannah Randall is a communications consultant and coach and a member of Coaching Reading