Is Your Team Living Its Values? Are you sure?
When you feel that tightness in your chest, it’s often because of misalignment.
Long ago, I worked with an organization that claimed to want a stronger relationship with its predominantly non-white community. But inside its walls, multiple women of color were bullied out by leaders. Sadly, this is common across the mission-driven space.
Don’t fake core values
Core values aren’t the words printed on the company lanyard. Core values are daily choices. In the choices leadership makes for…
Who gets hired, promoted, and retained
What gets budgeted for: microphones, N95 masks, and bilingual programming, including American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters
How the organization treats women of color—supporting them or watching them leave through a revolving door
When your choices don’t match your values, it’s obvious. People sense the hypocrisy. And your staff loses faith in your leadership. That makes it harder to move with purpose.
The 3-Step Values Audit
Step 1: Clarify your core value
What actually guides your decisions? Remember a time your team made the right decision, even if it was hard. Maybe it was taking a political stance when you were afraid of the backlash, but you did it anyway. Or hosting a hybrid in-person and virtual event that was more work logistically, but you did it anyway, so anyone could access your event. What value guided that decision? That’s your core value.
Step 2: Name the inconsistencies
Name where you’re not living that core value. For example:
You say you value equity…but you disciplined someone for sharing their salary with coworkers
You say you value inclusion…but you refuse tools or schedules that help neurodivergent staff thrive
You say you value accessibility…but you don’t budget for it in your programming (N95 masks, closed captioning, bilingual access, and microphones)
Step 3: Fix it
This quarter, identify one policy or work stream that needs alignment with your core value. Some of your changes might include:
Making your salaries more transparent
Shifting schedules or tools to support caregivers, neurodivergent staff, or night owls
Reallocating funds to accessibility line items
Make a plan to fix it. Do it. Hold yourself accountable to your values.
When you get clear about what you really value and hold yourself accountable to it, your credibility grows. You move with greater purpose. And that tightness in your chest loosens up.
Got a values question you want answered? Reply to this email and I’ll address a few in a future post.
-Dr. Danielle Lemi, PhD
Founder & Principal of Kapwa Sol Insights