What Are Your Professional Values?

Values are an important part of who we are. They influence our actions and the choices we make every day. Our personal values determine the types of people we surround ourselves with. They impact the way we raise our children, the way we interact with others and the way we expect others to interact with us. Values are the things we hold most dear, the principles on which we base our entire lives.

So, you probably understand and recognize your personal values very well. You've spent your whole life developing and refining them. You most likely learned a lot about values from your parents and you'll probably pass some of yours along to your children.

But what about your professional values? Do you know what they are? Have you spent much time thinking about what's most important to you professionally? Many of you probably haven't looked at it quite so specifically. Personally, I always used to trust gut instinct when it came to professional values. I knew what felt right. But your gut probably isn't the best thing to go by since it can be swayed by a bad mood or a bad tuna salad sandwich. It's better to use your brain and really think about it. After all, professional values are the foundation of your career.

What are Professional Values?

Professional values are the principles that guide your decisions and actions in your career. We make professional decisions every day. For example: what job to take, what project to work on, who to associate with, how to prioritize tasks, when and how to voice opinions, what level of commitment to make, etc.

Every decision should be driven by your professional values. However, often times we allow ourselves to be pushed into decisions that are based on other people's values. Why? Because we don't really have a clear understanding of our own professional values. We get busy and don't think as clearly as we should. We go with the flow because it's easy. And before you know it, we're stuck in a situation that conflicts with our values.

Value Conflicts

I encountered my own conflict many years ago when working in banking. As most of you know, the United States is in a huge economic crisis due to problems in the mortgage industry: loans are going bad and home values are decreasing. Well, the whole thing started many years ago when unqualified people were taking out huge loans on highly overvalued homes. I won't go into details, but lending standards were a mess and clients were getting into loans that were not smart - even as a young professional, I could see that. But I worked for the company making the loans! So it was good for us. Business was up! We were making loans left, right and center!

And very quickly, I became worried. I was extremely concerned that the entire industry was corrupt. They didn't care that, down the road, these people might have huge problems paying back their loans. There as an overall sense that the housing market would just infinitely go up (and in California, it definitely seemed that way for a while). But before long, my concerns took over and I wanted nothing to do with the industry.

At that point, I realized that above anything else in the world, my number one professional value is integrity.

Before this experience, I would have said I valued having opportunities, making a stable and comfortable income, and working in a fun environment. While these things were important to me (and still are), I now know that integrity comes first. I have to do a job that allows me to have 100% integrity in the work I do. There can be no shades of gray.

My Values

So, you know my most important value, but I'd like to share a few more.

In my professional life, I value:

• The right, ability and obligation for me and everyone I work with to exercise 100% integrity at all times
• Providing a product or service that I believe strongly in
• Working for a company that gives back to the community it serves
• Maintaining a healthy work/life balance
• Having a variety of professional opportunities to help me grow my skills
• Having the opportunity to voice my opinions and be heard
• Strong working relationships with individuals I trust, respect and enjoy being around
• A hearty challenge that pushes me to my limits
• Appropriate rewards for hard work

Your Professional Values

I encourage you to think about your professional values. Use the following questions to get your mind going:

• What makes you feel professionally satisfied?
• What makes you feel proud of your work?
• What keeps you motivated to go to work every day?
• What inspires you?
• What gives your work meaning and purpose?
• What do you want others to say about your professional skills and your career?

Write these things down. When you feel conflicted and can't decide the appropriate course of action to take in your career, look at your list. Let your values guide your decisions. If you have to sacrifice your values to make a certain career move, you can be sure that it won't be fulfilling in the long term. And understand that it may take a few negative experiences before you truly understand what is most important to you. Just remember to take notes during those times - you don't want to learn the same lessons twice.