Consider Caring at Work–Part Five

David J Paul Project Management Professional, Management Professor, Author and Small Business Manager

The Values Conversation Challenge

CONSIDER CARING AT WORK—Part Five, The Values Conversation                                  August 29, 2018

If the notion of Caring for others is strange to you, consider this question.  How much do you value other human beings?  What is your baseline valuation for others?  What is your usual opinion of other people?   Do you regard others as people to be listened to?  People who are valuable members of your sphere of influence, someone from whom you can learn something?  Your brothers or sisters in life, perhaps, or do you regard others as something to be denigrated and ‘called out’, disregarded and belittled when they are wrong? 

Before you answer this question, consider again what you say when someone cuts you off in traffic.  That might give you a clue to whether you look upon others as brothers and sisters who all need to get home safely, or as vile competitors for that little space of asphalt that YOU wanted to occupy.   Well, which is it?

Actually, because we are fallible human beings, it could be both, either, or something in between. Part of my goal is to get you to consider caring for others by taking a deep dive into your own values.  What are your values?  How do you know what they are?  What is the evidence that you truly care for another person?  

Well, this Management Challenge asks you to consider those questions and to discuss them with others.  It is called the Values Conversation challenge.  Here’s how it goes:  1) Write out what you think are your top three or four values in life.  Those things like Forgiveness, Responsibility, Integrity or Compassion, or something else that you think guides your life actions. 2) Then ask a friend to meet with you and talk about your values and their values.  The basis of the conversation is the question, “Is there enough evidence in my life or my relationship with you for you to believe that these truly are my values”?  3)Your assignment is to ask them the same question about their values and then to observe how your relationship improves (or not) after this conversation.  Most of my students report great improvement in the amount of caring, compassion, and closeness in their relationship.  Try it, and I really wish you good luck with this one.  Try commenting here and let us know how it went.  Also, you can buy my book, ‘Dare to Care’, and recommend it to others.  It has lots of research data to help you understand the “WHY” of why this works.