The Values Game

I am a coach, but I am not even clear on my values, how can I help a client be clear on theirs?

This is a question that came out of a Coaching 101 class last week from a student in Singapore. This is an individual who has been working for the last 25 years in HR and has been looking at making a break into the coaching industry. I wanted to bring this question into our Coaching 101 Minute recap this week because it is at the core of coaching, understanding your values.

This is Nick Bosk for your Coaching 101 Minute, your weekly recap of Coaching 101 classes here at International Coach Academy. We had a very successful week of classes with students from Australia, New Zealand, US, Canada, the UK, Portugal, Spain and Trinidad & Tobago.

Summary

(0:01) Understanding your values
(0:58) Your values are the building blocks of your life
(1:19) Is this someone’s idea?
(2:19) Your actions will show your values
(2:28) Exercise: The Values Game
(2:40) Take out a piece of paper / Download the worksheet
(3:16) How do you respond?
(4:06) Select the top 5 and define

The Importance of Values

What do you value in life? What in your world has the most importance to you?  I focus on my client’s values in the very first session. The understanding of our values is the building block, the foundation, to everything that we create in our lives. We need to look at our values to make sure they have not been imposed upon us from an outside source.  To be successful you must be living your own values and not following someone else.

Your values can change over time. This is actually great because as you grow, your values will begin to grow as well. When we make decisions that are not based on our own values, the outcome feels empty. We may try to ignore this and to suppress the negative feeling, but his leads to a falling out of alignment with who we really are.  To live in a strong, supportive way, you must live by your values. You cannot have a house without a foundation. Know yourself, dig deep if they don’t appear easily. Think about your actions, the decisions that you made to get you to where you are today.

What guiding principles do you live by that create the choices you make?

The Values Game

This is an exercise that our students use to first understand themselves and their own values, and then use it with their own clients. Attached is a direct link to download the actual worksheet “The VALUES GAME”.  As you read the following set of concepts make a note of what resonates with you.