The power of knowing your values and getting alignment

During this podcast we hear from former Olympian Toby Jenkins and world-leading Performance Psychologist Jonah Oliver, founders of North Framework, on the significance of values within companies in order to move beyond the hurdles of pressure and stress and achieve the live you want to live, both personally and professionally.

We learn more about candidates and their selective processes around values and leadership, the difference between goal setting vs “goal setting in the service of values” and how companies can apply values on a day-to-day basis.

1:32 - The Creation of North Framework and its Purpose

8:12 - The Difference Between Goal Setting vs “Goal Setting in the Service of Values”

9:58 - Values to Help Navigate Stress

14:18 - Candidates and their Selective Process Around Values & Leadership of Companies

26:40 - Normalising feelings as an adult

29:35 - Confidence vs Competence

31:55 – Alleviating Pressure and Getting Behaviours to Follow Values

44:05 - What stands between an organisation and an individual’s exhibiting more candour?

42:05 - Vision for Companies Applying Values Daily

46:30 - Stories of the shift seen in people when they get clear on their vision and values via North Frameworks Coaching 

The Creation of North Framework and its Purpose

As an Olympic water polo player, the focus for Toby was ‘How good could I be?’ Then as the founder of Blue Wire Digital Marketing it shifted to ‘How good could this team be?’

Under significant stress both professionally and personally Toby reconnected with Jonah, who explained the importance of values; a cornerstone piece of work for people to live the lives they want especially when pressure is prominent.

Through acknowledging the myth of sacrifice vs choice; and knowing we have the choice of response – the mission of the North Framework was founded. It is to create conditions of high performance, through helping people change their relationship with pressure so they address their stresses and flip that switch to reconnect to what they have inside them (competences) and exercise them to full capacity.
 

The Difference Between Goal Setting vs “Goal Setting in the Service of Values”

Many people are successful through society metrics: high income, wife, gold medal, five-bedroom house, however if you look closely there is often low fulfilment and ill health.

As Jonah says you must architect your life; you can have it all and maintain high goals, however you need to be very intentional with what you do. Importantly, this is attainable when you understand what it’s all in the service of, ‘how do I do the things that matter, with the people that matter in a values-based way.’

Values to Help Navigate Stress

Toby was looking everywhere outside of himself for answers, however after doing the Domains profile with Jonah it was evident work was the aspect of his life that was deeply unsatisfying him and causing this ‘lost’ feeling.

Values create an anchor internally; you carry this with you all the time as values are a tool for moment-to-moment decision making, opposingly goals do not endure once succeeded they are ticked off. Furthermore, values are behaviours, once you understand how they look behaviourally, you can stop focusing on the pain or how hard something is and shift the focus to how important it is. Understand the difference between enjoyment and happiness; you want to aim for enjoyment – you don’t hear people saying they were laughing on their way up Mt Everest, but you hear people say they enjoyed that challenge. People that live interesting lives experience challenges and intense experiences and enjoy this journey.

Candidates and their Selective Process Around Values & Leadership of Companies

It is about value proposition - focus on the individual first and then the company values come to light.

Firstly, it is important to understand the company values don’t need to be your values, but it is important they somewhat align, and secondly it is vital that companies take the time to help workers find their values and then align them with the company’s values.

It is also important you understand what a value is - values are what you wake up in the morning and bring to the world, or how a friend would describe you when you’re not there. You’re not going to hire 300 people with the same values as the ones on your wall, however, that rich tapestry, of a group of people with their own value set that align with the company are more ethical and much better decision makers in this complex world.

It is so important to do the work and bring these values to life, not just have them as words on the wall.

Normalising feelings as an adult

Utopia of absolute happiness is somewhat false. In pursuit of what is important to you, it is normal to feel and experience a range of emotions. Children will see adults acting in a value congruent way and misinterpret this to believe that the adult had the ability to do this because they had unwavering self-belief, were calm and had confidence. However, the most enduring gifts you can give your children is normalising the feelings you have as an adult.

Confidence vs Competence

A young child looks up to a professional athlete and wishes they could be as confident as them, however, it is important to understand that these athletes do not attain a certain level of high confidence every day- this fluctuates on a daily basis. The one thing that is stable in the situation is their competence to perform.

Alleviating Pressure and Getting Behaviours to follow Values

The whole focus is to get to practice and lower the bar so you cannot fail. Values take time to connect with so unpacking the connection to see what sits deep within you is crucial to find how you can reflect this into your behaviour and find what you truly value individually.

Firstly, there is an 80/20 rule: 80% of values should be true of your current behaviours and 20% should be aspirational, secondly, they must be defined in a decision-making way as values are a tool for decision making. Therefore, you can reflect on situations and apply conscious feedback, this process is more beneficial when frequently discussed with a coach – we don’t get dressed in the dark, we use a mirror.

Vision for Companies applying Values daily

If people are stepping into values there is safety but greater discomfort; there is more challenging, critiquing work, feedback given, and saying no (which is extremely hard for many high performers).

It is not how hard something is, it is how important it is, hence if you want a high-performance work culture you have to dial up how important it is to have difficult conversations, providing real feedback, if this is celebrated employers will respond.

What stands between an organisation and an individual’s exhibiting more candour?

What stops that roadblock from happening? When stepping into a conversation with an employee, you must be very clear of the importance of the conversation and critique the work not the person. It’s not just portraying candour, but how can you do that in a value-based way within the workplace.

Stories of the shift seen in people when they get clear on their vision and values via North Frameworks Coaching 

They may be overworked, run down, stressed, a distant friend, however they can have all of these aspects relatively nurtured and the cost isn’t greater fatigue it is actually greater thriving and a healthier mind.

We see clients achieve the ‘have it all’ goal when they act out their values by focusing on the ‘importance’, the reason for why they are doing something. It is not the absence of knowing the importance of doing something, it’s the importance of the reason for it; for example, waking up at 5:30am to go running, the reason is not because running is proven to be beneficial for health, it is to model to others a healthy lifestyle – these connections make lasting behaviour changes.

It is already within us to go in the direction we want to go, but it is through understanding our driving values and finding aspirational values, which is what Toby and Jonah do at North Framework that we can find true fulfilment and drive.

Head to the website https://www.northframework.com/ And check out the Domains Profile tool to assess personal thriving and the High-Performance Index to measure performance conditions of your organisation

Let’s go on an inspiring journey by listening, learning and taking key actions from our own recruitment experts as well as industry leaders and inspirational individuals.

Together, each month, we unpack key actions on how we can all learn from others’ experiences and industry knowledge; unlocking our own transformative change, so that we can all become the best version of ourselves.