Surface your values from real experience.
Participants reflect on their own working life to identify moments when they felt most aligned with what they value, and extract the values those moments reveal.
Values in Action uses lived experience as the starting point for values identification. It asks participants to reflect on specific moments: when they felt energised and proud, and when something felt wrong. The values that emerge from those moments are more honest and personally meaningful than values arrived at by questionnaire or selection from a list.
Participants surface 3 to 5 personal values grounded in real experience, providing the foundation for the rest of the session.
This helps participants surface their own values by reflecting on real experience. Have them write about two contrasting moments, draw the values out as they share, then give them time to name the values most central to how they work.
Give participants five minutes to write down two things on their own. First, a moment at work when they felt genuinely energised, proud, or like they were doing their best work: what was happening, and what made it feel that way? Second, a moment when something felt wrong or off, when they felt uncomfortable or compromised, even if they could not immediately say why. Both examples matter: the positive one surfaces values people are living, and the uncomfortable one surfaces values that are important but under pressure or being compromised, so do not skip the second one.
Invite participants to share from their first example. As they share, listen for values and reflect them back: what I am hearing is something about honesty, or that sounds like a real commitment to doing things properly. Useful prompts: what specifically made that feel significant, what would have had to be different for it not to feel the way it did, and what does that tell you about what you value?
After a few shares, give participants three minutes to write down the three to five values they think are most central to how they work.
Use Values in Action when you want a group to surface their own values from real experience. People reflect on moments when work felt right and moments when something felt off, then name the three to five values those moments reveal.
Using this tool with a skilled facilitator means that discussions are focused, time is used efficiently, and the group moves toward consensus, making the session productive and impactful.
