Values as a Decision-Making Tool
Two significant events happened this summer: Liminal Collaboration wrapped up our fourth cohort of the Collaboration Lab in the Dan River Region and, on a personal note, me and my son moved into a house with my partner and her kids.
The final session of Collaboration Lab culminates with participants sharing their takeaways, what they learned, and what they’ll do more collaboratively in their communities and organizations. One of the themes I heard from this year’s cohort was how “collaboration is everywhere.” People gave examples of task forces (“I didn’t really think of it as a collaborative group!”), organizational relationships (“I have been thinking about how I can guide my boss better.”), and even in their church choirs (“As a choir director I could tell people about some new songs they will be singing, but that doesn’t work out for anyone if they don’t like the music. I had to ask them what they wanted.”)!
Collaboration is apparently a good way to approach most things where you have to work with others. Who knew?! 😊
So to make it personal, I realized that even after being with my partner of almost five years, we still had room to move further to the right on the Collaboration Spectrum, from “coordinate” to “collaborate” to “integrate.” Five years, which included taking international trips, navigating a blended family through the peak of the COVID lockdown, and normal life stuff, we’re still exploring ways our shared values can guide our decision making…now under one roof. Examples include:
How do we feel about kids’ having an allowance? And should it be tied to chores?
Should we try to go to bed at the same time or does that matter?
How do we feel about dirty clothes on the floor or dishes in the sink (not to mention clothes in the sink or dishes on the floor)?
How are we going to approach screen time with kids?
And are the “Best If Used By” dates on milk and other foods guidelines or rigid rules to live by?
Recently, Liminal Collaboration facilitated a meeting with an organization that wants to act as a better “neighbor” by providing services residents want and need. This organization has been in the community for some time and neither the residents nor the organization has had a need to acknowledge one another. Now there is an opportunity to have them solve community issues together. As we went through some of Liminal Collaboration’s approach, we talked about “ensuring credible decision making.” A member of the community wanted to better understand what we meant when we said that “we believe positive outcomes happen when collaborative groups use values as a decision making tool.”
Mission statements are often to name a purpose and primary objective. Values are the core principles that answer the “How do we do what we do?” questions. After we shared our explanation, she said, “Good luck finding common values among these two groups.” It made me realize just how vital it is that we know what our own values are before we try to work together with others, and name them with intention. And in a dynamic world with dynamic people, they typically need to be repeated and perhaps even revisited!
Much like my new blended family, we are all growing, learning, changing, and on rare occasions, even refining how we think about our own values (Like is it worth battling to keep that milk in the fridge for a couple days longer?). But having articulated values in the first place is helpful when coming together with others to solve complex problems.
We get to what we believe, and what we want to work for quicker. It’s best practice to identify your own values prior to being in a group setting, which can put you in a reactionary position and making proactive collaboration that much more difficult.
This is hard work. It is also at the core of working in collaboration. Decisions are much easier to make collaboratively when everyone understands and shares values. Yes, it is a challenge when it comes to people with polarized values/views, but its still lightyears easier than when there are no clear values articulated. And different opinions and values are not a bad thing – nor is there often a clear “right” way to do things. The above bulleted questions do not have clear right/wrong answers. But to understand someone’s values helps you understand how they will act and react.
We want to hear about how you and your organization make and live-out your values. And stay tuned as we will continue sharing tips and tools on how we use values as a decision-making tool in collaboration.
