Keeping Your Core Values at the Center

When facing challenges, articulating our values and holding ourselves accountable to them can provide the guidance we need.

You may have heard about how the people of Rotterdam, Netherlands, stood up to Jeff Bezos. He and the maker of his new, three-masted, $500 million schooner wanted to temporarily disassemble a beloved old bridge to move his new ship out to sea at no financial cost to the city. The community was furious and refused. We found this story delightful and inspiring because the community rallied together and stayed true to their values, which is so important for organizations to do.    

But before a nonprofit can stick to its values, you must articulate them. Clarifying values presents a team-building opportunity for staff and board to surface and reflect on your organization’s core values, and also to define how you do your work and implement your strategic plan. 

Values are your organization’s principles and beliefs about what is important and worthwhile, and they guide how an organization executes on its mission. Values must be more than aspirational or desired qualities. They are inherent strengths that are lived and breathed by your organization. 

When identifying your values, you’re articulating the principles and beliefs that are most important to your organization. Louis Raths and John Dewey identified these elements that define a value:  

• Prized and cherished: it must be something you prize and cherish

• Publicly affirmed: you must be willing, when appropriate, to publicly affirm what you value

• Available alternatives: there must be the possibility of alternatives

• Chosen intelligently and freely: it must be chosen freely and after consideration of the consequences

• Action: it involves acting on your belief

• Repeated action: you must be willing to act on it repeatedly and consistently

Having clearly articulated and explicit values motivates teams by providing a uniting, principle-based guide for action and a filter for decisions and behaviors. The more that nonprofits stay centered in their core values when making decisions and leading teams, the more they will strengthen their culture and ability to execute on their missions.