A question came up in one of your email responses to my wayfinding post yesterday;
“No monthly values for 2011 Rosa? Now that you’re blogging again, will your ‘Value Your Month to Value Your Life’ program return too?”
I’ll share my answer here on Talking Story too just in case others are wondering.
Yes and no”
Yes, I’ll be blogging here again. I’ve missed it a lot — and I’ve missed all of you! Writing is one of those ‘better habits’ in my wayfinding intentions, and blogging figures prominently in the writing I eagerly am choosing to do.
No, my ‘Value Your Month to Value Your Life’ program will not be resurrected in 2011, at least not in the same way as before — but don’t let that stop any of you! Adopt and adapt the program for your own work team: Getting started is easy. Here’s the Take 5:
- There are 19 values covered in Managing with Aloha, including Ka lā hiki ola in the Epilogue. Choose the 12 you feel would benefit your work team most in the coming year, and assign them to the months you think they will align with best seasonally, or per the demands of your business. For narrower, but more extensive focus, choose just 4 — 1 per quarter.
- Then very important, make your intentions known to your team. Get everyone involved in some way. Tell them why you want to “value the month” and ask them how they’d like to participate. Say yes to every idea which comes up and ask people to be that idea’s leader: As the Alaka‘i Manager you’re facilitating this, and you can’t do it all (nor should you” grow your team.) Teams I have coached in the past have found great success in assigning values as the steering for specific projects. (More on that tomorrow: now posted ~ Value Alignment for Projects)
- Stick with it, and go the distance. Use that value to theme everything you can think of within that alignment period of time you’ve chosen. EVERYTHING. You’re going for value immersion. You’ll be surprised how much you can do. Here is a good article Joanna Young wrote for Joyful Jubilant Learning on Why I Write to a Theme.
- Be sure to incorporate the value you choose into your language, for it’s powerful (Review Key Concept 5; Language of Intention). You’ll start to hear where you’re effective, and you’ll miss hearing where you aren’t, and need to engage more.
- Reach out to me, or to others in our Ho‘ohana Community (link to our LinkedIn Group) anytime you have questions or need help, especially when you feel energies waning, for remember: Leading is about generating energy as your greatest resource, and Managing is about channeling it. (Review: 3 Ways Managers Create Energetic Workplaces.)
Value alignment is the best ‘channeler’ I know of! Which, continuing on, brings me to another Yes”
Yes, I’ll be working on value alignment too! Try and stop me” As our 3rd Key Concept for Managing with Aloha I’m on automatic pilot with it in my life, and that’s a habit which has been a really, really great thing. Each year I challenge myself to evolve with it though, and so in 2011 my value alignment will set sail in the spirit of the wayfinding I wrote of yesterday. We’ll see where the journey takes us!
Two of my “best clues” (a reference to yesterday’s post, if you missed it) are Abundance and Context.
- Abundance is connected to (aligned with!) Palena ‘ole — our MWA 9th Key Concept of Unlimited Capacity. One of the reasons I no longer choose only 12 values for my blog-writing is that they can be too limiting in my contexts here — opposite of how they will give a specific work team laser-like focus in the Take 5 above. Yesterday for example, we aligned wayfinding with three different values; Ka lā hiki ola, Ho‘ohanohano, and Alaka‘i. When I dig deeper, I can surely align wayfinding with every value in some way, and so can you; sometimes minimally, sometimes significantly, and then
- Context moves me toward choice and action. Thinking about all of this can be mind-blowing, but you don’t want it drive you crazy either! So take aim and pull the trigger… Within all the Palena ‘ole/9th Key thinking you did, what will you take action on quickest and best? Why, and with who? You will become more decisive, and your value alignment will be directed toward the specific relationships or projects you have in mind. Practical and useful.
So consider the possibilities with value alignment, then choose your best habit this year, and take action.
How will value alignment work for you in 2011?
Go back to yesterday’s post if it helps: Do you already have clarity on specific goals, or is the wayfinding more attractive to you too? Your answer is the right answer.
More value alignment; I Aloha-tweaked my cigar box of index cards I use as a perpetual calendar as my New Years Eve day project yesterday :)
Visuals alone can add so much, and index cards rock.
Postscript: If you are reading this via RSS or email, take a moment to click in and review the right-side column of the blog. I have a bit of updating I still need to do there, but I’ll be sure to leave the links parked there for you to find the 9 Key Concepts easily each time you return. You’ll see the value index links there too.
Postscript 2: I had the link for my free ebook on becoming an Alaka‘i Manager in the Take 5 above, but then I decided to drop it down here, for I don’t want you to feel you have to go through that whole 5-week program first and not start NOW with your value alignment. Go for it!