The first thing that caught my eye while reading, “How to link personal values with team values.” was the values cards scenario. I actually did something like this while studying abroad this summer during my 6-credit Internship course on leadership. Like the workshop mentions, we started out with a large group of 50 values. Once we read through them for a bit, we narrowed them down by writing 7 core values down on different sheets of paper. After that, we placed a trash can in the middle of the room with our desks surrounding it, and one by one we got down to our top 3 values. During each round of value elimination we had a time crunch meaning there was less thinking and more acting. You just went with what you wanted to go with and kept it pushing.

I know the workshop in the article mentions people being surprised by all the other values people had, but with this activity we did, I was actually surprised on what my top 3 ended up being. It led to some really quick introspection and questioning on what really mattered most to me.

It was nice to read about the meaning behind our values as well. Seeing how powerful they are in shaping our actions, behaviors, and even during conflict made me all the more happy that I was able to identify a few of my important ones this year. It’s only a matter of time before I start applying them to the workforce as well, so this was great timing for an article on value-based teamwork.

Jaffe, D. T., & Scott, C. D. (1998). How to link personal values with team values. Training & Development, 52(3), 24–30