pace and vibes in core values
The value sets I’ve seen do the best work for teams are short enough to be memorizable and diverse enough to speak to most situations teammates encounter day to day. This usually means three values are too few and eight to ten are too many.
If you’re playing in the sandbox of ~4 to 6 values, you’ve got enough room to choose ones in a couple categories that often get overlooked. Those categories are Pace and Vibes.
Values in the Pace category could include: speed, action, urgency, calibration, deliberateness, precision
Values in the Vibes category could include: enthusiasm, joy, generosity, inclusiveness, honesty,
You can arrive at which of these is best for your crew with a couple thought exercises:
The “but what about” test: Imagine a talented, good faith teammate striving to deliver the kind of special result your organization needs. They do in fact deliver that result, but you’re still dissatisfied. What is the reason you’re dissatisfied, the thing that makes you say, “Yeah, it’s good this teammate delivered, but what about [missing aspect of the delivery or performance]” That missing aspect is the thing you need a value for. Maybe they got the result but ran roughshod over people to get there and that doesn’t work for you. Choose a value that speaks to generosity or teamwork or kindness. Maybe they got the result but did it so painfully slowly, with such anxious deliberation and consensus-seeking, that the opportunity cost was too high. Choose a value that pushes the pace and permits some loose bolts.
What are difficult aspects of your work that you don’t want to hear people complain about? That you would see as illegitimate complaints by the norms of the culture you’re hoping to have? Choose a value that you can point to that shows that difficult thing is part of what we do and relish around here.
-Eric
