Understand your personal values
Identify your personal values and how they should influence the organsiation you work for
Introduction to Personal Values and your career
Personal values are the ideas and concepts that are at the centre of the way we think, the way we behave and the way we act. Our values influence our beliefs and our beliefs drive what we do. When considering values in the context of work, there are 8 categories of values that we consider to help us make the right career choices (which range from Creativity to Predictability - more of that below).
All organisations / businesses have a culture - a set of beliefs and behaviours that describes the 'way things get done'. Many organisations have a number of 'sub' cultures in different deparments and in different teams.
There is a mapping between personal values and business cultures - in other words, if you have values that align to a business culture you are more likely to fit in. For example, if you prioritise Creativity (you might describe yourself as having a thirst for knowledge, open-minded with a spirit of adventure), then you are more likely to fit into a business that has an Innovation culture and you might want to consider the implications of a business with a 'Control based' cultre.
Your personal values can be grouped into eight categories
There are hundreds of values that you can use to describe your personality. When thinking about your values and how they influence your career, we recommend considering 8 categories - that is groups of values, and identifying their relative importance - which would you say are most important, and which don't really describe you.
These categories are:
- Creativity
- covering curiosity, thirst for knowledge, challenge and adventure
- Spontaneity
- covering fun, excitement, humour
- Relationships
- covering trust, empathy and sincerity
- Meaning
- covering idealism, compassion and altruism
- Efficiency
- covering achievement, goals and details
- Competitiveness
- covering strength, winning and confidence
- Structure
- covering respect, methodology and rules
- Predictability
- covering caution, planning and risk-aware
Identify your priority personal values with our online assessment
Our online assessment is a straightforward questionnaire that allows you to identify you priority values. As an outcome, it highlights the typical work attributes of someone with your preferred values. It also illustrates the relative importance to you of the different personal values sets.
Some business cultures will align better to your personal values
Investopedia defines culture as "the beliefs and behaviours that determine how a compenees employees and mangement interact...". There are multiple models that help describe a businesses culture, we follow a model that identifies four key cultures:
Few businesses will fit entirely into one of these 4 categories, and most businesses will have sub-cultures for different teams. Understanding the culture should be a key part of the interview process before deciding to joining a new company, or a new team.
Your personal values will highlight which cultures are more likely to be a 'fit'
Whilst every situation is different, there is signficant benefit in understanding the cultures that map to your values.
Innovation Cultures
Personal Values
Creativity
Personal Values
Spontaneity
Performance Cultures
Personal Values
Efficiency
Personal Values
Competitiveness
Control Cultures
Personal Values
Structure
Personal Values
Predictability
Purpose Cultures
Personal Values
Relationships
Personal Values
Meaning
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this free?
Yes.There are no charges for taking this assessment. You can take the values assessment as often as you like without any fee. Additional information about values and cultures is made available for subscribers.
Do I have to register to take the assessment?
Yes, you will have to register to take the assessment. This will enable you to keep copies of your assessments and come back in the future to see if / how your values assessment evolves. You can delete your account at any time.
How long will it take me to do the values assessment?
It typically will take under 5 minutes to do the assessment. The format uses a sliding scale which simplifies what you need to do, and we recommend that you don't overthink the answers.
Should I refer to my values in a job interview?
We do not recommend using values terminology in a career conversation (unless it is clearly required). Instead, we believe that it is better to use the ideas in the assessment to create questions that deepen your understanding of the organisation, and the team that you might join.
