Unit 4 Developing as an Authentic Leader: Understanding Our Values

Overview

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In this unit, we continue our study of authentic leadership by exploring the concepts of values, principles, and character.

Our values define us. They are derived from our beliefs and convictions—and they drive our leadership. Leadership principles are values translated into action. Character is made up of specific traits or qualities that determine how we respond to the events, situations, and circumstances of our life.

We will also look at an important tool for your leadership tool box. Generating and organizing ideas helps keep leaders and the team focused, well-informed, forward-thinking, organized, and orientated. It gives them a sense of direction, and helps avoid confusion and chaos.

The key questions that frame this unit are: What do I believe? and How will I live out what I believe?

Let’s get started!

Topics

This unit is divided into the following topics:

• Values
  
• Leadership principles
  
• Idea generation and organization
  
• Importance of character

Learning Outcomes

When you have completed this unit, you should be able to:

• Identify your core values and examine how your behaviours are in alignment with your values
  
• Explain how values contribute to authentic leadership
  
• Identify the ethical boundaries you will not cross
  
• Identify positive and negative leadership attributes
  
• Examine various ways of generating and organizing ideas and relate the importance of this to leadership

Activity Checklist

Here is a checklist of learning activities you will benefit from in completing this unit. You may find it useful for planning your work.

Learning Activities

• Unit Readings (45 minutes)
  • Read True North, Chapter 5
    
• Identifying Your Core Values (90 minutes)
  
• Select your ten most meaningful values and then cross five of them out.
  • Respond to the journal prompts in your learning journal.
    
• What Do You Want Said About You in the End? (90 minutes)
  • Imagine you are at your own funeral and reflect on what you would want to hear others say about you.
    
  • Compare these values with the values you identified in previous activity.
    
• Turning your Values into Principles (60 minutes)
  • Review the list of values identified in previous activites
    
  • Turn these values into principles.
    
  • Explore the ethical boundaries you associate with each of your values.
    
• What Idea Generation and Organization Strategies Work For You? (60 minutes)
  • Create a mind map that captures your values, principles, and ethical boundaries.
    
  • Respond to the reflection questions/prompts in your learning journal.
    
• Character and Associated Behaviours (45 minutes)
  • Review the universal attributes of positive and negative leaders.
    
  • Select 3-5 positive leader attributes that you aspire to live out in your leadership.
    
  • Jot down the associated behaviours you would exhibit with this particular attribute.
    

Assessment

In this course you demonstrate your understanding of the course learning outcomes in various ways. Please see the Assessment section in Moodle for assignment details and due dates.

Resources

Here are the resources you will need to complete this unit.

• George, B. & Clayton, Z. (2022). True North. John Wiley & Sons.
  
• Other online resources will be provided in the unit.

4.1 Values

Image Credit: https://johannagallo.com/2015/10/26/d-e-c-i-s-i-o-n-s/

We are deeply shaped by our values and how well we live them. Practicing our values in a consistent way brings meaning to our work and life, and enables us to be congruent and authentic. Have you spent time really thinking about what your core values are?

Our values define us. They are derived from our beliefs and convictions—and they drive our leadership. As Brene Brown (2018) states, “Daring Leaders who live into their values are never silent about hard things” (p. 184). Our values often give us the courage to stand up for what’s right, and oppose what is not.

Living into our values means that we do more than profess our values, we practice them. We walk our talk—we are clear about what we believe and hold important, and we take care that our intentions, words, thoughts, and behaviours align with those beliefs.

Discovering what we value most is foundational to answering the question: What do I believe?

Activity: Unit Readings (45 minutes)

• Read True North, Chapter 5: Values.

Activity: Identifying Your Core Values (90 minutes)

We can’t live into our values if we don’t know what they are.

• Look over the list of values (taken from Dare to Lead by Brene Brown) and select the ten values that are most meaningful to you. If there is a value that you hold that is not listed, include it in your list of ten most meaningful values.

List of Values

Accountability	Creativity	Health	Openness	Simplicity
Achievement	Curiosity	ното	Optimism	Spirituality
Adaptability	Dignity	Honesty	Order	Sportsmanship
Adventure	Diversity	Hope	Parenting	Stewardship
Altruism	Environment	Humility	Patience	Success
Ambition	Efficiency	Humor	Patriotism	Teamwork
Authenticity	Equality	Inclusion	Peace	Thrift
Balance	Ethics	Independence	Perseverance	Time
Beauty	Excellence	Initiative	Personal fulfillment	Tradition
Being the best	Fairness	Integrity	Power	Travel
Belonging	Faith	Intuition	Pride	Trust
Career	Familv	Job security	Recognition	Truth
Caring	Financial Stability	Joy	Reliability	Understanding
Collaboration	Forgiveness	Justice	Resourcefulness	Uniqueness
Commitment	Freedom	Kindness	Respect	Usefulness
Community	Friendship	Knowledge	Responsibility	Vision
Compassion	Fun	Leadership	Risk taking	Vulnerability
Competence	Future generations	Learning	Safety	Wealth
Confidence	Generosity	Legacy	Security	Well-being
Connection	Giving back	Leisure	Self-discipline	Wholeheartedness
Contentment	Grace	Love	Self-expression	Wisdom
Contribution	Gratitude	Loyalty	Self-respect
Cooperation	Growth	Making a difference	Serenity
Courage	Harmony	Nature	Service

• Write down your ten most meaningful values in your learning journal and describe what each value means to you in one or two sentences.

Now, presume that you are only permitted five values. Of your ten values, cross out five that are less meaningful to you than the others. Why did you retain the five values that you did? How did you feel when you had to give up five of your most meaningful values?

Activity: What Do You Want Said About You in the End? (90 minutes)

Think back to the Leadercast 2018: Leading Yourself Well video from Unit 3.

Midway through his talk (11:57 minutes), Stanley states, “You cannot lead yourself well until you discover what you value most”. He suggests that most people never discover what they value most, until it’s too late. He proposes that you can discover what you value most quite easily, by imagining you are at your own funeral, and imagine the following people get up to talk about you:

• Your mother or father
  

• Your husband or wife
  

• A son or daughter
  

• A best friend
  

• An employer
  

• A coach
  

• Someone you work with

• In your learning journal, write down what you would want to hear them say. Stanley proposes that what you want said at the end is what you value most. Take some time to work through this exercise to discover what YOU value most.
  

• Now… compare the list of your five values from Activity 4.2 with what you discovered you value most from this activity. How do they compare? Are they similar? Are they different? If so, what do you think accounts for the difference between your two sets of values?

Note that these learning activities are ungraded, but are designed to help you succeed in your assessments in this course.

References:

• Brown, B. (2018). Dare to lead. Random House.

4.2 Leadership Principles

Leadership principles are values translated into action. Having a good understanding of your values enables you to develop the principles you will use in your leadership.

As we learned in Unit 2, sometimes leaders lose their way. This happens for a variety of reasons, and I think one of the primary reasons is that they do not have strategies to stay grounded and stay true to what they believe, particularly when stresses rise and temptations creep in. In addition, they may never have established the ethical boundaries they will not cross under any circumstances.

It is necessary to invest time to really understand our values. When we have determined the associated leadership principles that we intend to live by, we can establish clear ethical boundaries that we will not cross. This awareness helps us to be better prepared to navigate through difficult decisions, challenges, and dilemmas.

For example, the value courage might be translated into leadership principles such as ‘create an environment of safety, where admitting mistakes and fear is the norm’ and ‘be transparent and open-minded’. An associated ethical boundary might be ‘I will not shame or belittle anyone for failing’.

We can draw inspiration from the ways that Jesus led. Jesus did not come to be a leadership guru, yet he led perfectly with care, humility, and servanthood. These are the principles Jesus led by:

• He humbled himself and allowed God to exalt him.
  
• He followed his father’s will rather than sought a position.
  
• He defined greatness as being a servant.
  
• He took risks to serve others because he trusted he was God’s son.
  
• He left his place at the head of the table to serve the needs of others.
  
• He shared responsibility and authority with those he called to lead.
  
• He built a team to carry out a vision worldwide.

What principles do you live by?

Activity: Turning Your Values into Principles (60 minutes)

Look back at the 5 values you identified in activites. In this activity, turn your values into principles. It’s important to keep these principles close by and visible, as daily reminders to help keep your compass pointing toward your True North.

Here are some questions to help get you started:

1. What does this value look like in action?
   
2. What leadership principle(s) will help you honour this value?
   
3. What are the ethical boundaries you associate with this value? Sometimes it’s helpful to think about the things you will always do to live into this value and the things you will never do in order to stay true to this value:
   

• I will always…
  
• I will never…

In the next topic we’ll describe how to use a mind map to map out your values, the principles that you will led by, and any associated ethical boundaries. For now, be sure to capture your values, principles, and ethical boundaries in your learning journal.

4.3 Idea Generation and Organization

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Good leaders employ strategies to generate ideas and organize them so they are easy for others to understand and follow. Doing so helps keep leaders and the team focused, well-informed, forward-thinking, organized, and orientated. It gives them a sense of direction, and helps avoid confusion and chaos. Think of this topic as another tool for your academic and leadership toolbox.

In our academic context, it is equally important to generate and organize your ideas in order to present them clearly, concisely, and logically. Investing time to generate and organize your ideas upfront, can save time in the long run, when you are working on a paper, report, project, or assignment. Doing so helps keep you (and your writing) focused, organized, and oriented.

There are lots of ways that people generate ideas, including brainstorming, daydreaming, note-taking, reflection, research, mind-mapping, observing the world around them, socializing with people outside of their normal network, doodling, letting their mind wander, asking questions, Storyboarding (developing a visual story to explain or explore), and visualization.

Mind-mapping

Let’s take a closer look at one method for generating ideas. A mind map is a visual tool that can help you represent your ideas and concepts. Mind-mapping can be a really helpful tool for brainstorming or dumping information onto a page. There is no right or wrong way to create a mind map, and you don’t need to worry about structure and order.

In a mind map, as opposed to traditional note taking, information is structured in a way that resembles much more closely how your brain actually works. Since it’s an activity that is both analytical and artistic, it engages your brain in a much richer way, helping in all its cognitive functions.

Mind maps can be used for taking notes, brainstorming, either individually or in a group, problem solving, studying or memorizing, planning, researching and consolidating information from multiple sources and presenting information.

Steps to create a mind map:

1. Identify the main topic or central idea
   
2. Center and circle your main topic
   
3. Branch other important ideas from the main topic
   
4. Support the important ideas with key words and information
   
5. Add colour, visuals, and be creative

Image Credit: https://www.mindmeister.com/blog/why-mind-mapping/

Once you have your ideas together, it’s important to organize them in a way that demonstrates the progression of your thoughts in a way that is clear and easy for others to understand. The PLEASE strategy is one that some students find helpful:

• Pick a topic
  
• List information about the topic
  
• Evaluate the list
  
• Activate a paragraph with a topic sentence
  
• Supply supporting sentences
  
• End with a concluding sentence

Activity: What Idea Generation and Organization Strategies Work for You? (60 minutes)

• Refer back to the previous learing activity and create a mind map that captures your values, principles, and ethical boundaries.

After, respond to the following reflection questions/prompts in your learning journal:

1. When do you feel most creative?
   
2. What strategies have you used to come up with new ideas? What strategies worked well? What strategies didn’t work so well?
   
3. Jot down some strategies that you will continue to use to come up with, and build upon, new ideas.
   
4. Why do you think it’s important for leaders to organize their thoughts and ideas?
   

4.4 Importance of Character

The concept of character can imply a variety of attributes including the existence or lack of virtues such as empathy, courage, honesty, and loyalty. We looked at a number of universal attributes associated with positive leaders and negative leaders in Unit 1. You may have associated some of these attributes with leaders you admire.

So what is character and why is it important in leadership?

Character is made up of specific traits or qualities that determine how we respond to the events, situations, and circumstances of our life. These traits or qualities can be positive or negative (and we all have both), stronger or weaker. We can strengthen our good or positive character traits and minimize our poor or negative character traits. Northouse (2018) states,

When practiced over time … good values become habitual, and a part of people themselves. By telling the truth, people become truthful; by giving to the poor, people become charitable; and by being fair to others, people become just. Your virtues, and hence your character, are derived from your actions. (p. 276)

Character is built on motives behind your actions—it’s what drives you to behave the way you do. We’ll talk more about motives in Unit 5. The fact is, we all have character. Character is not something you are born with. Rather it is a learned behaviour, shaped by our experiences and the influence of others in our lives. Character can form our habits—the way we think, speak, and act.

God takes the issue of character seriously. In The Maxwell Leadership Bible, John Maxwell (2018) recommends that leaders put character before charisma, mechanics, methods, and techniques. He suggests we put being before doing; and getting ourselves right before we work on anything else. The following statements help us understand why it’s important to develop our character:

• Our character earns the trust of others.
  
• Only good character gives lasting success with people.
  
• Sound character communicates credibility and consistency.
  
• Our gifts can take us further than our character can sustain us.
  
• Our character colors our perspective.
  
• Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.
  
• We cannot rise above the limitations of our character

Character fundamentally shapes how we engage the world around us, what we notice, what we reinforce, what we value, what we choose to act on, and how we make decisions. Without good, solid character, it can be easy to be pulled off our True North and lose our way.

Activity: Character and Associated Behaviours (45 minuntes)

Refer to the universal attributes of positive and negative leaders presented in Unit 1.

Positive Leader Attributes

Trustworthy	Just	Honest
Foresighted	Plans ahead	Encouraging
Positive	Dynamic	Motivator
Builds confidence	Motivational	Dependable
Intelligent	Decisive	Effective bargainer
Win-win problem solver	Communicative	Informed
Administratively skilled	Coordinator	Team builder
Excellence oriented

Negative Leader Attributes

Loner	Asocial	Non-cooperative
Irritable	Non-explicit	Egocentric
Ruthless	Dictatorial

Source: Northouse, P. (2018). Introduction to Leadership. Fourth Edition. Sage. (p. 8)

Select 3-5 positive leader attributes that you aspire to live out in your leadership and jot down the associated behaviours you would exhibit with this particular attribute in your learning journal. For example, if you choose “Trustworthy”, some associated behaviours might include:

• Be honest
  
• Be reliable (do what you say you will do)
  
• Have the courage to do the right thing
  
• Don’t deceive, cheat, or steal
  
• Build a good reputation

If there is an attribute that is important to you that is missing from the list, simply add it.

References:

• Maxwell, J. (2018). The Maxwell leadership bible. Thomas Nelson.
  
• Northouse, P. (2018). Introduction to Leadership. Fourth Edition. Sage.

Unit Summary

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In this unit, you learned about values, leadership principles, and character as fundamental aspects of authentic leadership. You identified your own core values and leadership principles. You examined the concept of character and why it’s so important in leadership. You had an opportunity to select positive leader attributes that you aspire to live out in your leadership and identify the associated behaviours related to each of these attributes.

Equipped with these deep beliefs and guideposts, you have a much greater chance of maintaining your True North and navigating difficult decisions and situations when pressure mounts and challenges surface.

“Peace of mind comes when your life is in harmony with true principles and values and in no other way.”

– Stephen Covey

Checking your Learning

Before you move on to the next unit, you may want to check to make sure that you are able to:

• Identify your core values and examine how your behaviours are in alignment with your values
  
• Explain how values contribute to authentic leadership
  
• Identify the ethical boundaries you will not cross
  
• Identify positive and negative leadership attributes
  
• Identify various ways to generate and organize ideas and relate the importance of this to leadership