Values Reset: Finish the Year Strong with Clarity and Intention

This episode introduces a simple framework to help you align your work and leadership identity by selecting values to guide the next 90 days. By focusing on values, not just tasks, you’ll create clarity, stay grounded, and achieve your goals with greater intention. The takeaways:

• How to identify two professional values to guide your next 90 days
• What alignment and misalignment look and feel like in practice
• Simple ways to measure your progress and stay accountable
• Three actionable tactics to reset, refocus, and finish the year strong

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Values-Based Goals
• 0:45 Choosing and Defining Your Core Values
• 2:37 Measuring Alignment with Your Values
• 5:00 Taking Inventory and Committing to Action
• 7:30 Personal Example and Final Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 00: 0:00

Hey there, Jill Griffin, the host of The Career Refresh. I want to talk about goals. Now, there's lots of different ways that we think about goals, but right now, as we're starting to round out to the back end of the calendar year, makes me think of, okay, what can I do in the next 90 days? What's possible? What can I achieve? What who do I want to be in this period? So I have some thoughts for you. How do you intentionally use your values to align to your goals so that it feels less heavy, more in the flow, and a way that you can really stay grounded through whatever will happen over this goal setting period. All right, let's dig in. So when you're thinking about goals, you may have hardcore goals that are attached to like OKRs, objectives, and key results. You may have to hit a number, you may have some hiring you need to do, some re-orging, some job descriptions, all the things that I'm hearing about. But what I'd offer you as you go into this, regardless of what the goal is, and assuming it's measurable, I want you to think about what do you want to, what do you want to ground into and what do you want to stand for as you go to pursue these goals? When you're leading through values, your actions, your decisions, your results for yourself first start to become really clear. There's intention in it. And then you also have the opportunity to set that with your team and of course cross-functionally with anybody you're working in. So what I would offer you to start with is 90 days, pick two values, right? You may have more than that, but I want you to start with two values and really get clear with yourself. How like how are you going to measure that value? Define it. So if you tell me one of your values is being accountable or being responsible, I want you to define it. Yes, there's a dictionary version of it, but I want you to define what that means for you. And then I want you to think about okay, well, how is this value going to anchor me? As we go through this process of setting goals, you need an anchor and you also need to be the architect. There's those two strength, uh two ends of the stick, so to speak, right? That you need to be thinking about the vision at the same time staying anchored in something and anchored one, the goal and two your values. So whether it's accountability, discipline, patience, um, strategic, meaningful work, um thinking through what are some of those values for yourself. So, for instance, for me, two of my values are that I'm focusing on for the back half of this year is possibility, how to stay in possibility, which is all reminding myself about a growth mindset and what becomes possible when I stay in that versus thinking about what's not going to work, thinking about how can I make it work, right? Those some of that gross mindset that comes up for possibility. And the second one is generosity. Where are the areas in my life that, you know, that being a personal value of mine, where are the areas in life as I think about the last 90 days of the year that I can lean in a bit more and be extra generous to people that might need it, right? So defining what they mean, what does it look like when you're aligned to this value? What does it feel like in your body? It is a bit somatic, but understanding when I'm in the flow, what does that feel like for me? And it just importantly thinking about how will I show up? And that also then begs the question of what does it mean when I'm not aligned? How does that feel in my body? I feel like I feel all of my stress between my upper chest and my neck when I start to feel misaligned. It feels very heavy and thick, and there might be a tightening in there. So that's a signal to me that I might be out of alignment. What are the behaviors and what are it's my mindset around these particular values that I'm choosing? And then when you're thinking about measurement, let's say you're choosing accountability as a personal value. Well, what does that look like? Are you meeting deadlines? You're leading with transparency, you're setting clear expectations, you're having check-ins, there are milestones. What are those areas of accountability? Um, not alignment might feel like frustration or procrastination or letting yourself or your team down, right? Another might be integrity, integrity of being really true to your word and making sure that your actions follow through your word. One of the things about integrity that we often forget is we also need to have integrity with ourselves. So, what are the things that we're saying to ourselves that we want to do? Perhaps that's your non-negotiables. How do you want to start your morning? How do you want to prep for your day? How do you want to maintain your sleep habits and your exercise and your wellness habits? Are you in integrity with yourself as much as your integrity with the others that you work with? So I want you to really think through that. And then I want you to think through measurement. This part is crucial. So, how are you gonna track whether or not you're living against this value that you're choosing? Are you gonna do weekly refresh reflections? If you've been listening for a while, you know I always talk about what worked, what didn't work, what would I do differently? Are you gonna look at it that way? Is there um a way that you might check in with teammates or have conversations with them and see if they're aligning to the same values? Are you having a group conversation about how we're hitting our goal? Are you using a um, you know, project management software, even if you just use it for yourself, like an asana, um, and making sure that you're checking off the various things if if if they are measurable in that way and tangible, but really checking to make sure that the time on your calendar and how you're scheduling your time matches those priorities. That that's the most important thing. Because if you're not measuring it, then you're going after something that it it may be a feeling, and feeling can be used as part of measurement, but you want to make sure that you're clear. And then asking yourself, okay, if I'm going to do this, what's the inventory, like almost like personal inventory? What's already in place? What do I need to create or what do I need to shift? And what is needed by the year end in order to make me feel that I was aligned to these values? I'm gonna ask you to stretch your thinking here and go beyond just applying this to yourself. As I mentioned, how do these apply to the team that you're leading? How do you apply them cross-functionally? How do they influence your collaboration, your communication, the way you might show up in meetings? And remember, this is about making sure that you're creating something that you can stay consistent with. So whether this becomes something that you're calendaring, if it's a daily journal or doing some writing or scheduling consistent one-on-ones with your team, you want to make sure that you're taking consistent action against those values that you're able to show up in the way that feels most beneficial to yourself and therefore to the goal and to your team. So the challenge pick two values, define what they look like, define what alignment, being in alignment with them and out of alignment, what it is. Decide how you're going to measure it. Take inventory, decide what's there, what's missing, what's the gap, how are you going to commit to closing that gap? And I would say think about what are the minimal of the three actions you can take in order to close that gap. I'll share with you, as I said, the value that I was talking about was generosity. And I was asked to volunteer at something, and I already do a lot of volunteer work. And my first response was like, uh, you know, do I have time for this? What's this gonna do to my schedule? All of that. And then I reminded myself that for the back half of this year, for the last 90 days, I am choosing to make generosity a top priority. So it was really quick and easy to recenter. Oh, that's my priority. Well, then of course I'm saying, I'm saying yes to this additional volunteer uh opportunity. So that's what I want you to think through as you're going through your your year-end wrap-up, perhaps your um 2026 planning. I know not everybody is on a calendar. Some of you are on a fiscal, it doesn't really matter. It's a 30-day chunk of, I mean, excuse me, it's a 90-day chunk of time in which you want to think through and be really clear. When you anchor in your values, you are grounding yourself, you are setting a foundation for how you're going to act, how you're going to react, how you're going to behave, and how you're going to mentor and nurture your teams. All right. So I always love to hear from you. Tell me, did you do this? Did you find a way to connect in with values? And how did you embody them and push them through these next 90 days? All right. If you have questions, as always, email me at hello at JillGriffinCoaching.com. And as always, be positive, be intentional, and always, always, always be kind. All right. I'll talk to you soon.