Employee Values Connection Training

Values Connection Training

How to get your new hire to quickly buy-in to your company’s mission and goals

What is in this training for employees?

The purpose of this training is to help empower employees by identifying your core values and helping you to plug-in to the Mission and Values of the Mentor Network. When what you value matches what The Mentor Network values, your work will become more meaningful and you will understand how you can make a difference in working for REM-Central Lakes.

What's in this training for the company?

Research shows that employees tend to perform their job duties at a higher level and tend to stay with their respective employer for a longer period of time when they feel energized by or "plugged into" the values and goals of an organization.

Values

The purpose of the following exercise is to help you identify and define a partial list of your personal values. For a more thorough examination, we recommend the book, Moving Through Life Transitions with Power and Purpose, by Cara Dimarco. Why is this important? There are a million cliché's for it, but suffice it to say that when you know who you are and what you want in life you have much better change of getting it. It's even better when the organization you work for encourages and supports you in this endeavor. Complete the following exercise in it's entirety by reading through the text and writing down your responses to questions on a separate sheet of paper.

Let's get started:

Imagine that you are stranded forever in you favorite outdoor environment (mountains, desert, by a lake, in a remote island, etc.). There is no way out and civilization can not reach you. Although you're stranded, you discover an ample sized studio apartment equipped with every basic supply you need (indoor plumbing, heats, AC, hot and cold water, food, clothing, kitchen and utensils, washer and dryer, etc.) to live out the rest of your life. Now imagine that you get to add six people or things of your choosing to this environment. All of your children count as one item, but other people each count as one. What six people or things would you choose?

1.	4.
2.	5.
3.	6.

Look at the list above and see if you can pick out the values embedded in each choice. Look for basic themes. Share your list with other participants for help in finding themes. What are the values you can extract from these themes? List themes and their corresponding values below:

Themes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

	Values
	1.
	2.
	3.
	4.
	5.
	6.

Note: The above exercise was adapted from:

Diarco, Cara, (2001) Moving Through Life Transitions with Power and Purpose. (2nd ed.)
New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc.

The following is an examples of company mission and values statements. Please insert your own when implementing this training with your people.

The Company Mission Statement

To create a system of care for individuals with complex conditions that provides:

• options for living in the community
• supports for attaining independence
• opportunities for personal growth and personal connection in natural settings

We believe that individuals should have the opportunity to receive services and supports in their own communities regardless of the complexity of their condition, severity of their disability, or challenges of their behavior.

The Company’s Values

We believe that human relationships are the basis for growth and change.

We maintain that individuals have both a right and a responsibility to be active participants in the service planning / life planning process.

We respect the individuals we serve, their families, our employees and mentors, as well as the customers with whom we do business.

We are committed to finding positive solutions for both the individuals we serve and their families.

We believe that in natural community settings, the individuals we serve have the best opportunity to develop relationships and to realize their full potential.

We encourage a culture that embraces and promotes growth, change and innovation through teamwork.

Getting Plugged In

Answer the following questions in a separate document.

1. From your results on page one and our review of The Company’s mission and values on page two, how do your values fit with the company's mission and values?

2. What can we do as a team to share in, respect and support each other's values?

3. How will working in this organization help you to live according your personal values?