Stephan Polomski is director human resources, coach and trainer

Personal values are the reasons, why we do something or why we do not. They are the critical and unconsciously driving power within us motivating our actions and behavior. Values are our ethical framework in which we are living and moving. They are the basis for personal identity and identification. These days, shaped by the Arabian Revolution, the war in Libya, and the Japanese Apocalypse, I am preparing a basic leadership training, and just realize for myself again, how extremely fundamental values are for successful leadership or how they indicate the road to perdition of those who lead.

May be it is possible, that two persons share the same definition of a value like Fairness or Belonging or Wealth – but seems impossible to me, that the same two people live them or embody them the same way. There is no right, there is no wrong. There is no better, there is no worse. There is just diversity, and, however, the balance of the whole social system.

Talking about values, like for example Trust, leaders should ask themselves, how they want to live Trust, how they feel Trust in their bodies and minds, how they want, that others do trust them.

In leadership it is absolutely crucial to open up and understand the values of others and understand how they are living their values, in order to design constructive and resonating relationships in our private and professional contexts.

As values are so important to us, it is difficult to remain open, especially when our values are questioned within a certain context. Then we are very vulnerable perceiving and judging a certain situation or certain behaviours of others. In case, others hurt our highest inner values, we get angry and feel like being treated disrespectfully. When we hurt our inner values ourselves, we feel guilty. And thus, it is clear, that inner values and life quality are closely linked together.

In the leadership context – and this is a challenge sometimes with “difficult” employees or demanding decisions – it is a requirement to stay open towards all voices and especially those you negate. Only then, leadership turns into eldership and grants a basis of trust and security as well as the balance of the whole social system. If leaders are responsive to the inner values of another person and support this person to live his or hers values, they satisfy his/hers most intensive needs. In this case, this person will be very motivated, to accept your leadership.

There are values, the individual wants to achieve and others, the individual tries to avoid. Inside, individuals aim to live their highest inner values as much as possible. If an individual does this successfully, it has the feeling that life makes sense and has a high quality.

If we, in the organizational context, are able live our values while working, our work is fun and we manage things more effectively. If not, we are just doing the job, work becomes a burden and we get exhausted and tired of it – - finally, we become a burn out. And this is a big topic in leadership!

“On a long scale, leaders are only successful, if they really know their personal values precisely and live according to them and according to the targets, which are linked to them. At the same time, they need to share openness with others who have other values and show other behaviour and take other decisions as they themselves would take.”

On a long scale, leaders are only successful, if they really know their personal values precisely and live according to them and according to the targets, which are linked to them. At the same time, they need to share openness with others who have other values and show other behaviour and take other decisions as they themselves would take.

If leaders succeed in doing so, they are in resonance with their identity, their work and their relationships at work. If not, leaders might work on themselves to change until their inner values become liveable again.

The way, leaders embody values, is shown in their behaviour. Staff members demand that values are lived up to: which means a high congruence is required in between words and actions. And this is extremely demanding, as words as well as actions are perceived and evaluated very differently from different angles within the organisational system: a view on the political world stage, as mentioned above, shows this dramatically.

Values are powerful motivators and they are the basis for social movements: war, murder, equal rights, welfare state, corporate identity, corporate purpose, democracy.

Leaders applying eldership just have to allow themselves and others, to profess their dreams and yearnings, enclosed in their values. Then, their own full potential and the potential of others shall unfold in a motivated and positive way for everybody.