70–80 minutes (10 minutes for introductory lecturette; 10 minutes for self-assessment; 10 minutes to mark overhead; 20 minutes for small-group work; 20–30 minutes for debriefing)
Work M–H P, T, D, M
1. To identify values of individual team members
2. To establish the values profile of the team
3. To determine values that create opportunities for and barriers to team effectiveness
4. To identify ways to eliminate barriers to and maximize opportunities for team effectiveness
• A Values Continuum Worksheet for each person
• A Values Continuum Worksheet transparency or newsprint
• An overhead projector (or a flipchart) and several colored projector pens (or sticky dots) for identifying team values
1. Open the session with a brief lecturette regarding culture and values (see “Culture and Values Narrative,” Appendix A, page 231).
2. Give all of the participants the “Values Continuum” worksheet and ask them to complete it for themselves.
3. Ask each team member to mark his or her individual value choices on the “Values Continuum” worksheet transparency or to use sticky dots to identify his or her choices on the easel page. This will create a team profile that everyone can see.
4. Place people in groups of 3–4 and ask them to discuss where the team’s opportunities and challenges may lie, based on the group profile. Ask them to pay particular attention to values where the grouping is tight as well as to values where there may be individuals whose values differ from the majority.
5. Bring the groups together and ask them to report the opportunities and challenges they have identified.
6. In the large group, try to agree on specific behaviors that will help the team maximize their opportunities and reduce or eliminate the barriers to effectiveness.
7. Ask the team to commit to practicing at least two of the behaviors to maximize effectiveness and two behaviors to minimize barriers.
1. Which values resulted in the greatest spread across the continuum? Why do you think this is so? Which value resulted in the highest degree of agreement? Why?
2. How did you feel when one of your values differed markedly from the team’s?
3. How did you feel about the discussions?
4. Was it easy or difficult to identify opportunities and challenges? In what ways?
5. What have you learned?
6. How will you apply what you learned to your everyday work life?
1. When the team is in close agreement on a value, it can be a strength and facilitate effectiveness—or it can create blind spots the team needs to be aware of.
2. When an individual differs from the majority of the team on a value, that person can be a strength to the team if he or she is not made an outsider.
© Executive Diversity Services, Inc., Seattle, Washington, 1999.
Circle the number (between 1 and 7) that most closely represents your value. For example, if you are very formal, circle number 1; if you are very informal, circle number 7; if you have no preference for formality or informality, circle number 4, and so on.
© Executive Diversity Services, Inc., Seattle, Washington, 1999.
