When values collide… [How to bridge the gap at your organization]

I was working recently with someone who had an old-school consulting background.

Her values were pretty in line with what many in the industry had valued for a LONG time:

-        Client comes first, always

-        95% billable weeks

-        Working overtime, no matter what

But now, this consultant — Linda — was interviewing potential new hires, mostly millennials, at her organization. They wanted things like:

-        Flexible schedules

-        No work on the weekends

-        The ability to work remotely

Their values seemed directly at odds with Linda’s—and she didn’t know what to do.

Was the way she’d always succeeded as a consultant … really a thing of the past?

Together, through my RIDE method, we assessed her core values, and I coached her through scenarios she’d encountered.

With clarity on her values, we could start to reimagine ways in which to live them.

After our work, Linda could:

-        Design strategies for how to honor both the clients’ needs AND the new hires’ requests

-        Recognize that the millennials weren’t asking to ignore client requests or emergencies: they just wanted that to be the exception (not the rule)

-        See how keeping a client first didn’t have to mean sacrificing health, time with family, etc.

At the end of the day, conflicting values among team members don’t have to be sacrificed…

You just have to be flexible in how you live them!