Step One: Introduction (Three to Five Minutes)

Distribute the list of values. Ask participants to follow along with your instructions and not to try to go ahead of you or guess what comes next. Ask participants to read the list of values. Tell participants that they may add any values not on the list that they feel are important to them.

Possible optional, interesting discussion questions at this point include the following. You might want to use one or more of these questions to stimulate some discussion to set the stage in advance of the exercise.

• Ask what a value is and why it is so important for us to be aware of our values. Why is it important for our instructor to be aware of our values?
• Ask the definition of terms for all or for those that might prove troublesome.
• Ask what an assumption is and why we should always test assumptions and not just think that everyone thinks the same way we do or has the same values we do.

Step Two: Rating the Values Intuitively (Five Minutes)

1. Participants should read all the values first and then check off the ten that are the most important to them. They may use whatever intuitive methods of analysis they want to make their decisions. There are no right or wrong answers. They will not be judged on their responses. These are individual decisions.
2. When considering these values, they should consider their importance to them personally, not as an organization member. You do not leave your values at the door when you enter the building.

Facilitation tips:

1. They have only five minutes for this task (it should be off the top of their heads, without a lot of thought).
2. Warn the group when there are two minutes remaining and then when there is one minute left.

Step Three: Rating the Values on a Scale (Ten Minutes)

For each value considered, participants should provide an example of why it is important to them. In many cases this will also help clarify choices. If I have x value, it automatically includes y value, too (of course, this is an individual interpretation).

Step Four (5 minutes)

Ask participants to examine their ratings and decide upon their 5 highest values.

Step Five: The Simulation (Ten Minutes)

Give participants six index cards each, telling them to put the sixth card in a safe place to use later. On each of the five cards, they should write one of their five highest values.

Tell them they should look over the five cards and make a decision regarding which of the five cards they are most willing to give to you. In other words, which of the five is the least important of the five? Then walk around to each person and take the card that holds his or her highest value. This evokes lots of emotion as people are “giving away” their highest held values. There is much nervous laughter in the room.

Facilitation tips:

1. If you have a large group, ask participants to pass the value they are giving away to their right and you collect them from the person on the aisle.
2. It is a dramatic touch to have a clean wastebasket in which you can “discard” the values. However, you will want to keep the cards in order to add up the total number of times a value appeared in everyone's top five, so make sure the basket is clean so you can retrieve them. Before you throw away the number five value, read them to the group. “Here is what you have given away…” This always gets a big reaction as people experience having given away significant parts of them.

Do this three more times. People give up another value (number four); you read them and throw them away. Then do the same with the number three and number two values.

People are left with their most dearly held value. They get to keep this one. (Say, “Think of everything you had to give up in order to keep this one. It must be of incredible significance to you.”)

Note: You may be tempted to skip this part of the exercise. Please do not. It is the simulation of throwing away values that brings them into critical consciousness—people are likely not aware of their own values and, if just asked to list them, would not get them right!

Step Six: Number Ones (Three Minutes)

Ask participants to retrieve the sixth index card. On this card they are to make a copy of their number one value to hand to you for counting. They should write the value on the card and “#1.” Point out that you are not taking this away from them. That is why you gave them the sixth card.

Read out the number one responses. Point out how important they are. Tell the participants to think of what they had to give up in order to keep this one. It is very significant to their motivation and life choices.

Note: Be careful about asking people to share their values with the group. Some people will want to do this and others will not. No one should share his or her values if they do not want to do this. But if they do, it can be a very interesting discussion.

Step Seven: Restoring the Values (Two Minutes)

People will feel stripped of important parts of themselves. You should have a little ceremony. Raise your hands and pronounce, “By the authority vested in me as the instructor of this class, I hereby restore to you the values I took away.” Everyone will laugh and feel better.

Step Eight: Discussion Questions (If There Is Time)

• Which was the hardest value for you to give up? The first one? The last one? Why?
• Were you surprised with the value you kept as number one? Is it one you might have predicted?
• Did you have any values in your top five that weren't even in your original top ten? In other words, values that only became apparent to you after you examined additional perspectives?
• Do you think these were your values at other points in your life? Might they change at other points in your life?

Step Nine: Follow-Up: Compiling and Analyzing the Results (May Be Done Virtually or at the Next Meeting)

Count the cards given away and you'll get the number of each value that was in the participants' top five values. Keep track of the number one values separately. You get a composite of the values of this group and consequently its culture now that participants have critically analyzed their values for their appropriateness in their lives today.

Optional: You might ask participants to hand in anonymously their scaled scores. If you have these, you can calculate schoolwide averages for each value (instead of knowing only the top five). You would know which values are low across the board—which you won't know from just collecting the cards (some might be high, just not as high as the top five). You will gain a lot from knowing if there is actual resistance to some of the values that are needed for instructional focus.

And, a final note about personal values versus those more evident in school. People do not leave their personal values at the doorstep when then come to work. If personal values—such as family life and health—are more important than school values (such as student success), you need to know this. And, those who hold these values will be able to suggest how to translate them into productive values for the school. Family life might translate into annual family outings for school community members or even treating colleagues as family—holding social gatherings or even team meetings.

Here's a summary template you might use.

Here's an example of the data from one elementary school.

If I were the leader of this school, here's what I would understand from these data:

• The values are centered on relationships and warm feelings. I would do nothing to disrupt this and would ask for advice on how to get more of this into daily school life. These can further accomplish any vision.
• Student success is an important shared value—that's great for achieving the vision. But I need to understand that family life is a higher value (and more often rated number one).
• Regarding instructional-centered values, what is missing is data-informed decision making. I would look at the scaled scores (five to one ratings) to see if this was rated low or just didn't make the top five. In any case, I would know that I need to put a strategy in place to increase teachers' value for making decisions based on data.
• The number one value is family life (and work-life balance is highly rated) so I would be careful that I didn't schedule important activities that conflicted with staff members' family responsibilities. I would also make team time social and feel like family.
• I would stress collaboration over competition when planning strategies.

Here's a follow-up group discussion you might want to lead. In any case, these are the questions you might consider as you think through your high-payoff culture strategy.

Number one values

1. What were the number one values? These are the values that will rule the day when participants are pressed. Are the number ones clustered or individualized?
2. In the previous example, you would emphasize job satisfaction even though affection or love had more votes overall. Affection or love has more number ones.

Conflicts between highly held values

1. Analyze situations for existing values conflicts when both values are highly rated but participants are asked to choose activities of one over the other. Can you eliminate these?

Getting participants' values expressed more

1. Facilitate group members' brainstorming strategies to incorporate more of their values into their work (they will flood you with ideas). A question that sometimes comes up is, “What happens if the values are mostly those that are personal and not instruction-centered?” “How can we get more health in our culture, for example?” The answer is that all values count! Those that do not have an immediately apparent connection with teaching and learning actually do. And those who hold those values can tell you how they relate.

Build on the instruction-centered values to create a foundation for teaching and learning

1. Are the organization's values instruction-centered? How can these be emphasized more?

The leader's values don't count

1. Recognize that your values might not be reflective of those of the group.

Use participants' values for stability

1. How can the group values be used to promote stability in times of change?

Don't inadvertently upset the culture

1. If there are participant values that are disrespected by the existing culture—without reason—stop that practice.

Values change

1. Be aware that values change and sometimes can change quickly and dramatically. Do this exercise annually.