2025.04.04 Personal Values

We did a departmental workshop to delve into our personal values yesterday, with the purpose to see how best to harmonize as we work together towards supporting our department mission.

We make the best damn trucks for a better future.

It was an interesting bout of self-reflection for many folks who do not seem regularly interested in that sort of public review of internal drives. There was a wide variety of experiences, ranging from the cursory "I think this is what I would like to say is important to me" to the, "Now that I think about it, I am surprised to admit that this is pretty central to how I exist". But, aside from a couple manager-types who have recently been on some sort of related training, virtually everyone was unfamiliar with examining aspects of themselves where there isn't anything to fix.

To unpack that last part a little bit, I know for certain several of my peers are in or have been in therapy to address mental health concerns. And in a couple cases I've been unofficial support as a mentor and confidante. So I know they have considered their values, but it is hard to equip someone for a general philosophical perspective when their interest is to focus entirely on problems. There was generalized difficulty in cranking out 3-5 core personal values for use in this new context.

When I carefully wrote my Big Three on the provided note cards immediately, there were questions.

Joy.
Honour.
Wisdom.

Q: How did you come up with those so quickly?

A: I've not only done this before, I've been doing stuff like this for a long time. First with my dad, then with my friends as we had conversations about Life, The Universe, And Everything, and then with my first wife. These were actually engraved in my wedding ring.

Answer I didn't say then: Then also in therapy, after that marriage ended, and are a big part of why I'm doing as well as I am with it.

Q: Why just single words, and not more complete thoughts?

A: The ideas behind these three words expand and overlap.

Distilled version of the answer I rambled on, making it relevant to work: I do my best when I'm doing something I enjoy, so do other people, and it's even better when we all do. Doing work that we are proud of and meeting our commitments leverages tough situations into work we can be satisfied doing. Being open to learning new things, accepting that even things going wrong can be opportunities to learn, and knowing our limits and when to ask for help makes for better collegial bonds.

Q: Why are you hiding in the corner to eat the free hawaiian food?

A: Mmmph mmmrrrm mrfmm.