“Operationalizing” Values
Our home has a list of “Harris values” hanging by our front door. Our church has “Godwhy’s values” hanging in the hallway so everyone sees them as they walk into the café area (strategic placing). However, until I read Daring to Lead by Brene Brown, it never occurred to me to “operationalize” them for our family or church. We consistently discuss our values and highlight them to our kids and community members. Still, we never committed to creating specific behaviors or actions to express these values in our home or church. What a miss!
Brene Brown says this lack of practicing values is the reason people roll their eyes when we talk about them. She explains her research by stating, “In our experience, only about 10 percent of organizations have operationalized their values into teachable and observable behaviors that are used to train their employees and hold them accountable. Ten percent.”[i] Is she telling us that posting our values won’t cause them to magically appear in our families or organizations?!?
One of the main thrusts of Brene’s book is that living out our ideal values is difficult in practice but relieves the internal tension within us when we practice them. Values require action, accountability, hard conversations, and vulnerability. 
Brene prioritizes two values, courage, and faith, for her own life which can be practiced in several ways. For example, she mentions how she gives and receives feedback as part of her practice of courage. When it comes to giving feedback, she lists several postures and mindsets she inventories within herself to gauge her readiness for these moments. A few she says:
I know I’m ready to give feedback when I’m ready to sit next to you rather than across from you.
I know I’m ready to give feedback when I’m ready to listen, ask questions, and accept that I may not fully understand the issue.
I know I’m ready to give feedback when I’m ready to acknowledge what you do well instead of just picking apart your mistakes.
I know I’m ready to give feedback when I can talk about how resolving these challenges will lead to growth and opportunity.[ii]
Simple. Practical. Insightful. Thanks, Brene!
Of course, Brene uses this book to encourage and inspire her readers to identify two, not ten, core values they personally hold and operationalize them. This is not easy! I felt like I did while reading Eve Poole’s book, Leadersmithing.[iii] Where do I begin?! I looked through the list, underlining the words that jumped out at me. There were several that stood out. However, what helped me narrow down these words to two was reflecting on times when I felt the most internal tension when I was not living out my values. These are the things that keep me up at night or gnaw at me until I address them.
For example, while in my first few years of youth ministry, I consumed a steady diet of authors and YouTube preachers with similar ideas. I naturally began adopting their interpretations as my own and preached them one night to my youth. I didn’t sleep all night. It felt like I had violated something to my core, and eventually, I realized I did not actually believe what I was saying. I changed my approach after this. One of my friends said they had a theology professor tell them, if you half believe something, preach it like you believe it 100%. I don’t have a box for this type of approach.
Another example that came to mind happened during a church service in my Pentecostal tradition when I was around 13 or 14 years old. A group of people were praying for me at the altar to receive the Spirit with the evidence and gift of speaking in tongues or glossolalia.[iv] The pastor, with a big smile on his face, put me on the spot with his microphone and said, “Did you get it?!” I did not want to disappoint and knew I felt something, so I said, “I did!” The crowd cheered, and I immediately felt conflicted. Once again, this ate at me until I had to call the pastor a couple of days later and explain my confusion and regret. Eventually, I did have that type of spiritual experience, and it changed my life, but that’s a different story. Authenticity has always seemed to be a core value of mine.
If I had to narrow down another value I hold based on internal tension, it would be growth. My brother bought me a picture with the phrase “Get comfortable with feeling challenged. It means you’re growing.” It hangs in my office. Maybe this is cheating, but when I think about growth, it means growing in love, wisdom, understanding, character, knowledge, skills, well-being, etc. This is why this doctoral program and other opportunities like last week with the inter-religious workshop in Washington, DC, was so edifying. When I am not growing, helping those around me grow, or in an environment of growth, I feel stagnated, uneasy, and empty. This is why Edwin Friedman’s Failure of Nerve was so validating. Organizations and people are either evolving and adapting to strength or devolving and adapting to dysfunction and complacency.[v] Now that I’ve nailed these values down, which was hard to choose just two, my task is operationalizing them!
Operationalize:
Authenticity – Take daily risks sharing my honest perspective about a subject or situation even when it goes against the grain or will lead to “rumbling with vulnerability”.
Growth – Assess moments when I’m avoiding something difficult but necessary due to feelings of discomfort, then engage.
Curious about other people’s values and ways you plan to “operationalize” them!
[i] Brown, Brené. Dare to Lead: Brave Work, Tough Conversations, Whole Hearts (New York: Random House, 2018), 190.
[ii] Brown, Dare to Lead, 199-201.
[iii] Poole, Eve. Leadersmithing: Revealing the Trade Secrets of Leadership. London ; New York, NY: Bloomsbury Business, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2017.
[iv] Glossolalia, (from Greek glōssa, “tongue,” and lalia, “talking”), utterances approximating words and speech, usually produced during states of intense religious experience. “Glossolalia.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Accessed April 18, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/topic/glossolalia.
[v] Friedman, Edwin H., Margaret M. Treadwell, and Edward W. Beal. A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix. 10th anniversary revised edition. New York: Church Publishing, 2017.
About the Author
Adam Harris
I am currently the Associate Pastor at a church called Godwhy in Hendersonville, TN near Nashville. We love questions and love people even more. Our faith community embraces God and education wholeheartedly. I graduated from Oral Roberts University for undergrad and Vanderbilt for my masters. I teach historical critical Biblical studies at my church to help our community through their questions and ultimately deepen their faith. I love research, writing, learning, and teaching. I oversee our staff and leadership development. Before being at Godwhy I worked as a regional sales coach and director for Anytime Fitness. I've been married for over 13 years to my best friend and we have two amazing boys that keep us busy.7 responses to ““Operationalizing” Values”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Oh Adam, What a great post. I appreciate your vulnerability. I, too, can think of a few things I don’t have a box for in the Christian world. You highlighted the importance of our values not just being something we say we hold but that which we are intentionally and actively living out. Can I steal your values? 🙂 They are perfect and so grounded in love. I will have a nice reflection upon my own and check to see that they are operational. Thanks for the inspiration! Have a wonderful summer!
Thanks Jenny, and yes you can absolutely steal my values, I almost stole Brene’s. Its really hard to pick just two!! Hope you have a great summer as well and good luck getting ahead on your prototype! See you in DC, can’t believe this is our last year!
Adam, you are SUCH a good writer. I know I’ll be reading (and recommending) books you write in the future.
I didn’t act on this immediately but set the exercise as a summer project (not all summer, just picking a day after this semester is done). You just made it easier by modeling what the process can look like.
I’m honestly thankful to God that He connected us. Your intellect, your heart, and your posture have taught me so much. I’m looking forward to the next year with you.
See you in DC.
Thanks so much Tim, that breathes life in my soul. This program has really helped me discover how much I like writing so that is very encouraging. I can tell you the feeling is mutual. I have a lot of admiration and respect for you as a leader, learner, communicator, and person. Thankful God has connected us as well! See you in DC my friend.
Ah, vision without follow through! This is hard. I am so good at dreaming big, at gaining traction and getting buy in, but man…continuing the work and finding the way to “operationalize” them needs a team? Perhaps the best leaders are those who know their role and gifts and empower those who have the gifts to fill in the gaps we have? I wonder what it would look like to present that conundrum of how to “operationalize” the values at the front door! Sounds like a great stakeholder workshop!
Adam, I’d go to your church if I were closer!
Yes, we had a speaker come to our church and the first quote she had on the screen was “theory ain’t shit without practice” lol. Hopefully I don’t get flagged or something on here. I do think it is important to know our role and stay in our lane.
I like the idea of “operationalizing” the values at the front door!
I would love to have you at our church!! Have a great summer and see you in DC!
Adam,
I love the way you plan to operationalize these values. I will need to think a bit more about how I plan to do so. I enjoyed reading your post. Looking forward to our final year together.