Our values shape our behavior, whether we realize it or not. A business or an individual that behaves in misalignment with their values will feel dissatisfied at best and fail at fulfilling a mission or a goal at worst.
Distress arises as a result of cognitive dissonance — for example when personal and professional values do not align. Learning to understand core values and apply them in different situations increases clarity and reduces distress.
There are a number of values training companies and platforms on the market that can help you build a values-based culture at work, home and within the community. Many of the organizations listed have both digital tools and training programs, while some have one or the other.
The key is to select a partner with a proven track record and the ability to understand your needs and context. Here is a guide to ten of the best values training services.
Values Institute
- Service: App, training program, coaching, live workshops, online course
- Who is it for: Organizations, individuals
- Location: Global
Description: The Values Institute was created to help people define and align their values in order to live and work with kindness and respect. The following training options are available:
- A live training session, delivered in person
- A live training session, delivered via webinar
- Online training delivered via their Learning Platform
- What makes them unique
The Values Institute has created a full-scale training program to make it possible for its clients to identify values and then learn how to implement them in their organizations. Values-based decision-making is the ultimate goal.
The Values Institute is unique in the effectiveness of its training programs. A study showed that participants who were able to affirm and act in alignment with their values had much lower somatic responses to stress compared with control group members.
Find them at https://startwithvalues.com/ (right here!)
Traind’Up
- Service: App, training program
- Who is it for: Companies, individuals
- Location: England, Scotland
Description: The organization prides itself on being able to provide a broad range of vocational training and education services throughout the UK. They train learners with a view to improving future industry needs.
Traind’Up is recognised as a leading values training service. They provide excellence in tuition, a chance to excel in the world labour market, and a positive, valuable learning environment.
The platform offers its community and the industry the best skills training to make learners competitive and develop their capabilities. The environment promotes leadership skills and encourages a global outlook and high achievement.
What makes them unique
Train’d Up has adopted a set of unique values to guide and promote its day-to-day activities and future goals. They are a combination of excellence, integrity, care and respect, and excellence. The platform operates honestly, ethically, and reliably and always aims to go above and beyond its community’s expectations.
The platform has created an understanding and caring environment, acknowledging people’s differences and individuality. This has helped them establish unique points of difference and set themselves apart from other training providers.
Find them at https://www.traindup.org/
ValuES
- Service: Training Program
- Who is it for: Individuals
- Location: International, project partners in Germany
Description: ValuES is a global project that supports its partners abroad to recognize and integrate ecosystem services into policy-making, project planning, and project implementation. They achieve this by developing training courses and tools, offering technical advice, and facilitating decision-making and planning processes. They also promote sharing knowledge through regional workshops and participating in global discussion forums.
What makes them unique
Their important insight into ecosystem services management makes them unique. We learn from ValuES that the material benefits obtained from ecosystems are known as ‘provisioning services’ and include food, water, etc. People trade these services in markets, but consumers in rural areas depend directly on them for their livelihoods. ValuES draws attention to the intrinsic value of these services, which goes above the objective value that is reflected in their market prices. Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and similar global conflicts, the importance of intrinsic values cannot be underestimated.
Find them at https://valuestraining.com/
Skills Training UK
- Service: Training program, assessment, online course
- Who is it for: Companies, individuals, schools
- Location: UK
Description: The platform supports people in attaining professional success by improving their motivation and confidence and developing their knowledge and skills. They help employers develop efficient, successful, productive, and resilient businesses.
Founded in 1992, the company has been at the forefront of improving and delivering employment skills and value training. They are involved in creating traineeships and apprenticeships and are always working on developing new, higher-level courses to meet employers’ needs in different industries.
What makes them unique
This platform truly impresses when it comes to expertise. Employers trust and value their approach thanks to their trainers’ in-depth subject and industry knowledge. Skills Training UK boasts a track record of providing practical, engaging, value-based courses which meet the needs of employers and employees. They are well-known for their flexibility, from a blended learning approach to customized training content and delivery.
Skills Training UK also takes pride in being a very high-performance team. They support and train their staff to achieve more consistently.
Find them at https://www.skillstraininguk.com/
Values Coach
- Service: Training program
- Who is it for: Companies
- Location: US
Description: Values Coach is a US-based service that provides training to improve values-based life and leadership skills for medical facilities, healthcare organizations, and systems. It helps people discover and act on their personal values as a critical step in building an ownership culture.
Their values training programs on based on The Twelve Core Action Values. These values are universal and unlimited in time. They start with Authenticity and end with Leadership. These are values that healthcare organization directors and managers want to see in their workplaces. There are four cornerstones per value, which put action into it.
What makes them unique
The unique Twelve Core Action Values is a course with 60 modules on values-based leadership and life skills. The course builds the basis of their Certified Values Coach training, a critical component of values-based initiatives for state agencies, hospitals, and corporations.
Find them at https://valuescoach.com/
Values Training
- Service: Training program
- Who is it for: Companies, individuals
- Location: US (Phoenix, Arizona)
Description: This platform was created to help people and organizations act in alignment with positive values. The focus is on action rather than discussion.
The focus of this training program is on the person’s value and on validating them to improve their confidence and self-esteem and realize their full potential.
The organization’s stated mission is to teach skills aimed at developing behaviour to increase productivity in people’s lives at home and at work. Organizations must realize that human capital is their greatest asset and act accordingly. Then, they can help their staff discover its fullest potential through Values Training’s professional evaluations, developmental processes, and approaches to change behaviour.
What makes them unique
The organization focuses on changing behaviour through a series of targeted activities, including a structured process and timed repetition, to develop new skills and habits. The programs consist of an initial seminar, subsequent sessions, and creative work to facilitate the learning process. They offer the client a basic communication structure using a seamless and systematic process, which enhances a client-focused environment. It also provides a standard language, a common message, and a structured modality for activities, actions, and communication. The training is tailored to emphasize the client’s values and mission.
Find them at https://valuestraining.com/
Personal Values
- Service: Assessment
- Who is it for: Individuals
- Location: not specified; an online contact form is accessible
Description: This platform was created to provide a simple and efficient method to establish and organize personal values. It is a decent solution applied in recruitment processes, used by personal trainers, and more.
The organization has a list of 62 personal values, created after an in-depth analysis of many different approaches to defining values. In the process, they paid special attention to personal values and defined them as accurately as possible while maintaining ease and clarity of interpretation.
The programs also provide guidance on strengths and potential risks. They have a free online test to rank your values, prioritize them, and find the ones closest to you.
What makes them unique
The free online test can be very helpful, although it’s not easy to take. Basically, it gives you two values and asks which one is more important to you, ex. stability vs. accountability. It’s hard to choose because they are connected with a certain degree of overlap.
Find them at https://personalvalu.es/
Barrett Values Centre
- Service: Training program, assessment
- Who is it for: Organizations
- Location: Offices in the US and the UK
Description: The platform was founded in 1997, and its stated mission is to help organizations achieve their goals by empowering their employees to perform at their best.
Barrett’s starting point is that every culture is unique. They claim to help companies build resilient, authentic, values-based cultures by ensuring the whole team shares the values.
What makes them unique
The Barrett Model is based on Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, which identifies seven levels that reflect human motivation. Basic survival needs are at the lowest level, and so-called self-actualization is at the highest.
Barrett’s programs have a track record of success, with 20 years of experience servicing thousands of organizations. They offer a proven and helpful map to grasp and comprehend the values of an organization’s leaders, employees, and stakeholders. What’s more, they provide a way to create more productive and supportive relationships between them, as well as a firmer alignment of goals and purposes across the organization.
Another way Barrett Values Centre is unique is by issuing a report titled “Seven Levels of Consciousness,” which guide organizations in evaluating and comparing the organization’s current values, its leaders’ personal values, and its desired cultural values.
Find them at https://www.valuescentre.com/
Integrity Consulting Services
- Service: Training program, assessment, online course
- Who is it for: Companies, individuals
- Location: Canada
Description: Integrity Consulting Services is a family initiative launched more than two decades ago. The founders, a married couple, have travelled the world and helped thousands of companies and individuals with development and learning strategies in values-based thinking through a combination of leadership training and coaching.
What makes them unique
They founded the practice because it had become obvious making values-based decisions was a weakness in people’s personal and professional lives. This understanding inspired a unique two-day course and a program to train trainers, which was offered exclusively to companies that wanted to improve value awareness on all levels.
The practice’s clients also learn to apply core corporate values to daily decisions. Their customized training has been delivered to more than 10,000 leaders globally.
Find them at https://integrityconsulting.ca/
Zoe Talent Solutions
- Service: Online Course
- Who is it for: Companies, individuals
- Location: Head office in Dubai, branch in London
Description: The company provides effective, high-quality consulting and training solutions to empower organizations through their human capital. They are tailored to their need to attain excellence in their business operations.
The mission stated by Zoe Talent is to help clients with performance-optimizing talent management strategies. The platform’s values training program explains the essence of values-based leadership, what the roles of a leader should be, effective leaders’ key traits, and value-adding benefits.
Course targets
- Grow the bottom-line
- Internalise the strategic vision of the company
- Create an entrepreneurial environment
- Mutual respect
- Behaviours that help overcome challenges
- Employee engagement
- Improved productivity
- Employee empowerment
- Improved organisational efficiency
- Stimulate innovation and creativity
- Sustainable growth
- Strong Culture
- More trust leading to more business opportunities
- Improved retention
What makes them unique
Zoe Talent has a specific approach called ‘Do-review-learn-apply.’ They facilitate group discussions and roleplay to challenge rigid thought processes to achieve the learning targets.
In the course of group discussions, each participant brings a unique perspective, which can benefit the others by challenging preconceived notions to arrive at the right mindset.
Find them at https://zoetalentsolutions.com/