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Transitioning to a new career or coming back after a gap can be fun, rewarding and easier than you think.

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Polish your personal brand, it is your largest asset and will be with you throughout your career.

Insights from ProValues Sessions

November 29, 2022

Over the past several months, we rolled out ProValues to several corporate teams, MBA student groups and alumni organizations. Though there remain signs of a softening labor market, forward-thinking leaders continue to explore how to improve retention of their key talent. In doing so, they hope to better align their teams with organizational goals, positioning them to elevate themselves if macroeconomic conditions continue to weaken.

We've been impressed with the tone and positive discussions coming out of these sessions so far. In fact, many participants have appreciated just having the session, as they take it as a sign that management is trying to always do better for their teams and become better leaders themselves. This positivity has carried over into session content, where participants discussed:

How values can power effective networking conversations (and how to prepare for them)

The importance of recognizing what you need to know before saying “yes” to an opportunity

The increased sense of satisfaction in a role when people know what they value

For instance, we were invited to lead a session with an affinity club for a top-5 MBA program. During that session, we discovered the importance of work/life balance, which shaped how participants were going to approach internship and full-time recruiting. More importantly, many participants noted that they felt more comfortable defining what work/ life balance actually meant to them, vs. relying on stereotypes, clichés, and the expectations of others.

We also worked with a consulting firm to uncover the hidden diversity of their organization. While compensation was obviously important to this cohort, other factors like faith in leadership, work/life balance and intellectual stimulation were much more important. This allowed the CEO to improve satisfaction within the team without blowing up their budget. It also allowed them to prioritize the talent profile when strategic planning for future years.

Most recently, we had the opportunity to collaborate with a blockchain company building solutions in the sustainability space. What immediately struck us was how many of the team’s values related to aspects outside of traditional compensation, such as interesting work, intellectual challenge, and the larger societal benefits of their mission. These insights formed the basis of a key strategy offsite for their organization, and provided participants with 2-3 action items each to improve their career satisfaction and boost contributions to their teams. 

Every session we have conducted this year has reinforced the opportunity to increase satisfaction on teams by finding simple ways to address core values. While the answer *may* be more compensation, there are so many other ways to engage people on your teams, from creating opportunities to achieve stretch goals and projects for those interested, flexibility in how they work, or just a simple thank you from time to time.

We are scheduling ProValues sessions into the fall and early winter for colleges, MBA programs, and for corporate teams. The corporate presentations focus on how to use your knowledge of your values to thrive at work, to set goals, and to communicate more effectively on teams. If you would like to learn more about conducting a session for your team, please reach out!