13 September 2024
The notion of personal core values play an important role in coaching. A value is a way of being or acting that is recognised as important by the individual. Jean Cottraux¹ defines them as stable beliefs which affirm that in life, certain goals are preferable to others. They serve as the essential and underlying rules on which a person establishes the main principles of their life. Values are at the core of a person’s system of beliefs.
They therefore influence every decision a client makes. If decisions made are not in harmony with the individual’s values, it will create internal conflicts that are difficult to resolve. Consequently, when a person has a clear view of what their personal core values are, it’s easier for them to make a choice. Neglecting the role of values in coaching leads to a risk of dissatisfaction, demotivation and conflict of identity for the client.
Values are useful for conflict resolution, decision-making and play a motivational role in the functioning of the personality. Work contributes to the development of identity, since it involves dimensions that are highly valued by individuals such as social status, money, achievement, surpassing oneself, etc.
In 1981, Jacques Perron² formalised three dimensions to be considered when defining values: the cognitive dimension, the affective dimension and the behavioral dimension. A client may identify cognitive values with which they identify, in reference to an “ideal or idealized self”. However, these values may never be visible at the behavioral level.
The coach must therefore be attentive to the concept of “reference values” and “embodied values”. If the client cannot give an example of an action, an experience or an event demonstrating a direct link to the value, this value will remain cognitive and difficult to act on or satisfy within the coaching framework. In the case of a “reference or idealized value”, the coach will help the client clarify it.
It’s important to stress to the coachee that the choice of Personal Core Values must be made independently of what anyone else, including the coach, might think. Clarifying Values is an essential step in ensuring that the client is working on solid foundations.
¹French psychiatrist (1942)
²Contemporary Canadian psychologist
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