Core Value Clarity

Assessment & Discovery Tools

From a long list to five values you'd protect at any cost.

About This Tool

Values aren't aspirational — they're descriptive. They name what actually drives your decisions, motivates your effort, and produces friction when they're violated. The gap between what a leader says their values are and what their daily decisions reveal is often the source of persistent dissatisfaction, inconsistency under pressure, or the recurring sense that something important is being compromised.

This tool runs a structured clarification sequence: start broad (a large values menu), narrow to your top ten, identify the five you'd protect at any cost, and then — the most diagnostic step — rate how well you're actually living each one right now. The rating table converts a reflection exercise into a gap analysis. The largest gaps are where the alignment work lives.

How to Use This Assessment

  1. In Step 1, check every value that resonates — don't edit yourself at this stage.
  2. In Step 2, narrow from your checked values to ten. If you have more than ten checked, eliminate the ones that feel more aspirational than essential.
  3. In Step 3, apply the elimination question: "If I had to give up all but five to protect these five, which would I keep?"
  4. In Step 4, rate each core value honestly — not how you'd like to be living it, but how you actually are.
  5. Step 5 asks for one concrete action. One is enough to start.
1

Values Identification

Step 1 — Identify Your Values

Check every value that resonates with you.

Achievement
Authenticity
Balance
Belonging
Boldness
Clarity
Collaboration
Commitment
Compassion
Contribution
Courage
Creativity
Curiosity
Decisiveness
Dependability
Discipline
Effectiveness
Empathy
Excellence
Fairness
Faith
Family
Flexibility
Focus
Freedom
Growth
Helpfulness
Honesty
Humility
Impact
Independence
Influence
Innovation
Integrity
Justice
Kindness
Leadership
Learning
Loyalty
Mastery
Meaning
Openness
Optimism
Order
Patience
Perseverance
Purpose
Quality
Recognition
Relationships
Reliability
Respect
Responsibility
Security
Service
Simplicity
Stability
Strength
Trust
Vision
Wisdom
2

Narrow & Select

Step 2 — Narrow to Your Top 10

From everything you checked, which ten matter most?

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Step 3 — Identify Your Core 5

Which five are non-negotiable? If you had to give up the others to preserve these five, which would you keep?

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
3

Alignment Assessment

Step 4 — Test Each Core Value

For each of your five core values, rate how well you are living it right now and describe where the gap is largest.

Value Current Rating (1-10) Ideal Rating Gap Description
Step 5 — One Alignment Action

What is one concrete change you could make this month to better honor your most underserved value?

Reflections

Before Your Next Session

Look at your Core 5. Are there any values on the list that felt automatic — ones you wrote down without really questioning whether they're truly yours, versus ones you've inherited or feel you should hold? What's the difference between those two kinds of values in how you actually experience them?

4

Tandem Coaching Partners

Credentialed coaches with real-world leadership experience,
partnering with executives and organizations
to unlock sustainable growth.

Consultation

tandemcoach.co/
contact-us

Email

info@tandemcoach.co

Phone

855 51 COACH

Challenge your thinking.
Discover your capabilities.
Act on them.

Dallas, TX  |  Houston, TX  |  Worldwide Virtual