I have previously made several posts on the core values I shared with court staff during my career.[i]  Values, of course, are not exclusive to courts.  I recently read the values of a high school which really resonated with me as these values apply to any setting where people work together, not just in an academic setting.  Here are the values:

Our school values are:

We are WELCOMING – We celebrate culture, differences and each individual.

We are KIND – We are respectful, restorative and we look after each other.

We PERSEVERE – We learn from our experiences, and we don’t give up.

We ACHIEVE – We work hard for academic, cultural, social and sporting success.

They sound simple, but they’re not. They are aspirational – they are our touchstones, and they guide all we do. We work hard in school and in our interactions with each other to put our values into action. The values apply to everyone in our school community – students, teachers and staff.

Wouldn’t every school and workplace benefit from a commitment to acting on the values of welcoming, kindness, perseverance, and achievement?  For instance, one of the fundamental aspects of great leadership is developing a culture of trust.  Trust is key to effective communication, teamwork and public service.  Having a welcoming and kind approach to each other and the people we serve goes a long way to making trust a reality. Persevering in the face of challenges is the sign of a healthy mindset that indeed achieves excellence.

What values exist in your workplace?  Are they informal or formal, like in this high school?  Organizations and their leaders should be up front and explicit about their values to foster the kind of workplace that works hard to achieve success.  Take the time to step back and analyze what are the real values you want to achieve and then commit to making them real in the coming year.

[i] I previously wrote about the values of Public Service & Accessibility, Teamwork & Cooperation, Quality, Diversity & Inclusion, Competency, Integrity, Innovative Practices and Competency (all found at Vantage Point – Court Leader).

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Published by Norman Meyer

After 38 years as a trial court administrator in the state and federal courts in the U.S., Norman continues to write, teach, and otherwise participate in judicial administration activities world-wide. In particular, he is active in the International Association for Court Administration (IACA) as a past Regional Vice President and Advisory Board member, in the National Association for Court Management (NACM) as a Past President (having received NACM's Award of Merit), and as an Associate of the Justice Speakers Institute. Norman has extensive experience working on international Rule of Law projects, particularly in the Russian Federation, Serbia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Albania. Norman is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of New Mexico (Political Science and Russian Studies), and he received the Master of Science in Judicial Administration from the University of Denver College of Law.

2 thoughts on “A High School Lesson on the Importance of Values”

  1. After reading your attached article about values reminded of yesterday signing into classmates.com viewing my class (1989) and seeing pictures of my former classmates. 

    I am a graduate of Mary Help of Christians Academy – North Haledon, New Jersey

    I attended and graduated from an all-female catholic high school in New Jersey that taught us about love, respect and values toward our classmates, staff and anyone we interacted with outside of the school. During my high school years as a teenager were challenging as a young African American female attending a predominantly Caucasian high school where young ladies from all over Passaic County attended. I was taught to love  and respect my classmates for who they were and their cultural backgrounds.  We learned throughout times to give hugs specifically during birthday celebrations and when a classmate suffered a challenging time either in school or at home. This is why I love to give hugs go people – people I haven’t seen for a long time or when someone has a challenging time. 

    In today’s world I have faced challenges from people because I give hugs to those who may at a particular moment need a hug or words of encouragement. Everyone has encountered a challenge in their life so hug can help bring someone through a challenging moment. 

    It is those core values of love, hugs, words of encouragement that are my foundation and have become who I am. I was not raised in the catholic religion in my home, however they are the values I represent that were taught to me as young teenager from my high school. 

    Those same core values carried me into my college attending another catholic school Felician College Lodi, New Jersey. 

    My catholic high school gave the foundation I needed to be strong for the world today. 

    Thank you for today’s article. 

    Renee’ D. Morris

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