Values for Value
Executive Value Tool
Based on our experience and our desire to work for a more human world, we have developed a tool for identifying values: the Executive Value Tool. This online questionnaire developed in-house aims to analyze the relative importance given to a whole series of values. The objective of this tool is to highlight the most important values for the candidate, those which intrinsically motivate him and guide him in his choices.
Why a valuable tool?
To respond to current and future environmental and societal challenges, we have come to the evidence that assessing a set of skills is insufficient to guarantee the candidate’s development and performance. Wanting to work only with companies committed to a sustainable path (economically, ecologically and humanly), we absolutely had to be able to put them in contact with visionary leaders capable of adapting to their disruptive corporate culture and to challenge them.
In order to be able to present to our clients these conscious candidates, the visionary change-makers of tomorrow, we needed a tool that would allow us to go deeper into the understanding of their “interpersonal skills”, including their values.
In a VUCA world (Volatility, Uncertainly, Complexity and Ambiguity), values represent a solid and coherent base on which motivations, decisions and expectations are based. In today’s world, it is essential that employers and candidates align with their values. If the complementarity of values is an asset, it is indisputable that certain values must match in order to guarantee consistency and a common vision. Additionally, in times of uncertainty and change, values represent a beacon in the night, a raft that anyone can hang on to when the swell is on.
Taking values, expectations and motivations into account in our candidate assessments allows us to find the perfect match between these valued women and men and our committed clients.
Our Expertise
With the help of psychologists, and on the basis of Schwartz’s scientific work, we have developed the Executive Value Tool. This value identification tool has been specially designed and adapted for the professional world of executives and business leaders. We first identified 400 values, and from it, through a careful selection came down to select 80 essential values which are the core of the Executive Value Tool .
The values model starts from the premise that all individuals share a set of values. Although these values are universal, the importance placed on them is not rigid. It varies between individuals and over time depending on life stages and experiences. The Executive Value Tool is a questionnaire made up of questions in which you are asked to position yourself among several statements. After an analysis of your answers, a Cartography of your values is then created with several easy-to-read graphs. The first graph looks like this :
This mapping analyzes your values on 4 interconnected levels. The first level summarizes your results by identifying the predominant Development Dimension in which you are located today. The second level is built around 8 commonly shared Primary Values. This second level allows you to focus on your priorities and the issues that drive you. They also mark your sphere of development in relation to the axes of “human focus” and “action focus”. The third level analyzes and quantifies your positioning on the 17 Universal Values. And the fourth and last level translates the values as you have chosen them. It more specifically reflects the values and counter-values to which you pay particular attention in your daily life.
The aim of the Executive Value Tool is to provide a reading grid on the Values of business leaders without making a judgment. The tool therefore allows the candidate to refocus on what is important to him today, sometimes by providing answers, sometimes by providing avenues for reflection. It allows us to approach the person in a more holistic way and deepen our understanding and assessment of the candidates we shortlist. It also validates the suitability of the candidate’s values with those of the client.
A concrete application
At Hire & Higher, we see the recruitment process as a meeting. A meeting between an ambitious management oriented towards a sustainable future and aware of social and environmental issues, and human candidates in search of meaning and eager to work for a sustainable world through an organization and management practices reasoned and respectful of the planet and stakeholders.
Faced with complex social and environmental challenges, companies must be able to recruit conscious leaders capable of supporting them throughout the process of sustainable organizational transition and capable of co-constructing an enlightened and ambitious vision. To meet these challenges, it is the interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence of these leaders that will make all the difference.
To enable us to identify these talents, we organize our interviews on the basis of values. In practice, we analyze and review the Values Mapping of our candidates with them and in full transparency. During the interview, we make connections with their experiences, skills, motivations and expectations. This tool for identifying personal values is used as an opening for discussion, exchange and sharing, and not as a “selection test” with a specific rated and expected result. It allows us to highlight points of convergence and divergence with the organization and to align mutual expectations. Through this tool and our inclusive approach based on values, we put people back at the heart of the recruitment process by focusing on their uniqueness and authenticity!
Taking the time to understand the values of our candidates and those of our clients means allowing them both to get involved in a lasting collaboration based on a match of values and a common strategic vision focused on the future.