Emotionally Intelligent Leadership Pre-work
Learning Hub
The Communication Triangle & Values and Beliefs...
Values
Our personal judgements about what is most important in life. Our core values direct and influence how we live and work. We can be consciously aware of our values and they can operate at an unconscious level. Our values will shape what we believe and therefore how we think and feel and therefore how we behave. Some common core values are Wisdom, Fairness, Courage, Self-control, Trust, Hope, Love, Honesty, Humility and Excellence. Once our personal values have been formed they tend to be stable and enduring.
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Beliefs
A belief is an acceptance that something is true. Beliefs are generalisations that we hold that help us stay safe, make sense of the world, achieve what we want, and act quickly. Beliefs shape how we view the world. Beliefs can be adopted (usually from people who have an influence on our lives) or learnt. Unlike values, our beliefs can change over time.
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Enabling Beliefs
Enabling beliefs are beliefs that positively influence and support behaviour.
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Limiting Beliefs
Limiting beliefs are beliefs that negatively influence behaviour by placing a limit on a person’s ability. The person often never gets the opportunity to fully explore their potential because the limiting belief stops them from acting.
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Core Beliefs
Core beliefs are a set of underlying beliefs that we hold about ourselves (“I’m smart”, “I’m weak”, “I lack confidence”), about other people (“People can always be trusted to do the right thing”) and about life in general (“Change is a good thing”, “Change is bad thing”, “Good change is a good thing”). These core beliefs tend to be driven by our values and shape how we show up as leaders.
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Belief Systems
Belief systems are clusters of connected beliefs that can support or limit behaviour in a certain way.
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Changing Beliefs
Beliefs can change. We can stop believing something when we become open to doubting it and then identifying that it is no longer serving us, so that it becomes an old belief. We can adopt a new belief when we become open to believing it and then recognising how it will serve us and adopting it.