Comments to: crs@uvm.eduReviewed as of 4/20/98
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EXERCISE 1
Values Clarification
People make decisions based upon their values. As a leader, you
must be able to understand the difference between your personal
values and the interests of your group. You should know where you
place value in your life.
Each of the following exercises has two people working in the
familiar pair of storyteller and scribe. First one person will
tell their tale, with the listener paying active attention while
scribbling down the keywords out of the story. Before choosing the
storytelling topic, remember to draw on your sense of playfulness,
and imagine that this is a very informal speaking engagement in
which you have been asked to discourse on the fascinating topic of
you, highlighting the important points in your history.
Pair up with someone who is not a close friend. You will switch
roles at the end of the full set of exercises. The scribe should
mark the exercise numbers and their keywords or phrases. Keywords
are things or qualities that are important, or that are recurring
themes, or that describe an ethical stance. Try to record the
actual words used by the storyteller.
1) Take a few minutes to describe something that you do really well
(this can be anything: hobby, work, craft, sport). Talk about why
you think that you do it so well, and also about what "feels right"
about it. Speculate about what makes this particular thing such a
success with you.
2) Take a few minutes to tell a story about a moment that inspired
or impressed you, that caused you to pause, and think, and make
some kind of change or resolution. Describe what you were feeling
and thinking at the moment when this happened, and allow the drama
of the moment to take its time. Also, describe the change that
happened in you after that moment.
3) Imagine that you have been asked to pass along a special secret
to future generations, the secret of life that you have learned
over the many years. Each person's secret is unique, and they are
being recorded for the future so that no potential wisdom out of
time is lost. You are passing this secret along to unknown future
people, so you want to use the clearest and most descriptive
language possible. Tell this secret of life, stating it both
directly and with the use of metaphors or examples.
4) You admit that you do not know everything, that there are still
questions you cannot answer. However, imagine that you are
presented with the opportunity to have any question answered. Talk
about the things you muse about, and describe the questions you
would present to a source of knowledge through this extraordinary
opportunity.
5) Describe a success in your recent past that came as the
culmination of hard work and dedication. This does not have to
have been something that took a long time, just something that you
kept working at until it was right. What were the elements of the
work that made the outcome a success? Tell this story as
parable--an example illustrating a lesson.
This is the set of examples. Both partners must take the
opportunity to tell their stories as well as scribe. While in the
role of scribe, take special care to practice good active listening
skills, as illustrated in section 6 of this curriculum.
> Further notes on the exercise:
Interpreting the results of this exercise can be done after both
partners are done. Take several minutes in pairs to give feedback
to the other person about what seemed important, what the person
seems to value in life. Then, see what comes up in a group
discussion.
Question 1: The areas of life that you do well or that seem
naturally right to you are also possible sources of your most basic
values, but try to discriminate between physical talent and what
"feels right" about it for clues about values.
Question 2: Moments of inspiration that cause a change are moments
that affect you deeply and shape values related to the experience.
Questions 3 and 5: Questions in which you are asked to pass along
wisdom or lessons are directly related to what you value in life.
Question 4: Your questions about life indicate areas of growing or
changing awareness about life, so are especially important to
understand.
> Time: 12 to 15 minutes storytelling per partner; 3 to 5 minutes
feedback and discussion per partner in pairs; 5 minutes for group
discussion
Comments to: crs@uvm.edu
Reviewed as of 4/20/98