Planning and Decision Making Using A Values- Driven Leaership Approach

This past March, I had the privilege of facilitating a leadership session with JCI Kootenay. Together, we explored the chapter's values, their connection to the JCI Mission—to provide development opportunities that empower young people to create positive change—and what the JCI Creed means to members today.

At first glance, it might seem like a conversation about values. In reality, it became a conversation about choices.

Every organization develops traditions. We create events that become annual fixtures, repeat programs because they've always been successful, and establish ways of working that become second nature. Over time, it's easy to continue making decisions based on habit rather than intention.

One question shifted the conversation:

Are we doing this because it's the way we've always done it, or because it still aligns with our purpose?

It's a deceptively simple question, but one that has the power to transform an organization.

What impressed me most wasn't the answers—it was the willingness of the members to engage honestly with the question. There was curiosity instead of defensiveness, openness instead of certainty, and a genuine commitment to ensuring that the chapter's future reflects the values they aspire to live.

Values aren't meant to be words that sit on a website or hang on a meeting room wall. They're meant to become a filter for decision-making.

When values become a compass, they help answer questions like:

• Which opportunities should we pursue?

• Which traditions should we keep—and which are ready to evolve?

• What kinds of leadership experiences will have the greatest impact on our members?

• How do we create the positive change our mission calls us to create?

Organizations often invest significant time creating strategic plans, setting goals, and measuring outcomes. Yet strategy without alignment can lead to activity without purpose. When values are clear and actively lived, decision-making becomes simpler because there is a shared understanding of what matters most.

This work isn't exclusive to service organizations like JCI. Every team, nonprofit, business, and community eventually reaches a point where it must pause and ask whether its actions still reflect its purpose.

The strongest organizations aren't necessarily the ones that have been doing something the longest. They're the ones willing to pause, reflect, and intentionally choose the path that best serves the future they want to create.

I left the evening encouraged by what I witnessed. JCI Kootenay is filled with leaders who are willing to ask meaningful questions, challenge assumptions, and align their actions with their values.

I'm excited to see how those conversations influence the chapter's future—not because the answers were decided in one evening, but because the foundation has been strengthened.

After all, leadership isn't defined by the decisions we make when the path is obvious.

It's defined by the questions we're willing to ask before we choose the path forward.