Practice 2

Define What Matters

Clarity precedes commitment. Once we can see clearly, the question becomes: what actually matters?

Why This Matters

Our teams watch what we protect under pressure. That’s how they learn what actually matters here, not from the values statement, but from the tradeoffs we make when resources are tight and priorities compete.

When leaders are unclear on their own priorities, the ambiguity cascades. People hedge. They wait for signals. They optimize for what seems safe rather than what moves the mission forward. Clarity at the top creates clarity throughout.

Leaders who worked through this practice in Think Tank sessions reported a consistent insight: they discovered gaps between stated and defended values they hadn’t seen before. One city manager said: “I thought transparency was our priority. Then I realized we protect efficiency over openness every single time.”

Stated values are what we say matters. Defended values are what we protect when it costs us something. The gap between them is our opportunity.

The Core Challenge

Most organizations have values statements. Few have values that actually guide decisions when those decisions cost something. The gap between stated values and defended values reveals where the real work is.

This practice is about getting clear, not what sounds good on the website, not what the strategic plan says, but what we’re actually willing to protect when protecting it creates friction.

What This Practice Looks Like

The Cost Test

For each stated value, ask: “When has protecting this value cost us something?” If you can’t point to specific instances, the value may be aspirational rather than operational. That’s useful information, not a judgment.

Values Under Pressure

When budget gets tight, what survives? When timelines compress, what gets protected? When political pressure mounts, what do we refuse to compromise? The answers reveal our actual priorities, which may differ from what we’d prefer to believe.

The Why Behind the What

Simon Sinek’s insight applies here: people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. Our teams need to understand the purpose behind the priorities, not just the priorities themselves. When people understand why something matters, they can make aligned decisions without constant guidance.

Diagnostic Questions

Five questions to surface the gap between stated and defended values:

Can we name three values our organization has defended when it cost something?
Would our direct reports give the same answer to “what matters most here”?
When was the last time we said no to something good to protect something better?
Can our teams explain why our priorities are our priorities?
What tradeoffs have we made recently, and what do they reveal about actual values?

One conversation to try this week: Ask a trusted colleague: “If you had to describe what we actually prioritize here, based on what we do, not what we say, what would you say?” Then listen without correcting. The gap between their answer and our intended priorities is the gap this practice is designed to close.

The Connection Forward

Define What Matters creates the clarity that Make It Real operationalizes. We can’t build systems to protect what matters until we’re clear on what actually matters.

This practice often reveals that we need to return to Face the Truth. As we examine our values, we may discover blind spots about how those values are actually playing out in our organizations. That’s not failure, that’s the methodology working.

Continue the Methodology

Face the Truth

Make It Real →

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