Events

How do values move from fine words to lived reality?

That was the question at the centre of last Friday's Connecting the Dots session at Canoe. And it turned out to be a question no one in the room could answer too quickly.

Two people worth listening to

Professor Gry Espedal is one of the world's leading researchers on values and emotions in organisational life. Her work challenges the common assumption that values are primarily intellectual, that knowing what you believe is enough to act on it. Her research says otherwise.

Emotions are the mechanism. The rhythm underneath the action. They're what determines whether a stated value stays on a wall or steps into the room when things get difficult.

Irene Grastveit connected Gry's research to the leadership and organisational contexts she works in every day. What does this mean for how we run teams? How we design development programmes? How leaders show up in the moments that actually count?

What the morning felt like

The room was full of coffee, breakfast, and a willingness to sit with uncomfortable questions. People came with perspectives from different organisations and different roles. The conversation moved between research and lived experience in a way that kept it honest.

No one left with a tidy checklist. That was the point.

Values work isn't a communications exercise. It's an ongoing practice, shaped by the small emotional moments that no one manages to fully plan for.