World Values Day: get involved

Values are what make us who we are. They are the compass guiding everything we do – our choices and our actions. When we forget that compass, we take the wrong turn. It’s the same for our families, for our communities, for the world.

The run-up to World Values Day on 19 October has now begun in earnest. Some early events have already taken place, but there are many other events and activities you can get involved with. 

If you didn't catch it...The RSA hosted Closing the Values Gap back in June. This event asked What does it take for an organisation to truly live its values, and crucially – to sustain them over the long-term? This became in effect the curtain-raiser for the World Values Day campaign and for the launch of the Values Challenge project. 

One to sign up for if you have a free hour or two is David Gurteen’s World Values Virtual Café on 10^th October. This is looking more and more interesting. There are now well over 100 participants joining from 27 different countries.

Another one to watch out for is the special lecture at Salford University on 11^th October on “Values as the new frontier for business” being given by Ed Mayo of Co-Operatives UK (and one a founder of the Fairtrade movement). 

On World Values Day itself, there are all sorts of things going on. One of the highlights will certainly be the Closing the Values Gap Conference hosted by the UK Values Alliance and Peakon at the Peakon Hub in London, running from 5pm-8pm. The programme revolves around the “real-life” practice of values in organisations with a number of illuminating case studies showing how values have been effectively put into practice in a variety of different situations. Also in London, Integrity Coaching is holding an Education for the Soul whole-day conference in London packed with top education and values speakers.  

In the evening at Global Co-Operation House in London, the Brahma Kumaris are hosting a dialogue “Creating Our Destiny – a dialogue for World Values Day” exploring how, through practising our values, we can (and do) create our destiny and shape the world around us.  

Over in Rome, the Italian Values Awards will debut at the historic Sala della Protomoteca, in the Capitoline Palace.  Later on, in Canada, the energetic Winnipeg hub of the Canadian Values Alliance will celebrate the Day by holding the first of a series of (non-virtual) Values Cafes.

A few days later Bulgaria will have its first World Values Day event ever, with a conference backed by two leading business organisations on 26^th October at the Hilton Hotel Sofia. Full details of this will be posted soon on the WVD website.

Nevertheless the main activity of World Values Day will undoubtedly still be the Values Challenge, the powerful one-hour session for closing the gap in your own organisation’s values collaboratively designed by the RSA, The UK Values Alliance, the Forward Institute and PwC. 

We have been amazed at the number of organisations that have already downloaded the materials for the Challenge from the World Values Day website. These organisations come in all shapes and sizes, and from all over the world. They range from the smallest companies, community groups and social enterprises to the biggest multi-nationals, banks and tech companies. It looks as though there will be lots of participation, too, from local authorities, housing associations, health and social care, charities and schools.

To find out more and to register your own group or organisation click here.