Giving Voice to Values
Practical training to help professionals confidently act on their values and lead with integrity.
What is the Giving Voice to Values (GVV) program?
Are you confident you could speak your mind when you know what’s right? Giving Voice to Values (GVV) helps you learn how to effectively act on your values and ethical principles in the context of your professional responsibilities. Developed by Dr. Mary C. Gentile, Professor at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, GVV is built from the perspective that the traditional approach to ethics education of awareness and analysis is just the first step toward changing culture at organizations.
GVV takes the necessary next step with an action-oriented approach to values-driven leadership.
GVV is not about persuading people to be more ethical. Instead, it starts from the premise that most people want to act on their values, but they also want their actions to be successful and effective. The GVV approach provides practical guidance to dealing successfully with challenges to your integrity and ethical principles.
Giving voice to values vs. Traditional ethical decision-making models
The principle behind Giving Voice to Values is that the traditional practice of ethical awareness and analysis is just the first step toward changing the ethical culture at firms. GVV takes this further with an action-oriented approach to values-driven leadership that prepares people to effectively act on their values.
Values-based leadership training
To date, GVV has piloted its curriculum and training in more than 1,000 organizations, including Prudential, the National Investment Company Service Association, and the Wealth Management Institute. Now CFA Institute has partnered with Dr. Gentile to bring the GVV approach to the investment industry.
The Program is offered through the CFA Institute Ethics Learning Lab and is delivered in a flexible, online, team-based, collaborative learning environment that encourages peer-to-peer interaction and learning.
How is the giving voice to values approach different?
Giving Voice to Values is not about persuading people to be more ethical. Instead, it starts from the premise that most people want to act on their values, but they also want their actions to be successful and effective. Through practice, individuals can be equipped to act on their values.
This approach to values-driven leadership is built around preparing for and practicing values-based action, and it answers the following questions:
- How do I learn to act on my values?
- What would I say and do?
- How can I be the most effective in acting on my values?
Giving Voice to Values explores the near-term skills needed to deal with ethical challenges and values conflicts. This means knowing what to say, who to say it to, and how to say it when you know what is right in a particular situation.
The GVV Program believes that practice makes perfect and focuses on the neglected areas of scripts, ethical action plans, and practice to build the skills, confidence, and habit of voicing values.