In a Values Card Sort, each person works through a pack of cards, each printed with a single value such as honesty, creativity, security or fairness. They sort the cards into piles until they’re left with the five values that matter most to them. It’s a quiet, practical way to put words to something people often feel but rarely say out loud.
Use it in leadership, career and coaching workshops, or with a new team before you agree how you’ll work together. Because everyone sorts their own pack, people make their choices without being swayed by the loudest voice in the room, and the conversations afterwards tend to be richer as a result.
Method
Give everyone a pack of cards and sort them in rounds, narrowing down each time. Then ask people to reflect on their top five on their own, before sharing with a partner if they choose to.
Step 1: Prepare the cards
Make one pack per person, with one value on each card. Aim for 30 to 50 values, for example achievement, adventure, belonging, compassion, creativity, family, fairness, freedom, growth, honesty, independence, learning, loyalty, recognition, security and wellbeing. Add a few blank cards so people can write in a value that’s missing.
Step 2: Make the first sort
Ask people to lay out the three heading cards and place every value card under one of them: very important to me, important to me or less important to me. Encourage them to go with their first instinct rather than overthinking it. This takes around ten minutes.
Step 3: Narrow it down
Ask people to set aside everything except their very important pile. If that pile holds more than ten cards, they sort it again until ten are left. Then they choose the five they’d keep if they could only keep five. This is the hardest part, so give people time and expect some sighing.
Step 4: Reflect on your top five
Ask everyone to write down their top five values and, for each one, a sentence or two in answer to questions such as ‘What does this value look like when I’m living it?’, ‘When did I last feel it was being ignored?’ and ‘Where does my work support it, and where does it get in the way?’.
Step 5: Share, if people want to
Invite people to talk about one or two of their values with a partner, making it clear that they choose what to share. Then bring the group back together and ask what people noticed, rather than asking anyone to read out their list.
Outcome
Each person ends with a short list of their core values, and a clearer sense of why some situations energise them while others wear them down. In a team, it builds understanding of why colleagues react differently to the same thing, which is a useful starting point for agreeing ways of working.
Tips for Facilitators
- Try it yourself first: sort a pack before the session, so you know how long it takes and how it feels to narrow down to five.
- Don’t compare people: there are no right or wrong values. Keep the debrief about what people noticed, not whose values are best.
- Watch for strong feelings: realising that an important value is missing from your work or life can be uncomfortable. Allow time, keep sharing optional, and be ready to talk to someone afterwards.
- Keep the language simple: use everyday words, and add a short definition under any value that could be read in different ways.
- Let people keep their cards: many people like to take their top five home or pin them up by their desk.
Variations
- Paper version: instead of cards, hand out a printed list of values and ask people to circle ten, then underline five. It takes less time and needs no preparation beyond printing.
- Team values: after the individual sort, people bring their top five to a small group and look for the values they share. Use dot voting to settle on a shortlist for the team.
- Rank them: to push the reflection further, ask people to take their top nine and arrange them as a Diamond Ranking.
- Values check-in: at a follow-up session, ask people which value they’ve lived most fully since, and which they’ve found hardest to hold on to.
Accessibility and Online Sessions
Print the cards in a large, clear font with strong contrast, and make sure people have enough table space to lay them out. For anyone who finds handling lots of cards difficult, a printed list with tick boxes works just as well. Read the instructions aloud and show them on a slide too.
Online, give each person their own frame of value cards on a digital whiteboard, or send a simple document with the values in a table where they can mark each one. Let people keep their cameras off while they sort, and use breakout rooms of two for the sharing step.
