Values in Collision: Finding Harmony in Competing Values
How to Find Unity Through Uncertainty
“The path to harmony often lies in learning how to honour what seems impossible to reconcile.”
A Case Study: Jonnie’s Story: Journey from Struggle to Stability
In a world where professional challenges and genuine wellbeing demand thoughtful navigation through times of uncertainty. This lesson—designed as a WorkLife Compass Guided Professional Programme—explores how understanding our core values can transform seemingly impossible choices into opportunities for deeper alignment. Through Jonnie's journey from anxiety-stricken hotel concierge to empowered decision-maker, we discover how apparent conflicts between responsibilities often signal a deeper truth—an invitation to recognise how values can support rather than oppose each other. Combining insightful and inspiring storytelling with reflective prompts and guided assignments, it shows how honouring our complete values spectrum can lead beyond compromise to more sustainable and fulfilling life choices.
The narrative follows Jonnie's transformation as he grapples with the devastating impact of the pandemic on his WorkLife while managing his anxiety disorder and supporting his young family. Through his relationship with his supportive partner Flora, unexpected insights gained during lockdown, and thoughtful exploration of what it truly means to provide for one's family, Jonnie discovers how his apparent values conflict can lead to a deeper understanding of how mental wellbeing and family responsibility actually support rather than oppose each other.
Interwoven throughout the lesson are frameworks, reflective prompts, guided assignments, and real-world examples for your own resolution values journey. You will learn to:
- Identify early warning signs of values conflicts
- Develop practices for recognising false dichotomies
- Navigate transitions during uncertain times
- Transform apparent opposition into complementary strengths
- Create environments that honour multiple core values
- Build sustainable approaches to ongoing value challenges
- Foster resilience through values integration
- Maintain wellbeing while honouring responsibilities
This programme emphasises that values alignment isn't about choosing between competing priorities, but rather about patient observation, honest reflection, and courageous action. It demonstrates how apparent conflicts between core values can become bridges to deeper understanding when approached with awareness and compassion.
The Values Harmony Workbook, Quick-Guide, and Emergency Toolkit included in the programme provides readers with a structured approach to identifying and articulating their own core values conflicts. This is complemented by five key practices for maintaining values alignment:
- Self-Awareness
- Observation
- Effective Self-Feedback
- Insightful Self-Questions
- Writing Your |WorkLife Stories
This lesson—designed as a WorkLife Compass Guided Professional Programme—supports individuals navigating the complex terrain where core values appear to collide. Whether you're balancing personal wellbeing with professional responsibilities, reconciling family needs with self-care, weighing current stability against future growth, harmonising individual desires with relationship commitments, or integrating health requirements with work demands, this course offers both inspiration and practical guidance. It especially supports those facing seemingly impossible choices, helping them discover how apparent conflicts often mask deeper harmony, and how honouring multiple values simultaneously can create more sustainable and authentic life choices.
Through a unique combination of storytelling, reflection points, and guided assignments, this programme offers both inspiration and practical guidance for navigating values conflicts while maintaining integrity to all that matters most. It provides guidance for both those in immediate crisis and those seeking to build more sustainable approaches to long-term values challenges. Whether you're navigating WorkLife transitions, family responsibilities, personal health issues, or any situation where core values seem to collide, this programme helps you find ways to create harmony between competing priorities
From Story to Practice:
In Jonnie's narrative, we see how apparent values conflicts become both compass and catalyst for authentic evolution. His experiences offer practical insights into recognising false dichotomies, finding courage to honour multiple truths simultaneously, and creating a life where wellbeing and responsibility flourish together. Through his journey from crisis to resolution, we learn how understanding the interplay between seemingly opposing values can transform not just our own choices, but how we support and inspire others facing similar challenges.
The programme is structured in five parts:
Part 1: Navigating the Storm
When our core values collide, the path forward isn't always clear. For Jonnie, the intersection of mental health and family responsibility would test not just his resilience, but his very understanding of what it means to be a provider. His journey begins with the echoes of past struggles and the looming shadow of new challenges.
Part 2: The Journey Continues
When crisis strikes, our first response isn't always our final answer. As Jonnie moved beyond the initial shock, he began to experience how uncertainty can wear away at even our strongest foundations, testing not just our resolve but our understanding of who we are.
Part 3: Finding Strength in Vulnerability
In the midst of crisis, unexpected gifts can emerge. For Jonnie, the very circumstances that threatened his stability would also offer a chance to rediscover what family truly meant, and how strength sometimes comes wrapped in vulnerability.
Part 4: The Darkest Hours
They say the darkest hour comes just before dawn, but in the midst of that darkness, dawn can feel impossibly far away. For Jonnie, facing his greatest fears would require more than just courage – it would demand a complete reimagining of what it means to honour both family and self.
Part 5: Finding Harbour
The journey to harmonising competing values rarely ends where we expect. For Jonnie, finding his way to calmer waters would require not just changing his circumstances, but transforming his understanding of what it means to provide for those we love.
Each chapter includes:
- Narrative segments that illustrate key concepts through Jimmy's experience
- Reflection points that help readers connect the story to their own journey
- Values assignments that provide practical steps for meaningful alignment
The programme concludes with comprehensive resources including:
- The Values Harmony Workbook for deep exploration
- The Values Harmony Quick-Start Guide for daily practice
- The Values Harmony Emergency Toolkit for challenging moments
This is more than a guide to navigating difficult choices—it's a journey into understanding the transformative power of values integration during uncertainty. The story reveals that true resolution lies not in choosing between competing priorities, but in developing the wisdom to recognise how they support each other.
Like a skilled navigator who understands how stillness and movement work in harmony through stormy seas, the master of values balance learns to create opportunities where apparent conflicts reveal deeper truths. Through Jonnie's transformation, we discover that honouring our complete spectrum of values isn't just about integrity—it's about creating paths where wellbeing serves responsibility and responsibility enhances wellbeing, building bridges between stability and meaningful growth even through the most challenging circumstances.
Your own values journey is about to start. Begin in a quiet space where you can reflect without interruption. Have your preferred note-taking method ready and trust your responses to each prompt.
About School of WorkLife
What Does School of WorkLife Do?
School of WorkLife creates learning resources designed for thoughtful exploration of your WorkLife journey. Each resource guides you through meaningful personal and professional development to live a fulfilled WorkLife.
Principally, School of WorkLife is founded on the premise that stories are a powerful mechanism for teaching, a powerful medium to learn through, and a powerful way to communicate who you are and what you stand for.
One expression of this story-based foundation is learning through literature. The Book Club Books series demonstrates how engaging with fiction and non-fiction reveals patterns in our professional development—showing that the books we're drawn to often illuminate the very challenges and opportunities we're currently navigating. By examining our reading choices and the characters who resonate with us, we transform casual reading into intentional professional development, discovering insights about empathy, courage, resilience, and other essential qualities that shape our WorkLife journeys.
Equally important is learning to craft and tell your own WorkLife stories. The Art of WorkLife Storytelling series guides you to find, develop, and share the narratives that communicate your authentic identity—teaching you to recognise which stories matter in different professional contexts, how to shape experiences into meaningful narratives, and when to share them effectively. This skill transforms how you present yourself in interviews, articulate your value in negotiations, connect with colleagues, and make sense of your career journey. Your stories become tools for self-understanding, professional advancement, and authentic communication.
Building on this story-based approach, this programme—which is part of the Self-Discovery series—focuses on navigating apparent conflicts between your core Values. Your Values are the vital signals that keep your WorkLife aligned with what matters most to you, but sometimes these values seem to pull in opposite directions. This programme empowers you by helping you recognise when values conflicts are real versus when they represent false dichotomies, enabling you to discover how seemingly opposing values can actually support and strengthen each other.
By staying attuned to your Values conflicts throughout this programme, you can transform what feels like impossible choices into opportunities for deeper integration. When you learn to honour multiple values simultaneously rather than sacrificing one for another, you'll discover sustainable approaches that resonate with your authentic self, guiding you towards meaning and fulfilment that doesn't demand you abandon what matters most.
There is also a focus on enhancing your character traits—your true strength. Sometimes described as soft skills, your character traits are the crucial real skills that determine how far you'll go and how your presence will impact those who meet or accompany you throughout your WorkLife journey. Because these traits are so essential, character trait development is woven throughout all resources.
A core philosophy of School of WorkLife is that good mental health and wellbeing allows you to cope with everyday ebbs and flows to realise your potential. This focus on emotional wellness is woven throughout all resources, recognising that sustainable success comes from balancing achievement with wellbeing.
All School of WorkLife professional development resources are designed to strengthen three things: how you choose your direction (self-directing), how you support yourself along the way (self-coaching), and how you meaningfully lead your WorkLife (self-leadership).
Who Is School of WorkLife For?
School of WorkLife serves diverse learners who are committed to ongoing personal and professional growth, for whom maintaining a learning lifestyle is important.
For independent learners who prefer self-directed paths, School of WorkLife offers resources designed for reflection and individual engagement. These learners often enjoy thinking things through at their own pace, appreciating the flexibility to carve out shorter, adaptable learning moments rather than committing to fixed blocks of time.
For those who thrive in social learning environments, School of WorkLife provides facilitator guidance that supports group dynamics while maintaining the core methodology. These learners often find that collective dynamics help them process information more effectively and stay motivated through shared connection.
The thoughtfully compiled questions throughout all resources serve dual purposes: guiding individual reflection for those who enjoy solitary contemplation, while providing conversational frameworks for those who feel energised when learning alongside others.
For all learners, regardless of preferred approach, School of WorkLife delivers insightful, inspiring, and practical lessons that can be tailored to specific learning needs and preferences, creating a truly inclusive learning ecosystem.
Author’s Note
The stories I write are based on real WorkLife challenges, obstacles and successes. Persons and companies portrayed in the stories are not based on real people or entities. Carmel O’ Reilly.