Values-Driven Decision Making in Times of Stress
- Joel Abel
- Jul 15
- 2 min read
Every school and education business has values—but in high-stress moments, those values are either revealed or abandoned. Leaders often face urgent decisions during crises, tight timelines, or cultural tensions. In those moments, values aren’t just an internal compass—they're an operational asset.
Stress exposes value gaps
As shown in recent ScienceDirect research, high-pressure situations impair cognitive control, increase emotional reactivity, and narrow the field of attention. In leadership, this means you’re more likely to default to past habits or hierarchical thinking unless your values are embedded in decision-making frameworks. When stress is high, values must be close at hand—or they’ll be left behind.
Values provide coherence when facts are incomplete
During crises—sudden policy shifts, budget cuts, or incidents on campus—leaders often lack complete information. As Forbes points out, values offer “a sense of stability, clarity and direction.” A school that holds equity as a core value might prioritize student voice in its response to a discipline issue. One that emphasizes wellbeing might pause academic demands after a traumatic event. These aren’t just gestures—they’re commitments under pressure.
Strong values mitigate cognitive overload
The Times Higher Education article on decision-making highlights how too many options or unclear goals create analysis paralysis. The same is true for leadership teams. But when values are operationalized—turned into “if-then” decision heuristics—they simplify complexity. For example: “If we’re forced to choose between speed and inclusion, we choose inclusion.” This kind of values-based framing helps teams act decisively without compromising integrity.
Operationalizing values requires more than posters
Values-driven schools don’t just name their values—they use them. This includes:
Embedding values in decision-making templates (“Which value does this choice serve?”)
Naming the value behind difficult calls (“We chose transparency, which meant releasing data early.”)
Training staff to raise value conflicts, not just procedural concerns
As Forbes emphasizes, values become most visible “not in the easy decisions, but in the costly ones.”
Culture is shaped in hard choices, not easy wins
According to ScienceDirect, value-congruent leadership under stress builds trust and long-term cohesion. When a principal cancels a high-profile event because it marginalizes some students—or when a learning center leader extends sick leave policy in the middle of a flu season—those decisions carry symbolic weight. They say: we don’t compromise on who we are, even when it’s hard.
Key takeaway:
Your values are only real if they cost you something. In educational leadership, values-driven decision making turns uncertainty into alignment. When stress rises, the best leaders don’t retreat from their values—they rely on them.
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