What one custom study revealed about Canada's public sector—and how it could work for your organization
Let’s set the stage. Imagine you’re facing a challenge: reconnecting with your team, reviving engagement, or rebuilding trust with the people you serve. You’ve tried employee surveys. Leadership retreats. Motivational speakers. But nothing sticks. Now imagine knowing, with statistical precision, what truly drives the people you need to engage.
That’s exactly what a recent Valuegraphics study did for the federal public sector workforce in Canada. We identified three values—Personal Growth, Personal Responsibility, and Balance—that matter more to this group than to the general population. We call these Power Values. Once you know them, everything changes. Communications become clearer. Trust deepens. Motivation rises.
Value 1: Personal Growth
This is about helping people become better versions of themselves, every day. In our research, public sector workers didn’t want to coast. They wanted tools to evolve—today, tomorrow, and long into the future.
Strategic idea: Micro-credentialing. Bite-sized, fast-track training that gives your workforce wins they can feel right away. Certifications. One-day workshops. Online modules. When you show people how they're growing, they'll show up engaged and ready.
Value 2: Personal Responsibility
This group thrives on accountability. They like to make lists. But they live to check them off. Progress, even in small doses, reinforces their sense of purpose.
Strategic idea: Weekly team pledges. One promise, shared out loud, to be completed before the next meeting. Celebrate the completions. Let responsibility become a shared rhythm, not just a personal trait.
Value 3: Balance
Unlike many workplace cultures, this group values equilibrium. And they don’t just say it. They need it scheduled. Visible. Protected.
Strategic idea: The Culture of Pause. No meetings/calls/emails/conversations on Wednesdays from 2 to 3. It's a moment each week for everyone to collect their thoughts, get organized, reset, and prepare for what comes next.
Why this matters beyond one keynote
These are deeply targeted strategies based on one-of-a-kind data. This study gave our client the power to move past outdated demographic guesses and work with real human drivers.
That’s what Valuegraphics makes possible:
Measure the precise values that motivate your audience
Translate those insights into strategies, language, and experiences that align
Influence the outcomes you care about—engagement, sales, loyalty, cultural change...any opportunity or issue.
Whether you're leading change, launching a product, recruiting talent, or influencing public opinion, the formula stays the same: people are driven by what they value. And now, with valuegraphics, values are measurable.
Let’s find your secret recipe
Every issue is about people. And people are driven by What Matters Most. Let us show you what those values are for your audience. Then we’ll help you build strategies that boost engagement, trust, and loyalty—while relegating financial considerations to less of a deciding factor.
Valuegraphics: Insights That Influence Outcomes.
Book a discovery call to see sample dashboards, case studies, and a custom timeline for profiling your audience.
The Valuegraphics Research Company maintains the world’s first global inventory of shared human values, built from more than a million surveys in a random stratified statistically representative sample using 152 languages and accurate for 180 countries (± 3.5 % at 95 % confidence).
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A look at Valuegraphics Founder David Allison’s latest best-selling book.
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