Asheville sure can be a “versus” town sometimes.

City slickers vs. county folks. Developers vs. neighborhood groups. Hippie activists vs. bellicose bureaucrats. You know the drill.

There’s too much focus on our differences. So I’m always intrigued when there’s an effort to search for what Asheville residents have in common.

Enter Asheville-based Barrett Values Centre. The consulting company, founded in 1997, helps organizations and communities transform their cultures into ones that driven by a common set of values.

Now Barrett Values, with quiet offices on Haywood Street in downtown Asheville, wants to help its hometown residents determine their common values, and offer that information up to private organizations and civic leaders who want to use it.

“What we’re hoping to do with this work is to start a conversation about values,” says Ella Quinn Long, assessment coordinator and analyst with Barrett Values. “We’re just trying to elevate the conversation to include a discussion of values.”

The thinking is that organizations or communities can be happier and more successful by working off a set of common values.

Long says the process starts with a simple survey that asks people to identify key words that they hold as personal values. Then they’re asked what they think their community’s values are, and what they think their community’s values should be.

Anyone who takes the survey will be asked to choose from a list of about 90 words that list values, from affordable housing and accountability to collaboration and quality of life. Long will take the feedback and report back to show where there’s agreement and differences on those questions. After that, it’s up to the community to take action.

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