Make Decisions · Build Trust · Encourage Collaboration
Values Auction
Spend a limited budget on the values your team will actually protect when everything cannot be first.
Time40–55 minutes
Group size6–40 people
FormatTable groups, Whole group
MaterialsValue cards, Team budget sheets, Visible bid tracker
What this accomplishes
Teams receive the same limited budget and bid on school-centered values. The debrief focuses on tradeoffs, missing voices, and how stated priorities show up in real decisions.
- Surface competing priorities
- Translate values into decision criteria
Before you begin
Materials
- Value cards
- Team budget sheets
- Visible bid tracker
Preparation
- Choose ten to fifteen school-relevant values
- Set a budget that allows each team to secure only three or four
- Decide how the results will inform a real decision
What to say
“This is not a test of the team’s goodness. Every value matters; the useful question is what we protect when time, money, and attention are limited.”
How to run it
- 1
Give teams equal budgets and five minutes to plan.
- 2
Auction values one at a time with clear increments.
- 3
Allow a brief team huddle before final bids.
- 4
After the auction, teams explain one purchase and one difficult value they released.
- 5
Compare stated priorities with recent decisions.
- 6
Identify one value that should become a concrete decision criterion.
Prompts to use
Autonomy
Belonging
Consistency
Joy
Rigor
Safety
Innovation
Relationships
Access
Sustainability
Results
Transparency
Adapt it to the room
Small group
Use one shared budget and negotiate a final set together.
Large group
Use table teams and a projected tracker.
Virtual
Use breakout teams and a shared bidding sheet.
Accessibility & inclusion
- Provide all values, definitions, and rules in advance.
- Offer written bidding roles that do not require fast speech.
- Avoid real-money language if it distracts the group; use points instead.
Debrief, if useful
What did our spending reveal?
Whose priorities may be missing from this room?
How will a chosen value change an actual decision?
Why it works—and what can go wrong
Why it works
A finite budget makes tradeoffs visible and gives teams shared language for conflicts that are often hidden beneath broad agreement.
Watch out for
- Do not treat the winning values as permanent consensus.
- The room’s composition affects the result; seek student, family, and staff perspectives beyond the activity.