Skip,
Let me start out with a big thank you for coaching a FLL team.
Let me give you some of my insights into core values judging (I have been a core values judge in the past).
The direct answer to your question is "yes" it is more important how your team accomplishes any task during core values judging that if or when they complete the task. I instruct my judges to pay more attention to the interaction between the team members and to ignore the actual task being performed.
If I can go "off script" a bit, let me give you my personal thoughts on core values judging (please read my words carefully):
- FLL core values is not just about 5 minutes in a judging room, it is from the time you sign up to be a FLL team until you stop being a FLL team.
- Your team's evaluation on how they embody FLL core values at any event starts when you walk in the door and stops when you walk out the door.
- Core values judging for any event starts when the door opens and ends when the trophy is handed out.
- The core values judges are every volunteer at the event, not just the core values judges.
- Did you know that if a referee sees examples of great core values or poor core values, they are instructed to pass that information on to the core values judges?
In my opinion, the best preparation for core values judging has little to do with explicitly conducting core values exercises with your team. Core values preparation is best done by fostering an environment as a coach in your practices which is conducive to the team using core values. If your team embraces core values during their practices and during their everyday life, it will naturally come out during the core values judging. Core values is very important and often not given the priority it should. Ten, twenty and thirty years from now, your team members will likely not be applying the lessons that they learned on how to program a robot. I guarantee you they will be using the core values that you have instilled in them as they work on an engineering design team, a hospital operating room, a non-profit board meeting etc..
I recommend you read The Core Values, starting on p. 26. and then read the rest of the handbook (it is very useful).
Best of Luck and, above all, Have Fun!
Bill