Be careful wielding Maslow’s double edged sword
When building a strong team toward a goal, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a relevant now as it’s ever been.
Getting a group of talented people together doesn’t always result in high performance and efficient delivery, the sum of the parts can sometimes be less than the whole. The importance of structuring the environment toward rapidly getting everyone up the rungs of the Maslow pyramid can’t be over stated.
A company that gives assurance on basic needs, then lets the leaders to focus on the phycological needs of belongingness, camaraderie then upwards to esteem and a sense of accomplishment.
We are then in a situation where the team delivers more than the sum of its parts. Success is sweetened and defeats are softened because We Are Team ! We become family.
But there’s a catch.
When higher levels of a company haven’t taken this into account when making perfectly valid commercial decisions resulting in a team being rapidly broken up, it can be devastating.
People have then invested so much of their self in it that they quickly drop down through the pyramid and start to even doubt the company will continue to provide their basic physiological needs. They feel betrayed, they feel manipulated. It results in a form of grieving which is detrimental to all.
Sometimes when you play with Maslow you play with fire.
Practice Lead at Aviva
5 年Jack Daniels
Project Delivery Consultant - MBA, ChPP, MAPM, MIET
5 年Great article. I don’t think the all encompassing nature of projects or the mindset of people delivering them is understood by those outside of the team. A lot of good work can be undone in short order. The Tuckman model demonstrates the evolution of team building but possibly doesn’t show the time it takes to build that effective team. Making use of these high performing teams in subsequent projects should be more commonplace rather than disbanding.
Senior Product Manager - ClearBank
5 年Good read Jonny Gibson. This is a version I saw recently that I quite liked. Seems like a truer reflection to me. Still has the same effects with the scenario you talk about though.
MD Platinum 3P Ltd, Cyber and Organisational Psychologist
5 年Although Maslow has lots of face validity and feels intuitively right I don’t think the research is there to back it up in this context of teams. The work of someone like Michael West provides more evidence of team factors and characteristics linked to delivery/performance/ outcomes. Doesn’t stop Maslow being used as a pragmatic discussion tool.
Value delivery coach
5 年Really valid point for anyone working with teams that are about to be shaken up. The quandary is do you keep enabling and supporting them towards a high performing close knit team or knowing that there will be a change do you act more carefully with your approach.? I suspect the former but ensuring that any change is managed carefully and compassionately.?