How seven human needs will help me continue to grow my Agile mindset in 2020

When you have a culture that believes in Agility, you can provide people with freedom of choice (autonomy) with the ability to apply and learn new skills (mastery) that pursues a worthwhile goal (purpose), and magic will happen. 

 If that sounds unrealistic to you, maybe you haven’t seen or felt true motivation.

So, how can you find that drive in 2020? We must find the compelling purpose for ourselves and ask for the opportunities to master it as much as possible. 

Once we can establish that, we can see what motivational factors we desire, and we can contribute to our teammates and company. 

There are seven basic human needs that I have learned that will help me become more empowered to grow my Agile mindset further and to be a become a better coach to my teams.

Let’s review them:

1.      Safety/security – Without it, we feel anxious. Creating psychologically safety is essential in an Agile environment and promotes experimentation and learning. I will help my team feel that it’s okay for them to extend themselves and try new things, and I will encourage them to do so every day.

2.      Challenge – Without it, we are bored. Humans are wired to seek new experiences and solve problems. It releases dopamine and it’s likely to reward exploration and learning, which is needed to evolve. Our culture presents work as problems, not tasks and we let the team tell us how they want to solve it. I will challenge the team to stretch it further in 2020.

3.      Status/significance – Without it, we feel undervalued. We need to recognize the role and the significance people play on a team, and not just at the end of a sprint. I will help the team create Sprint demos that will acknowledge and explain the contributions we are all making. This momentum pushes us past the obstacles we can face during a sprint because we are reminded, we are in it together and creates value.

4.      Connection - Without it, we are lonely. We spend so much time at work and we crave social connection. Although the level of it varies from person to person, it still means something to be recognized and have your name remembered. Having someone that cares enough to ask how you are – and learn whatever aspects you want to share is significant. I will experiment with retrospectives to help the team flourish and bond more with each other.

5.      Self-expression – Without it, we can’t express our personality. I will help the teams customize how they want their work environment to be appropriately. We hire people for who they are and their ability to contribute to the culture we build. We can’t cut off their creativity because they will forget how to contribute.

6.      Growth/Knowledge – Without, we feel stuck. People want to improve their skills; they want to get better at their craft they chose as a career. I will encourage and give teams the space to host workshops to continue their growth. Invest in them, and it will give them a sense of self-worth

7.      Contribution – Without it, we don’t have the satisfaction of helping someone. This means purpose as well. We all seek meaning as I said above and giving the opportunity to teams to help build a valuable legacy is a worthy goal. This means extending myself to help one another, nobody fails alone on my team.

Thinking about the above, I have decided to keep the seven human needs in mind as I create my 2020 goals. They will help me weave and blend the Agile principles even further into my career and the people I work with. I have decided that I will demonstrate my desired behaviors, admit my failings and concerns. I will Keep asking questions, be upbeat, seek connections and knowledge.

How can you these seven human needs to work for you when keeping an Agile mindset in 2020?