Maslow published his book Motivation and Personality in 1954, but despite its age it is still in use today, and has become a classic in its field. In it he set out a hierarchy of human needs, beginning with physiological needs, moving on to safety needs, belonging needs, esteem needs, and, eventually, self-actualisation.
The hierarchy is often shown as a five level pyramid.
1. Physiological needs
These are the basic needs in order for humans to stay alive, such as thirst and hunger, breathing and sleep and shelter. When these are met, other needs emerge. When someone is hungry, thirsty or tired, a large proportion of the individual's energy is diverted towards trying to resolve these issues, leaving little for more advanced needs. For example, a team member who is tired will find it very difficult to concentrate on their outputs.
2. Safety needs
These safety needs are to do with our innate yearning for a predictable and orderly world. They include security, stability, dependency, protection, freedom from fear, order and law. In terms of work, these needs translate into a desire for job security, sufficient income to provide the potential to save a little, and a preference for the consistency provided by corporate guidelines, processes and procedures.
3. Belongingness and love needs
Humans need to feel accepted, and like to have a sense of belonging and we all enjoy the giving and receiving of affection. This incorporates all sorts of relationships including friends, family, colleagues and organised groups such as religions or clubs. A lack of social interaction or a real or perceived lack of acceptance can lead to feelings of loneliness and social anxiety. This can relate to individuals developing problems bonding within a team or taking on too much work or trying too hard to force the sense of belonging they crave.
4. Esteem needs
This is the need for self-respect and for the esteem of others. Esteem needs are about our desire for achievement, competence, confidence and prestige. We all enjoy taking part in activities which give us a sense of contribution, something which we can get a sense of self-value and pleasure from, either professionally or as a hobby. Without this sense of achievement, individuals can develop low self-esteem or inferiority complexes.
At work, this often translates as a need to both be respected by peers and managers, and to return that respect. An individual who doesn't respect their colleagues or manager will lack motivation and attention to detail.
5. Self-actualisation need
Once the basic needs above are fulfilled, we can then strive towards activities we feel drawn to, which make us feel complete. For example, musicians need to make music, and artists must paint for fulfilment. We will nearly always take care of the most pressing needs first, such as food and warmth before moving towards greater levels of health, creativity and self-fulfilment.
On occasion individuals can get the balance wrong and become so concentrated on striving towards the state where we will feel complete that the basic needs, such as relationships, get forgotten or neglected. Someone who concentrates all their energies on achieving their ultimate goal may become distracted from the day to day actuality of work.
Maslow in action
Although the hierarchy is now over 50 years old, it still has a current value.
If you have an individual in your team you suspect may be struggling to maintain motivation, look over Maslow's hierarchy of needs and see whether you can see a level which they could be stalling at. By thinking about how an individual may currently be affected at each of these levels you may be able to identify the base problem, and from there, work together to find a solution. For instance, a problem may be as simple as a lack of sleep caused by a new baby, and the situation will improve over time.
Reference:
Frederick Herzberg, Bernard Mausner, Barbara Snyderman, (1959). The Motivation to Work (2nd edition) (New York: John Wiley)
Abraham Maslow, (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review (50)
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