Some may know that psychologist Abraham Maslow created a motivational framework called Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Comprised of a five-tier pyramid, it demonstrates the connection between career motivation and productivity and human needs. If you’re in a leadership position, you can use this ladder to move your own or employee success up the rungs. To reach your goals you must meet all five levels of basic needs at each rung to move from the bottom to the top: (1) Physiological Needs (2) Safety and Security (3) Compassion and Belonging (4) Self-esteem and (5) Self-Actualization. Check out where your needs and those of workers under your management fall on the hierarchy of success then assess what you can do to foster your career goals and those of team members.

1. Meeting Psychological Needs

If you’re in a leadership position, the well-being of employees is your top priority. At this bottom level, the basic human needs you can’t live without are food, water, restorative rest, sleep and oxygen. You can’t meet a pressured deadline or be happy and productive if you’re hungry, thirsty, tired or exhausted. Unfortunately, many companies send mixed messages to their workers. They extol them for working excessive hours, citing overwork as exemplary in hiring practices and reward workaholics with larger salaries and promotions. Yet HR personnel and mental health professionals stress the importance of time off, vacations and work/life balance for career success.

2. Meeting Safety and Security Needs

The health, safety and security of your work environment contribute to the overall success of your business. To perform optimally at work, you and your employees must feel safe and secure—physically, psychologically and financially. Employees need a secure and safe workspace free from distractions or threats. When lighting is too low, temperature too cold or hot or offices too noisy, it’s more difficult for you or your employees to knock out that project or meet a short deadline. To provide great leadership, you advocate for a company workplace safety plan or Environmental, Safety and Health Policy Statement that protects employees from injury or work-related illness and ensures that offices are secure from intruders.

3. Demonstrating Compassion and Belonging

A sense of belonging is central to who we are as human beings at work, home or play. Empathy is a pivotal leadership tool in today’s global market. Your leadership effectiveness rests on the ability to express empathy and communicate to employees that they belong. Progression at this rung requires that you lead with compassionate directness and emotional honesty. To accomplish this, it takes an awareness of your own emotional intelligence and an understanding that empathy and consideration for employees goes a long way to foster a successful team. You recognize your own emotions and those of others and lead with integrity, empathy and judiciousness through difficult, unfair or pressure-filled work challenges. You build trust and empower teams to build belonging, authenticity and innovative practices. You create a trusting and understanding environment of the ins-and-outs of job stressors—a safe workplace where employees can unbutton their feelings with leaders who understand and are trustworthy. 

4. How Can I Build the Self-Esteem Needs of Employees?

You’re fully aware that positive employee self-esteem is vital to the success of your organization’s bottom line. And you go out of your way to boost the self-worth of your workforce. Organizational self-esteem fosters job satisfaction, company loyalty, higher motivation, job performance and lower turnover. If you’re an employee who feels good about yourself, you’re able to focus better, need less time off and have better interpersonal relationships with coworkers, thereby creating healthy group morale. The attitude you bring to the office—positive or negative—is contagious and spreads to workers under your leadership. Leading with optimism encourages employees to focus on possibilities, potential and solutions instead of deficits, past regrets and problems. You delegate work responsibilities, instead of micromanaging, and your encouragement of independence sends a message to employees that you trust their performance abilities.

5. Promoting Self-Actualization

Under your leadership at the highest rung on the pyramid, you actualize your leadership skills and the career goals of your employees, helping them reach their full potential—even if it means they might find a promotion or higher-paying position elsewhere. If you’re a self-actualized leader, you manage with a growth mindset—encouraging lifelong learning and resilience. helping employees to accept failure and success equally and to remain confident in their pursuits after a letdown. You adopt and share the mindset that setbacks happen for you, not to you. You’re a creative risk-taker willing to stretch beyond customary bounds and stick your neck outside your comfort zone. You welcome shortcomings and mistakes—no matter how painful, frustrating, big or small—and envision them as lessons from which to learn. You encourage employees to ask, “What can I manage or overcome here?” or “How can I turn a roadblock into a steppingstone?” You’re a master of self-correction, good problem solver, solution-focused and lead with integrity. Eight qualities beginning with the letter “C” indicate that you’ve reached the level of self-actualization: calm, curiosity, confidence, compassion, connectedness, clarity, courage, and creativity.