Depending on who you listen to we want a number of things. Maslow will tell you they can be categorised, starting with physiological needs and ending with self actualisation.
I’m lucky, by most peoples standards I am a way up that particular triangle, but it is easy to forget what you have and assume everybody is in the same place. As a friend of mine once said:
“Count your blessings every morning and start with the fact that you have clean cold running water”
The list below is Jurgen Appelo‘s take on people’s needs at work, the “10 intrinsic desires”.
- Acceptance: the need for approval
- Curiosity: the need to think
- Power: the need for influence of will
- Honour: being loyal to a group
- Social contact: the need for friends
- Idealism: having a purpose
- Status: the need for social standing
- Independence: being able to stand alone
- Order: having a stable environments
- Competence: feeling capable
An interesting list, we could argue about it for a long time, but accepting that it is a good list then the question is this:
When you are at work do you do all that you can to fulfil these needs in others? If you don’t, should you, or are your colleagues all left without clean running water?
Image by Minimalist Photography 101
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