Ever since Abraham Maslow published his work on self actualization, the corporate world has been on a journey to find 'the answer'. The ideal of course is to have everyone on your team and in your organization actively seeking 'the answer'.
But as you probably know from your experience, 'the answer' is elusive. Or is it? Let's try putting it another way:
If self-actualization is the answer, what's the question? Perhaps the more important question is 'what's at the root of self-actualization?'
To help us dig deeper and find these roots, let's see what we can learn from Mother Teresa. In her work to eradicate poverty, she was keenly interested in understanding the contrasts between poverty and abundance. One such set of contrasts became known as her Tree of Self-Defeat and Tree of Self-Realization, depicted below:
Can you see the contrast? When you examine the roots of self-defeat and self-realization, it becomes clear what you need to eliminate and what you need to increase in your life and your work in order for you and your team to succeed.
From a corporate perspective, imagine a team or organization that had roots in the Tree of Self-Defeat? That would be a team or organization that has...
- a very high degree of interpersonal conflicts,
- low engagement (apathy),
- high dependency on the organization (and its leaders) to provide guaranteed jobs,
- prominence of drug surveilence programs
- ...and so on.
Now think about a team or organization that has its roots in the Tree of Self-Realization. That would be a team or organization that has...
- a strong sense of purpose,
- a healthy work environment (both mental and physical),
- joy in work,
- high degrees of self-motivation,
- acceptance of differences,
- creativity and innovation
- ...you get the picture.
To create the latter, simply pay attention, as a leader, to tending to the roots:
Charity: Does your team or organization give back to the community?
Friendship: Are people friendly towards each other, and towards customers and suppliers?
Forgiveness: Are people forgiven for making mistakes, and truly encouraged to learn from them? Are people willing to take risks?
Love: The opposite of love is hate. How much love is shown within your team and organization? (If you are squirming at the thought of 'love' as a corporate value, just check out Love is the Killer App by Yahoo! founder Tim Sanders and the work of Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines, who believe strongly in this concept of love.)
Gratitude: How do people in your organization show real and genuine gratitude, towards each other as well as customers and suppliers? One organization that I know has 'Thank You's' as a standard Agenda item at the end of their Board meetings...everyone is invited to say 'thank you' to someone for a specific thing they have done. It gets recorded in the minutes and conveyed by the CEO to that person or team.
Kindness: When was the last time you showed kindness towards a colleague? In our organizations, it's seemingly more important to be right than to be kind. Try reversing these two!
Warmth: When you walk around your organization, do you get a sense of warmth...or do you feel a cold, uninviting environment? What can you do to make the environment emotionally warmer?
Trust: Do you trust yourself to trust others? If you want to build trust, start with yourself. For example, how much trust do you have in yourself to let go and avoid micro-managing? In what other ways can you build trust in your team and organization?
Getting at the roots of self-actualization means tending to those factors that are not immediately evident on the surface. It means tending to the roots. Start digging!
About Brian Ward
Brian Ward is a Principal in Affinity Consulting, an Edmonton Alberta based consulting practice. He is the author of Lead People...Manage Things. He has over 25 years of experience working with all levels of leaders and teams as a leadership coach, facilitator and consultant. His website is at www.affinitymc.com
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