Physiological needs
It's easy to think of a person's physiological needs. People need food. We need shelter. These needs support our basic functions for living. So, what about the basic needs for your business?
Your business has physiological needs to stay in business.
A typical example of this is the company car. When hiring an individual for outside sales or service, many companies provide a vehicle to use for travel and to carry needed tools and equipment to customers.
Need for safety
How does the need for safety and security translate to your business? This need can relate to your business and to the people in your business, like:
- Treating customers and employees with respect
- Supporting employees growth and learning
- Training staff in a positive manner
- Applying security protocols to protect staff and customers
- Maintaining security on personal and business records
Training and supporting employees should be ongoing with a clear reward system. But businesses can learn from their employees' and customers' experiences.
Performing audits and safety checks on a routine basis and meeting with customer and employee focus groups can help a business see things from an outside perspective.
Social connection needs
Social connections at work are just as important as personal connections, especially for high-quality production. Encouraging these connections will help employee success and retention.
Give employees opportunities to be heard at all levels
Create a community spirit within your company
Make staff feel a part of what makes the business successful
Provide a clearcut list of values the business strives for
Many companies create events and activities for employees to meet each other outside of the work environment. This can start with continuing education that pairs people from different departments. Your company may choose to sponsor a charity and create events related to that cause.
Encourage staff to look for ways to innovate to improve your business or industry. Employees can meet with people in other departments or even related businesses to brainstorm new ideas.
The best way to promote connections is by providing a good example. Leadership can help drive actions and activities and help employees discover where the company fits into the local and regional community you're part of.
Esteem
Promoting esteem within your organization is important. When employees don't feel appreciated, they may decide to leave your company. You can build esteem in your business through:
- Empowering staff
- Offering praise in private and public
- Design employee recognition programs
- Appreciating each person's contribution to the success of your brand, including the newest worker
- Show your staff how much you value them and how important they are to your business
One solution for showing appreciation is creating a system in which employees can appreciate each other. This idea works best if the appreciation can translate to physical awards at various levels.
Training managers and employees to take the initiative with projects and customers to fulfill needs and recognizing them when they do will help build staff esteem levels.
Self-actualization
Self-actualization at work is similar to personal self-actualization. By supporting your workers in their path to self-actualization, you help them learn and grow, leading to moving up and helping them achieve fulfillment at work. This leads to employee retention and filling roles with experienced workers.
- Empower employees to think big for your company
- Embrace creativity in thought and action
- Help employees have a vision for their own contribution to your company as well as for the company itself
- Encourage input to current leadership and training to become future leaders
- Encourage staff to invent and reinvent at work to improve their success
Large corporations may have more financial resources for innovation, but you can encourage your staff to innovate.
