TZL 1319

PETER ATHERTON, from page 11

❚ ❚ Safety needs: Security, protection, stability, freedom from fear. ❚ ❚ Belonging and love needs: Social needs for connection, friendship, trust, acceptance, and intimacy. ❚ ❚ Esteem needs: Self-esteem and respect, status, and recognition from others. ❚ ❚ Cognitive needs: Need for knowledge and understanding, meaning, and predictability. ❚ ❚ Aesthetic needs: Appreciation for beauty, order, balance, form, and function. ❚ ❚ Self-actualization needs: Realizing our full potential, becoming our best self, and seeking personal growth and peak experiences (i.e., experiencing life and the world with feelings of euphoria, joy, wonder, and praise). ❚ ❚ Transcendence needs: Being motivated by values and visions beyond our personal self and self-interests, living in an enlightened state, and taking action to love, support, and advance others with compassion, sympathy, empathy, and purpose. As a reminder, the first four stages are defined as deficiency needs in that being “deficient” in one or more of them will motivate our behavior in order to satisfy them, even if our method of doing so can harm us over time. Gratification in fulfilling these deficiency needs is often only short-term. The second four stages, on the other hand, are attributed to our – and our employees’ – desire to grow and realize long-term happiness. We feel unfulfilled when one or more of these growth needs is unmet. Although we can be motivated by different needs simultaneously, can move back and forth between different needs depending on our circumstances, and some needs can take precedence over others at any given time, we generally need to sufficiently satisfy a lower-stage need before moving on to the next level. SO, WHAT’S MISSING? For many of us, it’s transcendence and being a meaningful contributor to something greater than ourselves. Individually, we can begin today to seek a new peak and achieve greater levels of growth and enjoyment along the way. As leaders and organizations, we have a bigger decision to make. This is the subject of Part 2 of this series. The life, career, and organization you thought was too good to be true is not. Welcome to the new. PETER ATHERTON, P.E. is an AEC industry insider who has spent more than 24 years as a successful professional civil engineer, principal, major owner, and member of the board of directors for a high-achieving firm. Pete is now the president and founder of ActionsProve, LLC, author of Reversing Burnout. How to Immediately Engage Top Talent and Grow! A Blueprint for Professionals and Business Owners , and the creator of the I.M.P.A.C.T. process. Pete is also host of The AEC Leadership Today Podcast. Pete works with AEC firms to grow and advance their success through strategic planning implementation, executive coaching, performance-based employee engagement, and corporate impact design. Connect with him at pete@actionsprove.com.

and more fulfillment. No matter the reason, something’s gotta give. Individuals, organizations, and even industries are struggling, trying to make sense of it. We all need an answer. And it’s not just trying to hold steady for one more year. NEW GOAL. The proceeding two paragraphs represent the reality faced by talent and a dilemma faced by leaders. The goal for top talent today is to win at both work and life. And success is as much about effectively “integrating” as it is about “balance.” The question is: How best can this be done? The first step is to understand what’s missing. NEW PEAK. Even if not fully understood or able to be articulated, most people want more out of life today. It’s not just about comfort, satisfaction, or happiness. It’s about joy, contentment, living our best lives to the best of our capabilities, and being meaningful contributors to something greater than ourselves. The problem today, however, is two-fold. First, our time, our energy, and our headspace is often consumed by work. This leaves us physically, emotionally, and mentally drained and unable to live a full life. Second, we have lost sight of our needs and what ultimately motivates us as people. When reminded, most of us readily recall and agree with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs. The full hierarchy is illustrated in the image below:

Image source: McLeod, S.A. (2018, May 21). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Retrieved from: simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

A summary of each need is presented below: ❚ ❚ Physiological needs: Basic biological needs for our survival and proper functioning, including water, food, clothing, shelter, warmth, and sleep.

THE ZWEIG LETTER November 4, 2019, ISSUE 1319

Made with FlippingBook Annual report