How can Maslow’s hierarchy of needs help you as a mentor?

Maslow proposed his hierarchy of needs 80 years ago, so it is well tried and tested. Although (as he noted) there was little scientific basis behind his idea, its influence, popularity and relevance remains clear through the 2.4 million results thrown up by googling it, including BBC and Harvard articles highlighting its strong influence on the world of business.

So what is Maslow's hieararchy of needs?

Maslow shared a five layered pyramid of needs, shown in the following diagram, which has been updated on the right hand side by a simplified set of three groupings. This proposes that we each need to exist, to relate to others, and to grow - and that we work through these needs from the bottom up.

Our first focus is to meet our existence needs (food, water, warmth, rest, shelter and safety).

If our existence needs are in place, then our second focus is on our relatedness needs, ie relationships, friends, self-acceptance and self-esteem.

Only when we have met our existence needs and our relatedness needs, can we fully focus on our growth, leading to self-fulfilment, achieving our potential, and being the best that we can be (self-actualisation).

How can this model help me?

Firstly, it may help you personally, and secondly, professionally as a mentor.

Personally, it may help you overcome obstacles and achieve your goals. Here's a story of two ways it helped me:

1. A moment of gratitude I loved the idea of a daily practice to remind myself of 1, 3 or 5 things to be grateful for, to kickstart and motivate my mentoring practice, or to calm me down at bedtime with a positive frame of mind. But when I sat down to do this, I struggled to count any blessings - my mind started wandering and the exercise felt like wading through treacle. Using the above diagram sparks off many good things to pick and choose from, which lifts my mood and improves my motivation.

2. Being the best that I can be All my life I have strived to be the best [daughter, student, partner, coach, supervisor] that I can be - and yet, something was getting in the way, and I couldn't work out what that was. This model helped me realise that the obstacle was my self-esteem. However much validation, affirmation and praise I received, I still didn't feel good about myself. After this lightbulb moment, with my supervisor I started focusing on acknowledging positive feedback and believing that I, and my self-esteem, are good enough. This enables me to stay in the top area of the pyramid and enjoy trying to be my best.

   
   

Understanding how you relate to the hierarchy of needs, and what your challenges are, can also help you professionally as a mentor. Which of your mentees may benefit from reflecting on this model to identify what may be getting in the way of them achieving their growth needs? How might you apply this model to your mentee's business - for example, what level of job security do the employees have, and how might this affect staff relationships and their ability to work effectively?

How can this model help you and your mentees move forward? Explore it with your supervisor and enjoy finding the ways it will be of value.