Do you know the answer for this question?
Is your Team a Happy Team?
Happiness at work is not an easy topic. Several times you hear that someone has a problem with his/her boss or with his/her colleague and is unhappy with their job. Some other times the person it’s just unhappy but it doesn’t know why.
But what does this really mean?
Well it can be just a result of some event, maybe you did something wrong or maybe you didn’t get to the point that you were supposed to. In the other hand it may be just a little thing that comes and makes us think of all the little/big things that happen in the recent past and that contribute in different ways to your actual state of mind.
This takes me to the Maslow pyramid. Maslow pyramid is a Hierarchy of Needs that you should take in attention when managing your team. Maslow hierarchy is a motivational theory in psychology structured in a five tier pyramid.
From the point of view of team leadership you can look at Maslow hierarchy as a guide to motivate your team.
On the base of the pyramid you have Physiological needs, and this means basic needs as food, water, warmth and rest. I would say that the majority of us does not take attention for these needs as we assume them for granted. But on the company level this means you should provide basic comfort for your team such as an ergonomic workplace, breaks for taking a coffee or eat some snack.
Next we have Safety needs, security and safety. We all need to fell secure and safe but again most of us don’t think of this as something that we have… In terms of work this is something that should take care, each one must fell secure and safe at his job and that means that we shouldn’t be always thinking if we’ll have the same job next month or if the company is going to enter in some kind of collapse and we’ll have to look for another job.
Looking in the perspective of a work team. You can’t have the feeling that you can leave the team at any moment you need to be integrated and comfortable with your team.
These two groups of needs are called the Basic needs because they define what we can call the minimum needs that someone must have to be on the team without thinking of another project.
Or coming to our subject for some elements this may be sufficient to make them happy.
In the next layer we enter the group of Psychological needs. This group is divided in Belongingness and love needs and Esteem needs.
In the Belongingness and love needs we find intimate relationships and friends. In my opinion this layer is the foundation of happiness at work.
This layer means that as a human being we need to have relationships, and not any relationship but intimate and friends. If we think outside the workplace of course this is true, but how can you have this in a work team? Again we are humans and as much as we have bounded to our teammates more we work as a team and more we connect to that team. And with this comes the feeling of belonging and in the end the satisfaction of being part of something.
This need is one that everyone in the team should have and having this kind of connection between teammates we have a high probability of having a happy team!
The the Esteem needs are not for everyone. But most of us need it. The Esteem is the belief that you are part of something and that you are contributing to achieve some goal and on the other hand you also feel that what you do is being recognized.
If you work as a “robot” you probably don’t have this need, but most of us have the necessity to understand where we are going and having it certain that we are contributing to it all along the way. The recognition is also a very important part on this because even if you are sure that you have a part on the process if you don’t have someone giving you recognition your Esteem will be low. In the end you’ll think that you had a hard work and eventually the goal was a success but no one cares, they just throw you a new project.
When we want to get teams to a next level of productivity and happiness Esteem is an important need to focus on and workout.
The next level of the Maslow’s Pyramid is the Self-Actualization need. At this level you must look to the individual itself and understand what are his needs in terms of growing. The idea it to understand what are the areas in which the individual may want to pursue new skills/knowledge and provide the tools to get there.
When you allow the employee to Self-Actualize he feels empowered and trusted which allows him to grow and to have an even better engagement.
So to discover if you have a Happy Team you need to look to all of these needs and verify how your team individuals “perform” in each one of them.
Let’s summarize it:
1 — Do you provide them proper breaks, restroom, ergonomic workplace to satisfy their Physiological needs?
2 — Do you provide Safety sentiment? Are they ok at the workplace or always looking if the company is going to fire them?
3 — Do you promote the relationships between the team members? Do they have the feeling that they belong to the team?
4 — How is the Esteem of each one of them? Do you recognize what they do and show them that what they do is important for the objectives/goals of the team?
5— Do you promote the Self-Actualization? Do you know which areas they want/should evolve?
Is your team a Happy Team?
And by the way are YOU HAPPY?
