Leadership principles in sports and Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Leadership and Teams Based on Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs

Effective leaders understand that if they wish to develop productive and highly qualified individuals and teams, they must understand and respond to the needs and well-being of these individuals. When followers know the leader is concerned, they will normally give their best results.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is an effective way of considering people's needs. Abraham Maslow developed this theory in the early 1940s, based on the fact that humans strive to meet their most basic needs and also to satisfy a higher set of personal needs (self-actualization).

Maslow presents this set of needs as a hierarchy, consisting of:

Physiological/bodily needs;

Safety needs;

Love/belonging needs;

Self-esteem; and Self-actualization

Thus, it is important that the leader first fulfill the basic needs, such as a safe environment to work and a secure salary level, then provide a sense of importance/belonging to the organization and build the self-confidence level of the individual in his/her work, and finally allow that person to develop as he/she believes is best in self-actualization.

Human Relations should drive the culture of the organization to ensure that the employees are receiving the support and skills required. From a Human Relations standpoint, it is important to always look at how well the organization addresses the needs and expressive desires of personnel. HR must ensure that the company is mindful about the positive welfare of its people as well as productive concerns. The basic belief of Human Relations professionals should recognize that desired best interests for the personnel is consistent with the desired best interests for productive results.

High-performance teams are established with specific stated goals to achieve and guidelines on how to make decisions and on team behavior. Eventually, the team will develop its own guidelines. Using high-performance teams is effective, since it is based on the theory that the collective brainpower of team members exceeds the ability of a single manager to achieve intended goals. High-performance teams are self-directed and empowered to achieve powerful results in a very short period of time. Team members will learn and grow as they work together.

Negative team members or malcontents are individuals who will come into the process already with a bad attitude and not agree with anything that is suggested. This can bring the entire team down. It is up to the team leader to reinforce the strengths of this individual and the purpose for his/her role on the team. The person should have the opportunity to address his/her concerns with an objective and non-judgmental environment. The leader should ask the person to give three reasons that are of most concern. Then narrow it to two, and finally to one. Then the leader can transfer to a more positive approach and ask the person to give ways to address the concerns. Positive group members keep an open mind about other individuals' suggestions, help with decision making, offer suggestions and share ideas, and provide their skills to the process.