Maslow's Murky Middle Offers a “Secret to Success”

Your’re probably familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow’s theory suggests that our more basic needs must be addressed before we can focus on things like collaborating, learning, being creative and expressing our “best self”.

Addressing our physiological needs is pretty straightforward. We know we need food, water, and shelter to survive.

What is less clear, and increasingly relevant in the 21st century, is how to address those needs in the middle of Maslow’s Hierarchy that are required to reach a state of self-actualization. What the research tells us is that needs like—social and emotional safety, belonging, and esteem—are best addressed in two central ways:

1. Establishing a healthy group culture

2. Developing advanced personal, social, metacognitive, and problem solving skills.

When these needs are addressed, well, the sky is the limit!

Jack of Four Skills or Master of One?

A few years ago, I made it a personal mission to help people understand and address the ever-growing list of soft skills needed for success in today’s world of work. I sought out and studied Canadian and international policy documents promoting the importance of soft skills. After digging through the data, I discovered that all of the lists of skills, attitudes, and attributes could be grouped into four themes:

• Skills for being: Skills and understanding in this theme have to do with self-awareness and self-management.

• Skills for relating: This theme has to do with effective communication, building rapport and working with others.

• Skills for knowing: Skills and understanding in this theme have to do with how you source, organize, make sense of, and create information.

• Skills for doing: This theme has to do with the roles, expectations, and practices that you follow when you participate in groups.

After discovering this pattern I felt an umbrella term would help people understand the concept and landed on The Four Master Skills. While each skillset is unique in its own way, they are also interdependent. I use The Four Master Skills model in my teaching and training to help people take a broader view on their development. This framework also makes for an easy way to think about the factors needed to solve complex problems.

While education in the past focused solely on skills for knowing, today it is important to create lifelong learning programs that address all of The Four Master Skills equally.

Interested in using this cohesive approach? Get in touch.

Why going "soft" may be your wisest career move yet

In 2016, the World Economic Forum published  The Future of Jobs. A main finding from their work was that "social skills – such as persuasion, emotional intelligence and teaching others – are in higher demand across industries."

The same year a report by the Business Council of Canada stated that, for entry level employees, only 22% of employers felt that “industry-specific knowledge and experience was important” while 67% of employers felt that “collaboration/teamwork skills” were essential.  

Gone are the days where many workers perform the same repetitive tasks over and over. In this age of automation, the jobs that will remain will likely require advanced people skills such as self-awareness, communication, collaboration, critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Interestingly, these are the same skills that have been found to be central to civic participation, lifelong learning, and overall personal wellness.

In the past, little attention was paid to the intentional development of these attributes. In today’s fast-paced, complex, and highly interdependent world, mastery of complex soft skills has become a critical differentiator that can really set employees apart.