Transforming Organizations Using Human Needs Psychology - Part 1

Transforming organizational cultures requires changing employees’ beliefs about how a company operates. In the vernacular “how things are done around here.” These beliefs include what’s accepted, what’s expected, and what’s tolerated.

The management team is responsible for creating the necessary experiences that will shape an employee’s beliefs about the organization. These beliefs change their behavior and determine the results an organization achieves.

The model used in this article refers to what I call the CEBAR model (borrowed from the book, “Change the Culture, Change The Game” by Roger Connors and Tom Smith).

CEBAR stands for Culture = Experience -> Beliefs -> Actions -> Results

This series of articles will focus on the “E” part of the CEBAR model.

Need for Contribution

“Leadership 101: People support what they help create.”

- Keith Krach

Contribution means participation. People want to feel heard. Your employees don’t want to just contribute their time and efforts related to their job, they want to contribute their opinions, ideas, and talents they feel are underutilized. When this occurs, they feel validated. They feel heard. This helps fulfill the human need for contribution.

This is one of the more important principles from human needs psychology because it has the greatest potential to transform organizations.

I’m reminded by psychologist Virginia Satir’s analogy describing the human psyche as a fountain with water jets. According to Satir, if an individual does not acknowledge their emotions it is akin to suppressing one of the water jets. This generates back pressure which affects the structural integrity of the fountain or the build up of water pressure comes out with greater force through the other jets.

The same happens in organizations. When we suppress acknowledgement of our employees’ ideas, time, talent, and efforts we create built up pressure.

If employees feel they are not heard or as if they do not matter, they either leave, stay but fail to work to their full potential, or begin efforts to unionize.

If you have ever worked in a front-line position, you may have noticed at some point the upper level management team may have made a decision that hampered your ability to do your job. But how many of us in leadership roles have at one point changed operational procedures or policies impacting front-line employees and begin to wonder why they resent us? We make it worse when we fail to communicate good reasons to staff as to why those changes were necessary.

Nonetheless, mid-level managers and front-line employees often wish upper-level management would consult them when operational changes or new company policies affect them or their ability to execute their responsibilities. When significant operational changes or policy changes are made without consulting employees they begin to feel as if their ideas or opinions do not matter. When this happens, they become unhappy and become less productive. At scale this impacts the company’s bottom line and creates a domino effect; Long-term problems develop in the form of lower job satisfaction rates which leads to lower retention rates which increases hiring costs, decreased innovation, and lower employee morale. This slows down organizational momentum in the long run and leaves it at a strategic disadvantage to competitors.

The fallacy many of us run into as organizational leaders is “we know what’s best.” The reality is we do not have a monopoly on great ideas. A good organization recognizes a good idea can come from any employee or client and facilitates a variety of avenues by which those ideas can be shared.

A number of organizations, both for profit and non-profit, employ a number of different techniques to draw out the best ideas from their employees. Facilitating a venue by which employees can share what’s on their mind helps satisfy the fundamental human need to contribute. 

Furthermore, if an idea coming from a mid-level manager or front-line employee is implemented it is much more likely they will be more productive because it is their idea. Plus, when employees realize the organization values employee input it improves morale and organizational culture.

Here are some examples of different means organizations use to facilitate organization-wide input.

• Townhalls
• Round table discussions
• Working groups or temporary committees
• Anonymous suggestion boxes
• Dot Collectors (See the book “Principles” by Ray Dalio for more information)

Let’s describe some of these in detail.

Town Halls - Depending on how you operate them, these aren’t always popular with mid-level or upper level management. Why? Because sometimes they will receive criticism in their roles. But receiving criticism is part of leadership. Sometimes criticism is valid, sometimes it isn’t. When criticism is valid it provides good feedback for the management team. But town halls offer a means by which leadership can receive important intel on initiatives, improve the possibility of organizational buy-in, and let in-the-trenches employees feel like their voice is heard and that they matter.

Round Tables - Round table discussions include topics where everyone has an opportunity to share ideas or solutions to a problem. Topics range from being very specific to being broad such as “What’s on your mind” but it’s important to focus on one topic at a time. If you want greater buy-in, ask your employees for ideas for discussion topics. Present them to staff and see which ones they feel are most important to discuss.

During a round table discussion everyone is given two minutes each to talk. At minimum a scribe takes minutes and some organizations also record the audio. In other instances, a neutral 3rd party is asked to facilitate larger round table sessions and provide prompts to foster greater creativity from participants but this isn’t as common. 

During a round table no one should talk a second time unless everyone else has contributed first.* It is requested that repeating ideas shared by previous participants be avoided to save time. If after some time it seems ideas or proposed solutions are the same the facilitator will ask participants if they feel ideas have been exhausted. If the sense of the room is “yes,” the round table ends.

Once the round table ends, participant responses are handed off to a working group or committee representing a cross section of the company both vertically and laterally. This working group or committee will review the response and make recommendations for improvement in the organization if deemed necessary.

(*) In multinational organizations it is important to provide interpretation for non-english speaking employees and allow them additional time if necessary at the microphone.

Working Groups or Temporary Committees

A working group, sometimes called a temporary committee, is a team of employees representing a healthy cross section of the organization, both laterally and vertically. Inside of the working group, employees discuss potential solutions to difficult organizational problems. 

Notes from a town hall or round table discussion are referred to the working group where they review them. On occasion, some continue to solicit feedback from the organization or at least key personnel in the form of questionnaires or surveys. 

After this material is reviewed, members of the working group propose ideas to one another. Some are rejected and the remainder of them are discussed further and refined. Ideas which pass an agreed upon voting threshold, usually two-thirds majority, are then presented as a recommendation to the organization.

On occasion working groups are formed without necessitating town halls or round tables but for more complex organizational issues many find it best such challenges are first discussed in a town hall or round table discussion to solicit a variety of ideas.

For example, if a company is planning a 50th anniversary celebration, upper level management may ask if employees would like to be a part of a planning committee.

Additional benefits of working groups or committees include cultivating additional opportunities for employees to really speak what’s on their mind.

Furthermore, by representing a cross section of the organization you are likely to achieve greater organizational buy-in because representatives of different parts of the company, both horizontally and vertically, provide input.

Anonymous suggestion box

Companies use technologies such as SurveyMonkey, TypeForm, or Google forms to facilitate anonymous suggestions. The forms are simple; just a text box asking you for your suggestions. Ultimately it is up to management to send reminders from time to time.

One set of questions I like comes from the book “Scaling Up” by Verne Harnish which are

• What should we start doing?
• What should we stop doing?
• What should we keep doing?

These questions as a singular topic are also good for round table discussions.