The HR Hierarchy of Needs: Insights and Strategies for Reaching the Top

HR Break Room

Guest:

Amy Edmondson, Ph.D., Harvard Business School professor of leadership and management

From lack of time to lack of C-suite buy-in, there’s no shortage of reasons HR professionals might find themselves feeling more than a little frustrated — or even stuck — in their roles. In fact, in a role as challenging as HR, it would almost be more surprising if this weren’t the case!

However, these feelings need not be permanent. By visualizing the HR profession as a classic hierarchy of needs, you can also visualize your path to its peak, leading to a kind of professional self-actualization or even transcendence. The model for this hierarchy, represented in the form of a pyramid, comes to us from one of the leading lights of 20th-century psychology: Abraham Maslow.

But what do the various levels on the HR hierarchy of needs actually look like? And how easy is it to move from one to the next?

In this episode of of HR Break Room®, host Caleb Masters welcomes Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson to discuss:

• the challenges and roadblocks to self-actualization faced by many HR professionals
• cultivating the right mindset for surmounting basic needs and safety and security to reach higher, more fulfilling levels on the hierarchy
• how the right HR technology can make the journey easier

Take an even deeper dive into the HR hierarchy of needs by reading our white paper, The HR Hierarchy of Needs: Achieving Self-Actualization in Your Profession.