Ron had completed his first year in my team at a leading consumer electronics company. He spent his first year as a software developer mentored by senior developers on the latest smartphone platforms. This work was a core part of the system software, and many people dream of such opportunities early in their careers.

But Ron was unhappy. He wanted more challenging work as he was bored of working on the same thing for months.

I was confused. We had spent a whole year training Ron to be productively employed, and he was already bored?

He was a beginner and years away from developing expertise. The work was very challenging as it involved deep knowledge of computer hardware and complex programming skills.

Ron wasn’t the only one asking for challenging work. I soon figured out that it meant, “I am bored. Give me something else”. Many of these employees chose to find opportunities at other companies.

I wanted to make sense of this behaviour. These employees had worked hard to get into top universities, slogged for years to perform well. Further, they had to go through series of tests and interviews to join the world #1 consumer electronics company. What made them try so hard to get in, only leave at the drop of a hat?

Around that time, I came across a TED Talk by Tony Robbins on the six human needs, and it helped me make some sense of the employees’ behaviours.

Let’s look at the six human needs and how we can address them to improve productivity.

Table of Contents

• What are the 6 Human Needs?

  • Are all six needs equally strong for everyone?

  • How do you know which needs are stronger for an em …

• Applying the 6 Human Needs to Enhance Employee Pro …

  • 1. Need for Certainty

  • 2. Need for Uncertainty/Variety

  • 3. Need for Significance

  • 4. Need for Connection

  • 5. Need for Growth

  • 6. Need for Contribution

• Final Thoughts

What are the 6 Human Needs?

The first two needs are the need for certainty and the need for uncertainty. These two are contradictory needs.

We all need a level of predictability of our survival needs, such as our next meal, our next pay-check, a safe home and stable relationships. But too much certainty is boring, and we seek uncertainty or variety for stimulation. We try new food, change jobs and even go for vacations to break the monotony of our lives.

Contradiction in the first two needs often prompts some people to take risks they later regret. At the same time, others become resistant to change and never step out of their comfort zone.

The following two needs are the need for connection and the need for significance. Again, these two are contradictory.

Our need for connection is fundamental to our survival. Humans have always thrived in tribes. Someone banished from the tribe would have soon perished.

Human babies are helpless for years compared to other animals whose offspring can fend for themselves much sooner. Yes, many animals live in groups, but our dependency on each other is not just physical but also psychological. Solitary confinement is supposed to be the worst form of punishment.

But within our tribes or groups, we want to stand out. We want to feel important and be recognised for our uniqueness. We often seek attention by differentiating ourselves through appearance and behaviour. Our drive for power, recognition, success, and achievement comes from the need for significance.

The need for connection and significance often pulls us in different directions. Relationship issues often stem from the need to connect while maintaining individual importance. We want to belong to a group where we are recognised as important and worthy members.

Thankfully, the last two needs, need for growth and need for contribution, aren’t contradictory. Tony Robbins calls these the needs of the spirit.

As humans, we are always seeking growth, both physical or mental. Now we don’t want to grow in size forever. Instead, we strive to grow healthier, gain more knowledge and improve our skills. We are most happy when we feel that we are making progress.

Contribution gives meaning to our lives. We get a deep sense of fulfilment and happiness when we contribute to the greater good. Our work is also a contribution to business and society, but we often get into the details and overlook the purpose of our work.

Are all six needs equally strong for everyone?

Evolution ensured that we are all unique. The six needs aren’t equally strong for us.

For example, if someone’s need for variety is stronger than their need for certainty, they are more likely to sign up for adventure sports or try different cuisines. Similarly, someone with a stronger need for significance, compared to their need for connection, may be very competitive or seek leadership positions.

If you want to discover your own top need, you can try this quiz here.

How do you know which needs are stronger for an employee?

You can ask your employees to take this quiz, but I don’t recommend that. It is often intrusive and only tells you the top need.

I rely on my regular conversations to create a need map for my team members. It starts with a rough guess, but it gets pretty accurate as I get to know them. If someone often goes on an adventure trip, I know their need for variety is strong. Someone else may be uncomfortable changing their desk, which indicates a higher need for certainty.

The good thing is that you don’t need to be accurate about the need distribution because everyone anyway has all six needs, just in different proportions.

Applying the 6 Human Needs to Enhance Employee Productivity

We spend a significant part of our lives at work and at least 50% of our daily waking hours on our job or thinking about our job. If our work environment satisfies some or all of the 6 human needs, we are more engaged, less stressed and more productive.

As managers, we can help address some of these needs for our employees and thus enhance productivity without compromising well being.

Here are some practical ways of addressing the 6 needs.

1. Need for Certainty

Usually, the paycheck, company benefits, job security etc., provide an underlying certainty in the work environment. What can you do to enhance certainty?

Your employees should feel sure that you have their back and you are on their side.

Scheduling regular 1:1 meetings is a great way to enhance certainty. During these meetings, show that you care and listen. Don’t turn the sessions into an interview about the weekly progress and activities. Instead, take the opportunity to extend guidance and provide support.

Your role becomes challenging when there is upheaval going on in the company. Downsizing makes everyone jittery. You may not have the luxury of assuring job security to your team all the time.

Even though transparency and honesty are the best ways to maintain trust, you may sometimes be required to withhold information. In such a situation, being sincere is your best bet. Even if you have to say that you can’t share full details right now, doing so sincerely maintains trust.

2. Need for Uncertainty/Variety

Since the need for uncertainty can vary a lot among individuals, one size won’t fit all. Also, work is not the only place to satisfy the need for variety.

As managers, we can improve engagement by addressing this need tailored to each individual.

Some employees are happy with working on similar projects for a long time. These people either have a low need for variety, or their need for certainty is very high. Another reason could be that they have other areas of their life providing them with enough variety such as sports or travel.

There will be some employees who crave new challenges and are easily bored.

You may not have the ability to provide new challenges often enough, but you can have regular conversations about upcoming projects or product roadmaps. Maybe you can let them participate in a company-wide process improvement initiative. Or invite them to organise the next company event.

Trade shows and conferences may also satisfy the need for variety for novelty seekers. Remind them to let you know when something of interest comes up.

3. Need for Significance

Employees are sometimes given fancy titles to address the need for significance. But the charm wears off sooner or later.

Significance not only comes from our title and status but also from the importance we receive from our colleagues. As managers, we shouldn’t try to influence how our employees perceive each other, but we can lead the way.

Each of our employees brings in a specific combination of talent, knowledge, skills, values and personality. This combination makes them unique and valuable members of the team. We often know this in our minds but rarely acknowledge it out loud.

Now we can’t read out such a list during a team meeting. It would be awkward. But we can look for opportunities to appreciate this uniqueness. It could be during a status update or a team outing, but sincerity is the key.

You can also enrol your senior employees to appreciate the junior members of the team. If you continue this practice, it will become a part of your team culture.

4. Need for Connection

The company, department, group, team etc., provide some of the connection and belongingness needed by your employees. Is that enough?

An effective way to enhance the need for connection is shared vision and goals.

Start by creating a team identity. The name you choose for the team is important. Try not to use a short term aspect of your work, such as the current project. Think about involving your whole team in the naming process.

Next, define a vision and a mission for your team. Even if your company doesn’t require a vision and mission at your team level, nobody will stop you from coming up with one, as long as it doesn’t contradict the company’s vision and mission. This is another opportunity to get everyone involved.

New tools such as Microsoft Teams or Slack help in fostering belongingness and satisfying connection needs. But it can add significant distractions and reduce productivity.

The best approach is to help your team set up ground rules for communication. Don’t dictate the terms. Let your employees come up with the rules. Set up a periodic retrospective and update the practices when needed.

5. Need for Growth

There are two commonly used tools to address growth. The first is to promote, and the second is training. Both tools are quite limited in their impact.

Promotions don’t come often enough. Also, they make the receiver temporarily happy while causing others to envy them.

Training is a blunt tool for satisfying growth needs. People forget most of the content within a few days. Anyway, real growth comes from applying knowledge to develop skills, which is highly dependent on personal motivation.

The most important thing to understand is that growth is a personal responsibility and not a benefit to dish out. So what can you do?

Schedule growth conversations with each of your employees at least twice a year. Exclude promotion and pay rise from the discussion and focus on the enhancement of knowledge and skills.

Ask them to come up with goals and a plan. Put on your coach hat and give them feedback on the plan. Discuss how you will support them and hold them accountable. A significant part of the plan should be based on personal effort.

You can identify training needs during the growth conversation, but don’t make training the first step in the process.

For example, if someone wants to learn python programming, ask them to go through some free online courses first. Let them do a few simple projects on their own time.

Make sure you explain why this step is not a condition for a reward but to help them get a feel for the subject. This will be useful to decide the right course or workshop to sign up for and improve learning during the training.

6. Need for Contribution

Corporate social responsibility has become a norm these days. It serves its purpose of helping a cause while satisfying employees’ need for contribution. But is that enough?

We sometimes forget our work itself is a contribution to society. Yes, we work to get paid, but human civilisation operates on the division of labour.

We may assume that our team members are fully aware of their contribution to the business and society at large, but it is often not the case. We can play an important role in communicating this immensely satisfying aspect of work.

Seek out information on your team’s contribution to your products or services. Request customer feedback data if available. During your monthly team meeting (I hope you have one), share this information with your team. Show them the value of their contribution with data, rather than just saying the words.

Occasionally, request senior leaders to communicate their appreciation of your team’s work. Most of all, frequently express your appreciation.

Final Thoughts

As managers, our team's productivity is our responsibility. Pushing people to work harder or put more hours often backfires as it decreases motivation and creates stress. By improving our understanding of human behaviour, we can influence employees to be more productive while ensuring their well being and long term success.

Understanding and addressing the 6 human needs is an effective way to enhance engagement and improve productivity.