We brought in a trainer to talk to our managers about inclusive leadership and psychological safety today. I benefited a lot from the reflection the training offered on how I lead, but one thing I learned surprised me.
I talk about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs at work quite often. We have it incorporated into our growth conversations so I review it quarterly with my reports. As I’m studying for my HR certification, Maslow’s Hierarchy is one of the models I need to know in my study material.
For those unfamiliar, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a pyramid starting with Physiological needs and ending with Self-Actualization, the model implying that the base needs need to be met before you achieve the next layer on the pyramid. For example, if my need for Safety must be met before my need for Love & Belonging can be met.
Our trainer brought the model up today, and because she’s a good DEI trainer, took a moment to share something she learned that often goes unacknowledged. Maslow spent 6-weeks with the Blackfoot Nation and based this hierarchy on their wisdom.
I have never heard that before in a decade or more of learning about Maslow’s Hierarchy. I did a bit of searching tonight to learn that Maslow never credited the Blackfoot in his research.
One article also suggested that Maslow misinterpreted the Blackfoot teaching for his model, “Maslow took ideas and values from the Blackfoot elders, and incorporated it into a pyramid model, twisting the knowledge to fit Euro-American colonized ideologies.”
The same article points out one of the main misinterpretations was Maslow’s idea of “self-actualization” being at the top of the pyramid. “Maslow made the mistake of putting emphasis on the individual, and not the community, which is the source of actualization within the Blackfoot Confederacy. Maslow’s interpretation of self-actualization and the other hierarchies did not incorporate Indigenous understandings of ancestral knowledge, spirituality, and the individual within the context of community.” (x)
The focus on individualism over the collective is a hallmark of colonized America and it’s fascinating and sad how that has worked its way into our psychological models. I love the wisdom of community actualization instead . . . that community is the source for growth and development.
And the Blackfoot teaching that self-actualization is not something that needs to be earned, it’s innate in all of us. “Hustling for our worth” versus “we are worthy”.
My own research and reading is still surface level on this topic so if you want some more reading, here’s another article on the subject.
With Love,
Natalie