Abraham Maslow gave us an amazing tool that leaders can use when evaluating the health of their communities. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs provides excellent framework in helping to ensure healthy community. This pyramid model encompasses needs from all aspects of a persons development. Any leader wishing to grow and develop a healthy community can adapt Maslow's hierarchy for good.

The importance of a model like this and others is massive. People who have an unmet need are more likely to focus in on their needs that distract them than to pay attention to you as a leader. If they are starving they will want food. If they feel insecure they will want safety. If they feel lonely they will want acceptance. If they feel like they are nothing, they will want someone to make them feel like they are something and if they do not know whom they are, why would the waste their time chasing another's dream?

People can become enslaved to their unmet needs and this distracts from a leader offering direction. When something is out of balance it is hard to listen to someone else. Why would someone want to hear about Jesus when all they can hear is their stomach grumbling? Leaders listen -- if you want people to listen you have a responsibility in empowering people to meet their needs. When their needs are met, they will listen.

Leaders must be able to utilize resources and people to help meet different kinds of needs. Having knowledge of the different kind of needs can help us as leaders utilize proper resources and relationships to meet needs -- including our own. This is where Maslow's Hierarchy is such an important tool. It gives us a strong base in recognizing different needs.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

I am not going to go into what each need means because they are self explanatory. If you would like to know more follow this link on Maslow's Hierarchy. Knowing these needs are being met in the four spaces will help communities and organizations grow. All to often leaders fail to recognize these different kinds of needs and impoverishment invades the communities that they lead. Take this seriously so that you can avoid the impoverishment that has invaded so many organizations and communities.