Ten thousand strategies

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. 

One thing all humans have in common is a drive to meet our needs -- physical nurturance, safety, belonging, esteem, integrity, interdependence, play, communion, etc. It’s something you share even with people you detest or who hate you. 

We only differ in our strategies to meet those needs. 

A wife bounces a few checks, and the husband takes away the checkbook. They fight about it. He’s trying to meet his need for financial safety. She’s trying to meet her need to be trusted. Yet their arguments are not about these core, driving needs, but about his taking away the checkbook, a strategy he used to meet his needs. 

Dr. Jane Marantz Connor says “our greatest resource is an awareness of possibility.”

How many other ways could the husband get his needs met if he explored his many other options?

If the couple spoke in a way that would focus on meeting needs, not on strategies.  

I see this kind of limited thinking in the workplace. 

Many managers seem to think that because they’re in positions of leadership, they are responsible for fixing the problem, and they deploy a strategy before understanding the needs of those affected by the problem.

Think of a challenging situation you face, what are the underlying needs driving your current strategies, and who can you invite to discuss the ten thousand other strategies you’re not seeing?