Using The Hierarchy of Needs to Design Systems of Safety Within Your Business
Organization and finding efficient systems to work/be in are my love languages (double Virgo, here!♍). I’ve always loved a good puzzle and finding the best way to do something. However, It has taken me some time and experience to realize that not all bests are created equally. What is best for you might not be best for me, and vice versa, and that is a-okay.
For way too long of a period I was operating from a state of intense burnout. I was working reactively in a state of fight-or-flight and treating everything from a place of urgency. This burnout occurred over quite a long period, but stemmed from trying to make myself and the way that I worked fit into other people’s systems that I had classified as best.
Here’s the thing, other people’s systems are amazing. I love seeing how people work. The problem that I was running into that caused my burnout was that I wasn’t adapting the systems to fit me. I was adapting myself to fit the systems. I wasn’t enjoying the processes that I was doing. I wasn’t feeling excited or joyful in my work. I was just working.
Everything was coming from a place of reaction versus a state of intention.
I was viewing and working with systems from a very masculine place that was incredibly draining. I had always been just looking for the most efficient way to do something and not considering the impact each system would have on my mental health.
So, I started to think about how I could redefine how I work. Could I create a system of working that would support me and not the other way around? Could I create a home base for my business that would allow me to work in a flowing, easeful, and joyful state where maximum impact is the inevitable byproduct of my work? The kind of support that feels like when someone lovingly reminds you to pack a snack or button up your coat. Like a reassuring, “I have your back, boo.” container and not a “things need to be done by this timeline, and I need to achieve this or else!” container that I had been working in.
What did I need on a macro level to feel safe within my work and business?
This reflection made me remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The basic needs that a person needs to thrive and only once the basic needs lower down in the hierarchy are met, can we move onto more complex needs, and I began to think about how I could apply this ideology to my business. I needed to define the fundamental needs to run a conscious, sustainable, and impactful business.
So, I set out to define these fundamental needs that could be used to help create our own unique systems of work, and after workshopping it and workshopping it some more, these are the levels and corresponding needs that I’ve uncovered:
Inquiry: Why do I want to do this work?
Intention: What do I want to achieve?
Action: How am I going to achieve this?
Reflection: Is what I am doing working?
Refinement: How can I simplify and make the process more joyful?
I realized that these were the macro needs for a sustainable and purposeful business, and while I had set up systems for each level within my business, I had never set them up holistically in a way that they would work together as a larger ecosystem. Each level was always in a silo and because of that reason I was always feeling a little bit off. Like I was constantly forgetting something.
When I viewed ways to create a larger ecosystem of The Hierarchy of Needs to Run a Conscious & Sustainable Business, I realized that what I was developing were Systems for Safety within my business.
A System for Safety is the intersection between routine and ritual.
Systems for Safety are the systems that allow us to redefine how we work. They provide supportive containers for both the individuals within the business and the business itself by creating ways of working that support our nervous systems.
Let’s take a deeper look into each need within our business and how we can create containers for our unique Systems for Safety within this hierarchy.
Inquiry
Why do I want to do this work?
The first level of the pyramid represents the why behind our work. This is so important to define. Otherwise, you may find yourself working for the sake of working and hustling for the sake of hustling. My dear friend and work wife, Maggie Gentry, has a beautiful post about the importance of inquiry here.
Have you ever done something in an extreme sense of flow? Where the next steps come easily, and you innately know what to do next? Everything shifts into place and just is. This is when you work from inquiry.
These are the questions that will help you set up the container for Inquiry:
When and how often will I check in on the whys behind my business?
Where will I store this so that I can refer back to it again?
How will I go through the process of checking in with myself?
Once you’ve set up your Inquiry container, these are the questions that you may ask to define your unique Systems for Safety within this container:
Why am I doing the things that I am doing?
What is it that I am hoping to achieve?
Why do I want to achieve this?
What are my core values?
What are my working boundaries and guidelines? (i.e. what work do I do / don’t do?)
Intention
What do I want to achieve?
Once we know our whys, we can then move on to the second level of the pyramid, which lets us define what our intentions for our business will be. What it is that we are working towards.
These are the questions that will help you set up the container for Intention:
When and how often will I set intentions?
Where will I store these intentions so that I can refer back to them again?
How will I go through the process of setting intentions?
Who on my team does this with me/do I need any other support?
Once you’ve set up your Intention container, these are the questions that you may ask to define your unique Systems for Safety within this container:
What intentions am I setting?
Why am I setting these intentions?
What are my metrics for success?
How am I going to achieve these intentions?
Action
How am I going to achieve this?
After we know exactly what intentions we are setting, we can then move to the third level, which is where a lot of the more practical/nitty-gritty happens. This is where you break down your intentions into projects and tasks — the action steps that you will take to achieve your intentions.
These are the questions that will help you set up the container for Action:
When does a new project get started?
What classifies as a project?
Where are these projects organized?
What information needs to be included with each project? i.e. who, what, where, when, why, how’s
Who on my team sets up projects?
When does a new task get started?
What classifies as a task?
Where are these tasks stored?
What information needs to be included with each task? i.e. who, what, where, when, why, how’s
Who on my team sets up tasks?
Once you’ve set up your Action container, these are the questions that you may ask to define your unique Systems for Safety within this container:
Step 1: Breaking Down Intentions Into Projects
Why are we doing this project?
Where do these projects live? i.e. where am I saving my resources and work?
What are the guidelines and boundaries that protect my well-being throughout the process? i.e. I schedule regular days or weeks without client calls.
When are they happening? i.e. timeline
How are these projects going to be achieved?
Who is doing the work?
What needs to be done?
When does something need to be finished? When does something need to be let go?
Step 2: Breaking Down Projects Into Tasks
What needs to be done?
Who needs to do it?
How am I going to do it? i.e. what are my resources to use to support me through the work? Boundaries, guidelines…
When does it need to be done?
What are the metrics for success?
Reflection
Is what I am doing working?
The fourth level allows us to check in with ourselves and make sure that what we are doing is still in alignment. Just because we have set intentions, projects, and tasks does not mean that we need to keep them. It is important to continue to check in with ourselves to ensure that everything is still feeling good so that we don’t get lost in the “doing”.
These are the questions that will help you set up the container for Reflection:
How often am I reflecting on the following?
Inquiry
Intention
Actions
Where am I doing these reflections?
How am I doing these reflections?
Who is doing these reflections with me?
Once you’ve set up your Reflection container, these are the questions that you may ask to define your unique Systems for Safety within this container:
How am I going to reflect on what is working and what isn’t?
When am I reflecting on projects/tasks/goals?
What am I reviewing?
Does this still feel true?
Does this give me excitement to put out in the world?
Have I been procrastinating on any intentions, projects, or tasks? If yes, which pieces and why am I procrastinating on them?
Am I overcomplicating anything? Where can I make refinements?
Refinement
How can I simplify and make the process more joyful?
As humans, we tend to overcomplicate everything, and we especially do so as entrepreneurs. A lot of what we are creating comes from our imagination. We haven’t seen it be done before and can overthink and overcomplicate everything because we are building it from nothing. We usually create and work in a big ‘ol mess at the start, but can simplify as we go through the process.
These are the questions that will help you set up the container for Refinement:
When will something need to be refined?
When I feel certain feelings?
At certain times after reflections?
How will I store future refinements that I want to make but don’t quite know how to make happen yet, or don’t have the time to make happen?
Who will be making these refinements?
How will these refinements be made?
Once you’ve set up your Refinement container, these are the questions that you may ask to define your unique Systems for Safety within this container:
How am I moving forward?
Do any goals, projects, or tasks need to be let go of?
Do any systems need to be simplified for joy and ease?
All of The Hierarchy of Needs to Run a Conscious and Sustainable Business work together to create the unique Systems for Safety within your business. Once you’ve set systems that feel immensely supportive you can work in a flowing, easeful, and joyful state where impact is the inevitable byproduct of your work.