Mastering your Organization by Developing Managers and Employees

A common diagram in management is the Management Skills Pyramid, which illustrates the skills a manager must master to be successful in successive steps.The skills are defined within four levels starting with the basic skills needed to identify tasks that need to be done and accomplish them, to developing employees, then self management and finally achieving leadership skills.The model not only accurately depicts the skills needed to be successful in a management position in the order they are mastered, but it also maps directly to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Pyramid.Through abstraction, the two models map Maslow's Physical and Safety needs with the skills to do the job. Worth and Belonging and Esteem needs would map to the skills associated with bonding with and developing employee skills. Finally, in the upper levels of the pyramids Self Actualization needs would map to the manager's Self Improvement and Leadership skills.The ability to map Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs with the Management Skills Pyramid offers four things that I and many managers and leaders are interested in. First, it may identify a trait that makes great leaders so effective. Second, it provides a way to build employee skills while building the potential of management. Third, it improves the satisfaction employees get from the job. Finally, it would lead to stronger informal communication channels and employee communication and team skills.