We do not often think about emot-
ional safety. We focus on how emotional
safety is viewed in the classroom and
cultivate respect between students and
teachers or guides. How emotionally safe
do teachers feel with administrators? Do
they feel that administrators guard them
against the adverse impact of irritated
parents? Do they feel it is emotionally safe
to offer innovative new ideas?
Once there is an environment of
safety then people begin to ask, “Do I
belong here?” “Am I accepted?” “Am I loved?”
People want friendships at work and a
level of intimacy that tells them they
belong. Once this is achieved, they want
the respect and esteem of the people they
work with. They want to be accepted and
valued by the people they interact with.
The last level of Maslow’s Hierarchy
of Needs is Self-Actualization. This means
different things to different people. For
some, it may include marriage or parenting.
It might be using abilities and strengths
or pursuing a goal. It may be seeking happiness
or a certain level of career success.
In whatever manner you define this level,
all the other prior levels of needs must be
fundamentally met before this need is a concern.
Maslow created a fine theory. The
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fascinating phenomena of theories are that
someone else will either debunk it, improve
it, research it, and/or prove it. Viktor Frankl,
an M.D., and Ph.D. in psychology survived
four different Nazi concentration camps. He
understood suffering, ass he saw his own
family destroyed by the Nazi regime and
the many prisoners in the camps lose their
lives. He determined that malnutrition,
disease, and lack of medicine were only
partially responsible for the many deaths.
The real problem was a lack of hope, a lack
of purpose, and a lack of meaning. People
need something to live for. Something
bigger than themselves. He called this
“transcendence” (Frankl, 2006).
This is simple. We are leaders. All we
need to do is to create a vision (remember
vision is one of those intentional skills
from Part 1 of this series of articles) that
transcends the individual – one that is
bigger than any individual could accomplish
by themselves. One that everyone
can join in with and it will meet the needs
of our followers for adding purpose and
meaning to their lives as they work in our
Montessori schools. I fully agree with Andy
Stanley (2003), “Dream no small dreams,
for they stir not the hearts of men.”
Simple. Wait! What is your current
reality? “Designing and implementing
a strategy for change is a waste of time
until you have discovered and embraced
the current reality. If you don’t know where
you really are, it is impossible to get to
where you need to be (Stanley, 2003).
Vision does not exist in a vacuum.
/IMC
