Discover what people want
I am quitting
“Got a minute? Bad news”. I sighed. Someone from my team has resigned. Sounds familiar? The next logical question that many of us asked is why the person wants to leave. If it is for a better career or having dream comes true, it is wonderful for this old friend. We are all happy that the person has found a better opportunity. But what if it is an unhappy reason?
Why care?
With great power comes great responsibility.
- Peter Parker principle
Some leaders do not care. To them, employee might be just a tool or simply a resource headcount. What they do not realize is that people are smart and people know well if you are genuine about their interest. In general, people trust and follow good leader. And good leader understands what the people need or want.
People
Being a good leader is tough.
You cannot lead people you don’t understand.
As a leader, you have to motivate the people, encourage to pursue certain goals and to engage in certain works. People will not put full effort and whole heart that they don’t find it valuable. Hence, understanding what people want is the core of leadership. So, is it all? Humans are complicated - they change over time. The “wants” may also shift as they are going through their life.
One biggest challenge is that even when you try asking people what they want, they still don’t tell you.
Basic human needs/wants
There are some basic things that people reliably want/need. The most two basic needs that are fundamental to everyone - safety and self esteem. People want others to think and feel that their existence mean something and matter to someone. Once those basic things are met, depending on individual, the wants/needs could be
- Material - Some will say “more money” as this may provide them safety to buy a better house in safer neighborhood.
- Mastery - People want to feel growth and get better at what they are doing
- Achievement - An accomplishment will provide the motivation and validate their existence
- Affiliation - As human, people want to feel belonged, loved and cared by others for their contributions.
- Autonomy - people want to be trusted and have the ability to choose what is important and decide their own developments.
- Morality - Desire to feel that the work they do is bigger than themselves.
We could use the above 6 things to measure how the team is doing and adjust based on individual. Have you tried asking what people value? In reality, most people are not even aware about themselves and might say easy things like “more money, more bonus”. But for the leadership, part of it to listen what the people said and the other is watching the behavior and going deeper.
The biggest question that most leaders will face is how to figure it out if the someone is not saying it.
Trust
Psychologically, everyone tend to judge others based on - competence and warmth.
competence
It means whether people can trust that you could deliver. They will observe and decide on what you did. People will also look at your true intention as well. Do you really mean what you said? If it is a good competent leader, people will feel that they are surrounded by competent people and have someone who care about them.
warmth
Without having authority or dictate, no power to change compensation or promotion, the only way to get out is to help people to solve their problems. People don’t trust because you are in the management. As a leadership, you have to slowly break down the ice over time, find out the problem that is hindering the people and fix it. You have to show your humanity side and prove your true intention to help people. Having similarity and familiarity will help to bond with people well.
Conclusion
In summary, we explore the reality that many leaders face: the desire to discover what people want. We realize that even when intentions are good, many people may not have the self-awareness to articulate what they want. We also list down the common needs/wants based on the research and some tips on how to build trust with the people. It is an invitation to continue learning even if we found out what the people want as those could also be changed over the times.