The Seven Employee Needs – What’s Missing?

Many leaders are unaware of the needs and concerns of their workforce. Unmet needs produce strong negative feelings and resentment. These employees become complainers, cynics, and faultfinders. They resist change, and they disengage from the culture and all initiatives. They “just work here,” and they only do enough work to keep from getting into trouble. If they fail in this outcome, they will demand more money, more benefits, or unusual work arrangements – and this is the mindset that they come to work with every day. It is a mindset that is also easily transmitted from employee to employee.

If you recognize this mindset, or recognize any of this behaviour showing up in corporate culture, you are not meeting at least one of the seven employee needs, which are: 1. Inclusion and belonging. 2. Appreciation and Recognition. 3. Challenge and Achievement. 4. Trust and Accountability. 5. Growth and Learning. 6. Power and Control. 7. Meaning and Purpose.

This list might seem daunting and unachievable, but science has proven that the lack of just one of these needs, can trigger negative employee behaviour as a way of compensating for a lack of positive emotional fulfillment in their job. Science has also proven that as humans, a negative mindset and negative behaviour is the most natural reaction of employees to an emotional deficit.

The biggest challenge as an organization is identifying the issue and then giving your people the necessary tools, skills and language to create the mindset and behaviour that will overcome the negative. In today’s environment of complexity, ambiguousness, and constantly changing organizational landscapes, creating a new culture with the skill of Positive Presence will take your people and your organization to a new level of emotional awareness and performance.