It is important to understand that people come to work with both practical and personal needs.

For example, when you go to a restaurant for dinner, you expect to have both good food and good service. If you only had good food, but the service was terrible you probably wouldn’t go back. The same would be true if the restaurant served a terrible meal with great service.

Practical needs are those that relate to the daily tasks and responsibilities that an individual or organization must perform to achieve their goals. Here are some examples of practical needs:

• Meeting deadlines and achieving goals
• Completing assigned tasks and projects
• Managing time effectively
• Communicating with team members and stakeholders
• Maintaining and improving productivity
• Managing resources such as budget, equipment, and materials

It’s important to address these practical needs to achieve success in a specific role or as an organization, but it’s equally important to also address personal needs to foster a positive and productive work environment.

Personal needs refer to the emotional and psychological needs that individuals have to feel valued and respected in the workplace. Here are some examples of personal needs:

• Respect
• Recognition
• Autonomy
• Trust
• Support and resources
• Fairness

Meeting personal needs can help create a positive work environment, increase job satisfaction, and foster a culture of trust and respect.

It is important to understand that people come to work with both practical needs—to get work done—and personal needs—to be respected and valued.

Summing-up: As a leader, you will be presented with a steady stream of issues that need to be fixed. However, instead of just jumping in to tackle the practical aspects of these issues, it is important to recognize that personal needs are just as important as practical needs.