1-5 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEADERSHIP AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR Learning Objective: Recognize the five basic levels of human need. Are leadership and human behavior related? The two are definitely related. Actually, human behavior dictates the way you lead your people and also determines your success. Without an understanding of human behavior, you cannot be as successful as you could be as a leader. As a petty officer and a leader, study your personnel; try to get to know and understand them. People’s needs or desires dictate how they act at specific times. For example, suppose one morning you notice one of your technicians seems depressed. You know that is not the Seaman’s normal behavior. As a leader you should call your technician aside, show your concern, and try to help solve the problem, if there is one. However, do not assume total responsibility for the problem. Your concern for your people is important. If you keep the lines of communication open between you and your Sailors, you cannot help but succeed as a leader. A Sailor with an unresolved problem will not work to full potential. Leadership and human behavior work hand in hand. To be a successful leader, you must understand your people and work with them to resolve their problems. Each of us has needs, and we direct our energies to meet these needs as we see fit. Helping your people resolve their problems will result in a unit that will operate smoothly and be highly productive. HUMAN BEHAVIOR Human behavior is the result of attempts to satisfy certain needs. These needs may be simple to under-stand and easy to identify, such as the need for food and water. They also may be complex, such as the need for respect and acceptance. Why do people act the way they do? Why do some people have an easy time while others have a hard time adjusting to shipboard life? Why, with an upcoming extended  deployment,  do  some  crew  members  look forward to visiting foreign ports, while others prefer to stay with the familiar homeport? Finding the answers to these questions is not easy. In fact, a whole branch of science and psychology has tried to answer such questions but has found no hard-and-fast answers. In general, you could say people behave the way they do for a reason. However, the reason may not be clear; in fact, it may not be logical or rational either to you or to the person in question. By observing human behavior, you can gain the knowledge you need to better understand yourself and other people. You can learn why people act and react in certain ways. You can learn how to identify the various types of behavior and needs of people. You also can learn how to influence the behavior of people so that they can see how meeting the needs of the command will satisfy their own needs. Don’t take lightly human behavior and its appli- cation to the areas of leadership and supervision. How well you understand and apply the basic concepts could determine, to a great extent, your success in the Navy. All successful petty officers must have an understanding of people’s behavior. If you understand the needs of your people and help them to satisfy those needs, you will succeed as a leader. We can reasonably determine an individual’s needs by understanding basic human needs. We all have five basic  levels  of  need.  Our  needs  are  in  order  of importance, such as our need to relieve pain (survival) is more important than a need to be liked by coworkers (social belonging). If we satisfy one level, then we work to satisfy the next level of need. This need satisfaction is an  ongoing  behavior  that  determines  our  everyday actions. Now look at the five groups, or levels, of needs and the definition of each: 1. SURVIVAL—The survival level consists of the basics we need to sustain life itself; for example, oxygen, food, water, sleep, and relief from pain. 2. SAFETY-SECURITY—The safety-security level involves the need for protection from possible threats, such as violence, disease, or poverty. It also includes the need for the security of an adequate job and money in the bank.