In this poster, a man’s felt need is most certainly the pain he’s feeling from getting his leg caught in the bear trap. The real need on the other hand is the fact that the man is about to be mauled by a large brown bear.

A leader knows that when addressing the follower’s felt need, s/he will get greater cooperation from the follower in remedying the situation.

However, the leader also knows that with a well-placed question (i.e. “I don’t suppose you’d consider looking behind you?”) s/he can change the follower’s real need into a felt need.

A mature leader also realizes s/he will be addressing both categories of needs in the lives of followers.

Categories: Instructiveness

Tags: instructiveness