AmMetLife

Azaharin Abd Latiff

Human Capital Steward

Natural Instincts Rooted in Our Evolution

Let’s be clear that humans are scientifically known as Homo Sapiens. A human being, from existence, is naturally trained for survival. Humans have been surviving through various generations and times since their existence. Starting from the Stone Age world to the current modern world of technology, a world without boundaries or limitations, humans persevere. There’s a statement that says, “We can take a man out of living in the Stone Age, but we cannot take the Stone Age out of a man.”

One of the most reputable and comprehensive research projects identifying these natural human instincts over a span of more than 25 years was done by the prominent primatologist, Dr. Jane Goodall. These natural human instincts were identified through studies on chimpanzees. Chimpanzees are Homo Sapiens species too, and their DNA is known to be 98.8 percent identical to humans. In short, the extensive research on chimpanzees has identified the nine common natural Homo Sapiens instincts.  These are the instincts that allow us to survive throughout generations and time.

Human Instincts Every HR Should Know

Overall, there are nine natural human instincts that Dr. Goodall researched, and I’ve defined it briefly based on my many years of corporate HR experience for easy understanding.

1. Social Belonging: It is the need to belong to a group that shares the same interests, views and passions. It means being with those who share the same purpose at work or in life.

2. Hierarchy and Status: Human need leaders; humans without leaders will go into chaos. Leaders need and attract followers. Corporate positions and titles are important.

3. Emotions Before Reasons: Humans are naturally emotionally driven beings; we are emotionally affected first before reasoning it out. When we receive bad news, we may get emotional instantly but tend to rationalise it later when we are able to absorb it.

4. First Impression to Classify: Others will try to impress us, and we will always try to impress others with how we look or dress and our work performance. Similarly, others will try to impress us too with their work performance, achievements and titles.

“Understanding your workforce via the natural human instincts allows leaders to address and engage the team positively.”

5. Loss Aversion: We always try to avoid danger or uncertainty, and we prefer to be in a safe environment. Always being safe, that’s how humans survived. Humans will always search for a safe environment that offers comfort and peace.

6. Gossip: We like to talk about others, negative or positive. We like to share our views or thoughts with others who share the same views and passion. We take pride in how we manage our social circle. Humans enjoy praise and attention.

7. Empathy and Mind Reading: We tend to empathise with others by reading them through their physical appearance, lifestyle or facial expression. We tend to be mind readers, especially while gossiping. We are emotional beings, but with a brain.

8. Confidence Before Realism: Overconfidence can be so strong that we deny reality. We may be ignorant of our own incompetence. Humans have an ego, which may be far from the reality of their actual ability.

9. Contest and Display: Humans are proud when they win and they like to compete to achieve. They want to look good, seek attention and they like popularity, being famous and being praised/recognised. The wider the audience, the better.

In a nutshell, these nine natural human instincts are embedded in our DNA. HR professionals who understand these natural human instincts well can apply them in driving their HR agenda effectively. There are minimal variations based on generation, but fundamentally, we all share the same DNA, the same natural human instincts.

Harnessing Human Instincts for HR Success

Understanding your workforce via the natural human instincts allows leaders to address and engage the team positively. As for the workforce culture, HR leaders can create initiatives that are directly linked to the human instincts, such as creating social groups, grooming future leaders, providing fair reward, regular recognition, creating competition and competing for high performance. HR professionals who capitalize on this knowledge of natural human instincts tend to achieve notable success.

All around the world today, we can see that all these natural human instincts are driving the world. Humans like to compete i.e., contest and display. We have worldwide sports competition, beauty pageant, body building, Olympics and the football World Cup. Another example is that most countries will always tend to portray a good image with modern buildings and technology, addressing the first impression to classify, while hiding the reality of homeless people, beggars or squatters.