The Impact of Attachment on Leadership in Organizations

Abstract

This article considers the importance of leaders being securely attached. A securely attached leader can establish relationships with self, others, and the world in a safe and trusting way. This plays an important role in supporting the development of a secure working environment for the teams with which they are working. When a leader builds up a relationship with a team, based on secure attachments, there is space for social and emotional balance. This evokes curiosity, an eagerness to learn, and the urge to explore. Leaders who themselves have experienced (elements) of unsafe attachment may encounter challenges in being able to offer psychological security, not just for themselves, but also in relationship to their team members. The authors look briefly at the current era of transition in the world and its impact on leadership in organizations. They focus on theories around attachment and examine some issues around insecure attachment and leadership. They conclude by offering several concrete interventions, which can be deployed by TA facilitators, to help leaders develop a more secure base in themselves and thus offer a secure-based relationship to their teams.

Keywords:

• Leadership
• leadership relations attachment
• change management
• not knowing
• attachment styles
• secure base
• transition
• interventions
• interconnectedness
• transactional analysis

Disclosure Statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes on contributors

Miek Hehenkamp

Miek Hehenkamp is a Provisional Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst (organizational) who works in The Netherlands as an independent process facilitator, consultant, trainer, and (team) coach. She is also one of the teachers at the Dutch TA Academy in Zeist (www.ta-academie.nl), which offers a variety of courses in TA. She can be reached at Breksdijk 43, 8614 AX, Oudega, The Netherlands; email: [email protected]; www.miekhehenkamp.nl.

Cor van Geffen

Cor van Geffen, MSc (organizational), Provisional Teaching and Supervising Transaction Analyst (organizational), international neurolinguistic programming (NLP) trainer, and trainer in family constellations, is director of the Dutch training and coaching organization Artha. He has worked with organizations and teams for over 20 years and is also one of the teachers at the Dutch TA Academy, which offers a variety of courses in transactional analysis. Cor can be reached at Het Ambt 70, 8061 AN Hasselt (OV), The Netherlands; email: [email protected]; website: www.artha-inspireert.nl; https://www.linkedin.com/in/cor-van-geffen-a748231/