As a Manager/Leader can YOU create SECURE BASE& SAFE HEAVEN for others?

Attachment theory (Bowlby, 1982, 1973) is a motivational theory that was originally formulated to explain how early relationships with parents
shape children’s regulation of their interpersonal behaviors and autonomous explorative endeavors.

Bowlby (1973) further suggested that repeated and prolonged experiences of felt security within close relationships (“secure attachment”) not only help sustain relationship quality and satisfaction, but also provide the psychological foundation for healthy functioning and psychological growth in all life domains.

These ideas were supported in numerous studies indicating that a secure attachment orientation in close relationship is a strong predictor of a healthy approach to work and relationships, as well as of psychological well-being and mental health in adulthood (see Mikulincer and Shaver, 2007, for a review).

Bowlby (1973) coined the terms safe haven and secure base to metaphorically describe two distinct types of support that promote secure attachment.

Safe haven refers to the provision of support, comfort, and reassurance in stressful times with the aim of soothing a person’s fears, pain, and distress and assisting him or her in restoring emotional equanimity and returning to other activities in a relaxed manner.

Secure base refers to the support of a person’s goal striving, exploration, and personal growth, and the provision of a dependable base from which he or she can engage with non attachment activities, take risks and challenges, and autonomously pursue his or her goals, while feeling confident that he or she can return to this base in times of need.

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Secure home base as a general and relatively stable sense of security that develops from satisfactory interactions with available, sensitive,
responsive, and supportive close relationship partners (e.g., parents, romantic partners, close friends, close family members, therapists).

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People with a secure home base feel that they receive unconditional positive regard from their close relationship partners, and that they can rely on them for support and protection while dealing autonomously with life challenges.

Two ways by which a secure home base can contribute to the development of autonomous orientation: by the facilitation of effective stress regulation, and by establishing a well-integrated goal system.

Relying on a biological survival perspective, Bowlby (1982) suggested
that the attachment system protects infants from harm by assuring that they will seek proximity to caregivers who can provide them with protection
and safety.

Given the high importance of ensuring a person’s safety in times of threat, proximity-seeking behaviors become highly activated under threatening conditions, and other behavioral systems, such as the exploration system, which drives people to learn about their environment and master it (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978; Bowlby, 1982), are inhibited until felt security is restored.

Indeed, research has indicated that when people feel stressed, they tend to seek proximity to attachment figures, and these proximity-seeking behaviors persist until protection and security are attained (e.g., Ainsworth et al., 1978).

Furthermore, there is evidence that when people are stressed and lack
a sense of attachment security, both the quality and frequency of their explorative behaviors are reduced (e.g., Mikulincer, 1997).

All of us, from the cradle to the grave, are happiest when life is organised as a series of excursions, long or short, from the secure base provided by our attachment figures. (Bowlby 1988)

Attachment theory would suggest that exposure to warm, consistent and reliable caregiving can change children's previous expectations both of close adults and of themselves and there is ample evidence from research and practice to support this (Howe 1996, Wilson et al 2003, Cairns 2003, Beek and Schofield 2004,).

How can we do the same at work place ?

Secure work base as a sense of security that develops from daily interactions with the organization or any of its members, where employees feel that support is available when needed, that their capabilities and efforts are being affirmed and appreciated, and where their acts and initiatives are not being interfered with or interrupted.

Have you worked under such manager?

Feeney and Thrush’s (2010) view of secure base provision as involving three elements:

• (1) being available to fulfill a person’s need in comfort and assistance,
• (2) encouraging a person to pursue his or her personal goals, and
• (3) not interfering with a person’s initiatives and activities.

Recently, Ronen and Lane (manuscript in preparation) developed and validated a secure work base measure that includes three subscales:

• (1) availability,
• (2) encouragement, and
• (3) reduced interference.

• Reference: A Secure Base Book by John Bowlby

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