Secure bases are environments that protect, nurture -- and most importantly -- provide motivation. They allow us to take intelligent risks and challenge ourselves. During childhood, parents are responsible for establishing a secure base at home, and teachers are expected to do the same in the classroom.
It shouldn't end here, though. It's important we remember that leaders need to cultivate a similarly secure emotional dynamic in the workplace.
George Kohlrieser -- psychologist, professor of leadership at IMD in Switzerland, and participant in my Leadership: A Master Class video series -- observes that having a secure base at work is crucial for high performance. Kohlrieser asserts that feeling secure allows a person to focus better on her work, achieve goals, and perceive impending obstacles as challenges, not threats.
In extreme situations, this lack of a secure base can even foster paralysis. Kohlrieser told me, "Far too often, people tell me they distrust their bosses. This is horrific! They're occupied with thoughts like, Who's going to stab me in the back? Who's against me? If they don't have the support to seek calculated risks, they won't. Instead, they work to avoid risk. They're afraid of failure. They don't dare themselves to maximize their potential. As a leader, you're expected to seek risks, challenges, and opportunities; and if you're smart, you'll create a safe space for your team to do the same."
The Ingredients of a Secure Base
Sense of Belonging
It's a leader's job to ensure all team members feel welcome and see their efforts as valuable. With difficult team members, a leader must be exceedingly open. She'll need to put the proverbial fish on the table, and ask, "Do you really want to belong to this team? If you are ambivalent, it's going to be a source of conflict."
Choices
We all want to feel we have a say. That's why leaders should offer their employees choice and power over what they can do, whenever possible. When you delegate wisely, you open up possibilities to let people shine. Additionally, creating a foundation of support often leads to explosions of creativity.
Forward Momentum
When a work conflict isn't resolved, backlash is inevitable. It's important that the entire team, leader included, has a procedure in place for getting over what happened. Be a leader who speaks the truth, but speaks it with empathy. And remember: the future is the future, and the past is the past.
Coaching
Leaders can create a secure base by helping employees identify their unique strengths and weaknesses, and then linking them to their personal and career aspirations. These leaders will encourage employees to establish long-term development goals and help them conceptualize a plan for attaining them. They'll also make agreements with their employees about their role and responsibilities in enacting development plans, and they give plentiful instruction and feedback.
Positivity
Research on leadership styles finds perfectionists (sometimes called "pacesetters") have a negative impact on their direct reports' emotional state and performance. Perfectionist leaders only give failing grades - they never praise good performance. When you encounter a mistake, frame it as a lesson, rather than just another blunder.
Watch my conversation with George Kohlrieser about high performance leadership here.
This article first appeared on LinkedIn.