Clinical Consultancy

All organisations can benefit from understanding the principles of attachment in the workplace. The challenge is how to create conditions, where workers can work in a creative, undistracted, collaborative and productive way. This is made difficult by the fact that many workplaces are less secure than they have been, and are often having to contend with rates of change that can create a sense of perpetual instability. Our view is that organisations who understand the fundamental notions of attachment and put that understanding into practice will achieve a more highly engaged and effective workforce. Workers who feel attached will feel more emotionally secure, leading to higher levels of collaboration, productivity, problem solving, creativity, commitment and worker retention.

A few examples of processes that can be put into place are reliable and regular team meetings, one-to-one meetings, supervision, opportunities to develop healthy relationships and social activities. In general:

• Engage with each worker as an individual person, where the worker feels respected and valued
• Build relationships by being thoughtful, ‘tuned in’, appreciative and reliable
• Understand that where workplace attachments are broken or disrupted, through organisational change processes such as restructuring, this will have an impact on all workers. Feelings of insecurity will be heightened and paying attention to this can help keep people engaged, reducing counterproductive attitudes and dynamics.
• Evaluate and develop a culture of well-being at all levels of the organisation

An understanding of grief, loss and trauma, how they impact on people and what can be done to help alleviate and cope with these difficult experiences, will also help an organisation support its working group. It can also help prevent the damage that can be done, for instance, by implementing change in a way that doesn’t take account of these factors.