Leadership Wisdom of the Week #5

“Individuals make choices, at different levels of awareness, to employ and express or withdraw and defend themselves.”

– William Kahn, 1990

All human beings look for ways to feel appreciated, special and important to other people. It is part of our conscious and unconscious need for belonging.

This week’s quote comes from William Kahn, often referred to as the founding father of engagement. In a research paper already back in 1990, he discussed psychological safety and explored the fascinating interplay between our need to belong and our fear of not being accepted. This ambivalence exists in all of us, though in different degrees.

Leaders play an important role in creating an environment where people feel safe and don’t have to spend their energy figuring out how much of themselves they can bring to work i.e. how psychologically safe the environment is. In his article, Kahn highlights the importance of “supportive, resilient and clarifying management,” which provides the right balance between clarity and resilience in the work environment, and autonomy at the individual level. Trust is essential: leaders who hold tightly to control signal to employees that they don’t trust their engagement or capabilities.

In today’s hybrid working world, it has become even more important for leaders to stay aware of their team members’ levels of engagement and connection, so people don’t start to feel isolated or withdraw from the work community. At the same time, it is also important that people have a feeling of autonomy and being trusted. The need for belonging varies from person to person depending on factors such as personality, life situation, and emotional energy. But we all thrive better at work when our sense of belonging outweighs the concerns that make us withdraw or defend ourselves. Finding the right balance for each individual is one of the key challenges for today’s leaders. 

(Kahn, W. (1990), Psychological Conditions of Personal Engagement and Disengagement at Work. The Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 33, No. 4 (Dec., 1990), pp. 692-724.)