Attachment Styles in the Workplace
Sarah E. F. O’Brien (she/her) is a dynamic and innovative trauma-informed professional. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW, LCSW-C), and has been a practicing psychotherapist specializing in Anxiety Disorders, Substance Use Disorders, and Relational/Betrayal Trauma reactions & responses for over 15 years. She has had many diverse and enriching experiences as a therapist that inform her work as a Trauma-Informed Coach and Consultant. She has been pivoting her clinical skills into other areas to reach wider audiences for impacting social change. Sarah also writes, speaks, and creates audio & video media content in efforts to reduce the stigma around mental health disorders AND treatment and to increase understanding of and accessibility to trauma-informed practices for all people and all businesses, as trauma-informed care is the way of the future.
Not only is Sarah the Founder/CEO of both her psychotherapy practice and coaching/consulting business, she is also the creator of the groundbreaking tool: the Trauma-Informed Crisis Response Guide. This step-by-step guide can be easily used and followed by any person, in any setting, to navigate the steps to address a mental health crisis in action. She has been featured in numerous media outlets including Today, PsychReg, Authority Magazine, and the Rattled Awake Anthology Series. She is a bestselling author, certified trauma informed life coach and consultant, and a vetted Subject Matter Expert in mental health, substance use, and trauma disorders, responses, and trauma informed best practices. She strives to help folks wrap their minds around trauma-informed care in both clinical and non-clinical settings and work through their barriers to access transformational change, in life, in business, in self, and in leadership.
Sarah lives out her beliefs in every aspect of her work, as she employs Trauma-informed principles in her business practices, marketing, design, content creation, collaboration with other professionals or companies, and her work with clients. She has a contagious energy and uses it to empower every individual she works with to be their authentic selves…and wear it proudly. Her collaborative approach creates a synergy between herself and others that provides hype for motivation, follow-through on goals, and recognizable change. Neuroscience and evidenced-based practices are the driving forces behind Sarah’s approach to understanding how people create lasting and transformational change for themselves.
- The audience will walk away with solid knowledge about each attachment style; how they form; and how they differ.
- The audience will walk away with clear examples of each attachment style’s core characteristics as they relate to workplace settings.
- The audience will learn several pros and cons to each attachment style as it relates to workplace settings.
- They will be convicted on their attachment behaviors and inspired to engage in self-work to better understand and heal from their own attachment issues.
- This talk should act as a catalyst for change through utilizing trauma informed principles and practices to create a workplace culture committed to increasing safety and reducing harm, for every person in the organization.
Areas Covered
- History of Attachment Style Formation; John Bowlby & Mary Ainsworth Strange Situation Study
- Differences between Anxious-insecure, Anxious-avoidant, Disorganized, and Secure attachment styles; main characteristics of each
- Pros and cons in the workplace of each attachment style’s core behaviors
- How unhealed attachment behaviors can negatively impact the workplace culture and overall productivity; specifically unhealed attachment behaviors in leaders
- Why understanding, and healing from, any of the insecure attachments is vital for leadership
- Becoming more self-aware about your own attachment behaviors, how they impact your interactions and relationships with others and potentially cause harm to others, and learning that Trauma Informed Leadership Skills pave the way for increased safety and reduced harm in the workplace
Learning Objectives
- You will learn how attachment styles develop in childhood
- You will learn the differences between each attachment style as it presents in adulthood, particularly at work
- You will learn how attachment styles impact workplace settings
- You will be able to name at least 3 characteristics/behaviors of each attachment style
- You will be able to name at least 1 pro and 1 con of each attachment style at work
- You will consider your relationships at work and move towards attachment healing to improve your relationships at work
- As a leader, you will consider how your attachment style/behaviors may be causing more harm to the people who work for you/under your supervision
- You will be able to see and understand the importance of recognizing attachment styles for both a more harmonious workplace culture and an increased bottom line
Who Should Attend
Leaders, managers, supervisors, C-Suite Executives, directors, sales executives, IT managers, IT support, Customer service, Social media, Marketing, Human resources, and team leads.
Why Should You Attend
Are you aware of the energy you are spending on navigating work relationships rather than work tasks? Is it difficult for you to hear feedback? Do your employees interact with each other? Do team members get along easily? Are your staff accepting or dismissive of feedback?
The workplace is a microcosm of the bigger system in which we live and operate. When people interact regularly with other people, there is a high likelihood that behavioral patterns, as a result of our attachment styles, will surface, including in workplace settings.
Attachment styles can be predictors of the needed effort a person must spend to do well at work. There is also the relationship between attachment and engagement with others, including co-workers, other staff, leaders, and managers, and how this engagement affects productivity.
A recent study has found the influence of attachment theory on organizations expanding as more articles have been published on this subject in the past 5 years than in the previous 25 years, indicating attachment styles play a significant role in workplace culture, productivity, employee retention, and ultimately the bottom line for the organization. Understanding, and learning to recognize, different attachment styles can inform which employees view work and leaders negatively; which employees are helpful in a crisis; which employees work better independently; which employees work better with consistent and regular feedback; which attachment behaviors lead to conflict and mistrust; and which attachment behaviors lead to less friction amongst a team or department.
Attachment styles are a practical way to understand why and how we relate to our coworkers and leaders the way we do. In addition to having a greater understanding of how we relate to one another at work, current research has actually demonstrated a link between attachment styles and leadership, trust, satisfaction, performance, and other outcomes.
Sarah encourages her audience to understand the importance of how attachment styles show up at work, how each style impacts an employee’s experience and behaviors, and how a lack of understanding about attachment styles leads to greater employee stress and subsequently negative impact on their mental, emotional, cognitive, and physical health, and how these negative impacts not only impact the bottom line but also affects the level of difficulty leaders will have in creating a culture of trust and effectively engage with and motivate their staff.
Topic Background
As a Trauma Informed Provider, Sarah E. F. O’Brien both sees and understands the effects of early childhood development on adult social behaviors and interactions. As she coaches and trains on leadership strategy, she has found that many workplaces are struggling to function well. The issue is that leaders lack awareness about their own attachment style, as well as, the attachment styles of others. Without this awareness, and then application of this knowledge to the workplace setting, toxic and unsafe cultures are running rampant…and causing more harm and damage to people, which further complicates and exacerbates any employee’s ability to perform well at work.
In this webinar, Sarah E. F. O’Brien explains what attachment styles are, how we develop them, and why it’s important to know this information for more optimal workplace functioning. When we can identify our own attachment style, and learn to recognize classic signs of the other attachment styles, it’s more likely we can personally be more successful and satisfied at work, as well as, assist co-workers and employees to be more successful and satisfied at work.
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$200.00
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