525 | Coaching Business Leaders in Attachment Response Training: A Pathway to Transformational Leadership

Researchers have started applying attachment theory, commonly used in counseling, to the workplace in employee relations literature. Attachment style predicts workplace dynamics, such as leader-follower relationships (LMX), trustworthiness perceptions, organizational commitment, proactive behavior, responses to organizational change, and attachment to workplaces. In an era of instability, attachment theory provides tools for leaders to increase performance and decrease turnover. Further, leaders can provide resources that specifically address attachment styles, as employees with secure attachment styles demonstrate greater organizational involvement, higher performance, and lower turnover. Coaches play an integral role in training Christian leaders to apply interventions that promote secure attachments, reflecting God as the ideal attachment figure and demonstrating transformational leadership. Attachment Response Training provides tools drawn from attachment-based counseling theories, such as Trust-Based Relational Intervention and Emotionally Focused Therapy, to equip business leaders with simple strategies for promoting secure attachment in the workplace. These relational strategies reflect the value of LMX and transformational leadership, promoting efficacy and relational ethics in the workplace.