Author: Renske

Seeing familiar topics from a different perspective can provide insight. Recently I had one of these lightbulb moments. I would like to share my somewhat confronting learnings, because I’m guessing that it may resonate with and hopefully help others. Here it goes. If you have read some of my previous contributions, you will know that the ‘overachiever’ fascinates me. I am one. Overachieving, like perfectionism and avoiding, is a coping mechanism, a survival strategy. These subconscious mechanisms (there are many) are developed at a very early age and they help us, or so we tell ourselves, to keep a handle on what’s happening around us, to keep us ‘safe’. Since these have been around our entire conscious lives, they are […]

Creating a sense of belonging is an important part of the efforts of many employers to create a safe and inclusive working environment. Unfortunately, it proves to be difficult to bring to life. It requires a very deliberate and focused approach of the employer as well as the active engagement of the employees. Yet, getting this right is extremely important. Self-Determination Theory: relatedness as one of our three psychological needs. You may have heard of the Self-Determination Theory (Edward Deci en Richard M. Ryan) that deals with people’s growth tendencies and needs. Part of this theory is a description of the three basic psychological needs we all have: (i) autonomy, (ii) competence and (iii) relatedness. Relatedness is the need to […]