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Understanding Insecurity and Security

Insecurity is so pervasive that we scarcely recognize it as unusual. It appears in everyday conversation and in organizational communication, even when carefully crafted. This newsletter features some of its characteristics.

Deb Best

10/13/20267 min read

Insecurity is so pervasive that we scarcely recognize it as unusual. It appears in everyday conversation and in organizational communication, even when carefully crafted.

Understanding insecurity is not part of business education. It can be difficult to address because its dynamics are not widely understood, and we may lack the relational skills to navigate them.

This article describes some of the dynamics of insecurity and security to help us recognize when they are present.

Characterizations

Security and insecurity can be difficult to describe because they are patterns that shape how we see the world, relate to others, manage emotions, and respond to challenges. Each is a felt state made up of characteristics that can shift from one moment to the next.

Insecurity organizes behaviour around protecting the self from threat; security allows more attention to be directed toward relationships, problem-solving, and constructive contribution.

Generally, security tends to support calm, consideration for others, creativity, and constructive responses, even in the face of challenges. Insecurity may appear as striving, competing, pleasing, silence, or a need for assurance, respect, or recognition. These patterns are interconnected: people can feel secure in some areas of life and insecure in others (Maslow, 1943).

Insecurity Drives Attention

One consistent feature of insecurity is that it draws attention, occupies thoughts, and creates a need or striving that can drive action. This can be difficult to notice, but there are signs. For example, a leader who continually focuses on numbers or micromanages may be responding to uncertainty by seeking control. Another person may pursue recognition, money, a nicer car, or other signs of success to reassure themselves of their worth. The distinction is not whether people value achievement or recognition, but whether they depend on them to feel secure. Research on anxiety suggests that anxious states can increase attention to threat-related information and make it harder to shift attention away from it (Eysenck et al., 2007). This connects with Maslow’s account of need prepotency: when a need is insufficiently satisfied, it can become dominant and organize attention, motivation, and behaviour (Maslow, 1943).

Maslow’s hierarchy is based on the relative prepotency of needs: when a need is insufficiently satisfied, it can become dominant, organizing attention, motivation, and behaviour. As that need becomes sufficiently satisfied, another need can emerge as more pressing. Maslow did propose a hierarchy, but not a rigid ladder that everyone must climb in a fixed sequence. He described a shifting organization of motivation, with needs often partly satisfied and partly unsatisfied at the same time (Maslow, 1943).

Insecurity can also be self-reinforcing. Protective behaviours can be off-putting and cause others to respond defensively or disengage entirely, while secure behaviours are resilient and make it easier to build relationships (Maslow, 1942).

Two Questions to Recognize Insecurity

As you go about your day, consider these two questions to help recognize the patterns that may be shaping your response:

1. Am I responding to this situation to protect myself, prove my worth, or gain reassurance, or because I feel secure enough to address what is needed?

2. Can I remain open to feedback, disagreement, and uncertainty without feeling that my worth, belonging, or safety is threatened?

Relationships & the Structure of Safety

Security, insecurity, and psychological safety are often discussed as individual experiences. In organizational research, psychological safety refers to a shared belief that a team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking and is associated with learning behaviours at work (Edmondson, 1999; Edmondson & Lei, 2014). Psychological security, as used in this article, is broader: it refers to a felt sense of safety, acceptance, and self-worth that shapes how people interpret and respond to their circumstances.

There is a missing point here, and it’s crucial.

Insecurity does not arise in isolation. It can develop through experiences of pain, rejection, alienation, or other circumstances that teach people to anticipate threat. These expectations may persist even when a current situation appears safe, or they may reflect genuine risks in the present. Insecurity is therefore not simply a belief detached from experience; it can reflect both lived experience and present conditions.

Even when the present situation has no overt threat, people may carry uncertainty or interpret circumstances as threatening. Organizational hierarchy can create different forms of insecurity at different levels. Leaders may feel pressure to maintain status, authority, or performance, while employees may worry about job security, recognition, or their ability to speak openly. These pressures can encourage people throughout an organization to protect their position rather than address problems constructively.

In this way, insecurity can be reinforced by relationships and organizational structures, not only by individual experience.

It is little wonder that anxiety and burnout can persist at different levels of organizations.

An organization may aim to improve engagement and employee wellbeing while also communicating that difficult decisions may affect employees. That tension can reinforce uncertainty, particularly when people do not understand how decisions will be made or what protections and processes are in place.

Sustainable engagement is more likely when people can contribute without continually having to protect their worth, belonging, or position. Psychological security supports the conditions in which engagement and wellbeing can develop.

15 facets of psychological security and insecurity

These patterns are not isolated traits; they are interconnected ways people may respond to perceived threats to safety, belonging, and self-worth. The following summaries translate Maslow’s 1942 analysis into contemporary language. Insecurity may be shaped by earlier experiences, current conditions, or a combination of both. Each facet describes a possible pattern of behaviour, not a fixed characteristic of a person.

1. The need to feel secure

People who feel uncertain about their acceptance, worth, or safety may constantly seek reassurance, approval, power, or control. People who feel accepted and capable are less dependent on others to prove their worth.

2. Ways of protecting ourselves

People who feel exposed may withdraw, give in, seek power, or try too hard to please others to avoid being hurt or rejected. People who feel safe can speak openly, solve problems, and respond to situations without relying on the same protective habits.

3. Discouragement and giving up

Rejection, setbacks, or comparisons with others can lead to discouragement, loss of confidence, and withdrawal. In security, people are better able to recover from setbacks, maintain perspective, and look for ways forward.

4. Anger and retaliation

Feeling rejected or threatened can lead to resentment, hostility, blame, or attempts to get even. When secure, people can address disagreements and disappointment without turning conflict into a personal attack.

5. Hiding or changing behaviour to gain acceptance

People who are afraid may hide mistakes, suppress concerns, or go to extremes to avoid criticism or rejection. When safe, people can admit mistakes, raise concerns, and make changes without excessive fear of how others will react.

6. Making the best of a bad situation

People who feel insecure may convince themselves that something they wanted was never important, simply to avoid disappointment. When secure, people can acknowledge disappointment honestly and consider other options without needing to justify what happened.

7. Challenging problems or blaming others

People faced with insecurity may try to change unfair conditions, but their response can become blame or conflict that prevents them from seeing the whole situation. When secure, people can identify genuine problems, consider their own role, and work toward practical solutions.

8. Protecting self-worth

Feeling inadequate may lead people to dominate others, compete excessively, chase status, or depend too heavily on approval. When secure, people can value their abilities without needing to feel superior to others or constantly prove themselves.

9. Avoiding uncomfortable feedback

People who feel insecure may dismiss criticism or focus on perceived slights while overlooking signs of acceptance. When secure, they can consider difficult feedback, separate useful information from unfair criticism, and learn from experience.

10. Seeing what we already believe

People who feel insecure may notice and remember experiences that confirm their fears while dismissing evidence that challenges them. When secure, they can question their assumptions, consider other explanations, and change their minds when the evidence warrants it.

11. Creating cycles of mistrust

People who expect hostility may act defensively, causing others to respond defensively and reinforcing the original fear. When secure, people can act openly and reliably, helping build trust and strengthen relationships over time.

12. Keeping life within safe limits

People who feel insecure may avoid unfamiliar tasks, lower their ambitions, or depend heavily on others to feel safe. When secure, they can take on new challenges, make independent decisions, and adapt when familiar routines or support systems change.

13. Never feeling secure enough

The need for recognition, loyalty, achievement, or reassurance can become so strong that nothing feels sufficient. When secure, people can appreciate achievement and recognition without needing constant praise, complete agreement, or perfection.

14. Holding on to old habits

People may continue using defensive habits even after the original threat has passed, affecting how they respond to current situations. When secure, they can recognize these patterns and replace outdated reactions with responses better suited to present circumstances.

15. Resisting change, even when it would help

People who feel insecure may cling to familiar beliefs and behaviours even when they no longer work, because change feels threatening. When secure, they can tolerate uncertainty, reconsider familiar assumptions, and try new ways of working.

Summary – Starting with Self

Understanding insecurity in the workplace is complex.

First, we are subject to our own perceptions and may be responding from a place of insecurity without recognizing it. At its core, security or insecurity shapes how we perceive ourselves, others, and the world. Recognizing our own motivations and considering them in context is an important first step before assuming our perception of others is balanced.

Second, although we cannot know another person’s inner world, we can examine how workplace practices may communicate an implied threat of rejection, judgement, or alienation. When people experience greater psychological security, they are better positioned to communicate honestly, learn from mistakes, collaborate, and adapt. But safety must be more than a declaration to be credible. People assess it not only through what is said, but through how they are treated and whether trust is established through consistent actions.

For organizations, improving wellbeing and performance requires attention not only to individual behaviour, but also to the relationships and conditions that encourage people either to protect themselves or to contribute constructively.

The starting point is self-reflection. When criticism, blame, or judgement arise in our own responses, we can pause and consider what may be driving them. Are we responding to a genuine concern, protecting ourselves from a perceived threat, or some combination of the two? Recognizing the difference creates an opportunity to understand our own needs and consider how we might respond more constructively.

Interpretive note

The 15 facets draw on Maslow’s 1942 analysis and translate it into contemporary language. Maslow emphasized that the facets overlap and interact, and that no one should be classified simply as secure or insecure.

References

Edmondson, A. C. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350–383. https://doi.org/10.2307/2666999

Edmondson, A. C., & Lei, Z. (2014). Psychological safety: The history, renaissance, and future of an interpersonal construct. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1, 23–43. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-031413-091305

Eysenck, M. W., Derakshan, N., Santos, R., & Calvo, M. G. (2007). Anxiety and cognitive performance: Attentional control theory. Emotion, 7(2), 336–353. https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.2.336

Maslow, A. H. (1942). The dynamics of psychological security-insecurity. Journal of Personality, 10(4), 331–344. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1942.tb01911.x

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370–396. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0054346

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In the spirit of respect and truth, I honour and acknowledge that I live and work within the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

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