Sairan Aqrawi shares leadership insights on communication, employee strengths, psychological safety, and creating high-performing teams.
We are pleased to spotlight Sairan Aqrawi, Director of Rail & Transit at M&J Engineering. Sairan is an engineer, business strategist, and leadership mentor who helps professionals and organizations grow with clarity, confidence, and purpose. Blending engineering precision with strategic insight, she equips leaders with practical tools to make better decisions, communicate with authority, and drive measurable results. With over a decade of experience advising high-performing teams, Sairan specializes in turning complexity into clear action—empowering workplaces to develop strong leaders, foster growth, and create lasting impact.
What is one practical thing leaders can do to create a more supportive and healthy work environment?
“One practical thing leaders can do is create consistent, structured space for honest communication—not just status updates, but real check-ins about how work is actually experienced. In practice, this means having regular one-on-one conversations where the leader asks a simple but powerful question like: ‘What is making your work easier or harder right now?’ This shifts the conversation from task management to real conditions people are working in—workload clarity, team coordination, tools, or hidden blockers. For example, a team member might appear to be performing well on paper, but through this question, a leader may discover they are overloaded due to unclear priorities across departments. Once that is addressed—by realigning expectations or removing conflicting requests—the employee often becomes more focused, confident, and engaged. The impact is straightforward: when people feel heard early, small issues don’t turn into burnout or disengagement later.”
How can leaders better recognize and use the different experiences and perspectives people bring to their work?
“A strong leader understands that people are not defined only by their job titles, but by their strengths, motivations, and hidden talents. The leader’s role is to identify what energizes each person and align their work accordingly. Instead of assigning tasks purely based on roles, great leaders observe where individuals naturally excel and give them opportunities to lean into those strengths. For example, a team member may be assigned to run meetings, but the leader notices they are most engaged when analyzing data and solving complex problems. By shifting them toward research and development responsibilities, the leader unlocks higher performance, motivation, and better results for the team. True leadership is about discovering potential and placing people where they can contribute at their highest value. This approach turns leadership into talent discovery.”
If you could share one insight with individuals hoping to grow, lead, and succeed, what would it be?
“One key insight is this: growth and leadership start when you take ownership beyond your job description. People often wait to be given permission to lead, but real growth happens when you start thinking like a problem-solver, not just a task-doer—when you notice what’s missing, what can be improved, and where you can add value without being asked. For example, someone early in their career might be responsible only for supporting project tasks. But instead of stopping there, they take initiative to organize information more clearly for the team, identify recurring issues, or suggest a simpler way to track progress. Over time, this shifts how others see them—from someone who completes work to someone who improves how work gets done. That mindset is what accelerates both leadership and success: consistently showing up as someone who adds value, not just completes assignments.”
Sairan Aqrawi's leadership philosophy reflects several well-established leadership and organizational behavior theories, including Leader-Member Exchange (LMX), psychological safety, the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) Model, strengths-based leadership, employee engagement, and proactive behavior theory. Throughout her responses, she emphasized the importance of creating supportive work environments, recognizing employees' unique strengths, and encouraging individuals to take ownership beyond their formal responsibilities. Together, these perspectives highlight how leaders can foster engagement, growth, and long-term success within organizations.
To begin, Sairan's recommendation that leaders create regular opportunities for honest communication through one-on-one conversations aligns closely with Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory (Dulebohn et al., 2012; Gerstner & Day, 1997; Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995) and psychological safety (Edmondson, 1999). LMX theory suggests that leadership effectiveness is built through high-quality relationships characterized by trust, mutual respect, support, and open communication.
In addition, Edmondson (2018) defines psychological safety as a shared belief that a team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking. Employees are more willing to ask questions, seek help, admit mistakes, and discuss concerns when they do not fear embarrassment or punishment. Sairan's recommendation that leaders ask employees what is making their work easier or harder creates opportunities for meaningful dialogue and demonstrates genuine concern for employee well-being. Such conversations strengthen leader-employee relationships while encouraging employees to speak openly about challenges before they become larger problems.
Beyond fostering trust and open communication, Sairan's emphasis on identifying challenges and addressing workplace barriers aligns with the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) Model proposed by Bakker and Demerouti (2007) and the research of Schaufeli and Bakker (2004). These studies suggest that excessive job demands contribute to burnout, while resources such as feedback, support, coaching, and opportunities for growth increase employee engagement. By helping employees overcome obstacles and access needed resources, leaders can foster greater engagement, motivation, and performance.
Building on this perspective, Maslach and Leiter (2016) argue that workplace relationships, fairness, recognition, support, and a sense of community are critical factors in preventing burnout and sustaining employee well-being. Sairan's emphasis on listening to employees and responding to concerns before they escalate demonstrates how proactive leadership can create healthier, more supportive, and more productive work environments.
Next, Sairan's emphasis on identifying what energizes employees and aligning responsibilities with their strengths reflects principles of strengths-based leadership and employee engagement research. She notes that effective leaders look beyond job titles to recognize individuals' talents, motivations, and unique contributions aligns with the work of Clifton and Harter (2003) and Harter et al. (2002), who found that employees are more engaged, productive, and committed when leaders focus on developing strengths rather than primarily addressing weaknesses. This perspective also aligns with Kahn's (1990) theory of employee engagement, which proposes that employees are more likely to invest themselves fully in their work when they experience psychological meaningfulness, psychological safety, and psychological availability. By recognizing individual strengths and creating opportunities for employees to contribute at their highest potential, leaders can foster greater engagement, commitment, and performance.
Finally, Sairan's advice that individuals should think like problem-solvers rather than task-doers reflects Proactive Behavior Theory (Crant, 2000). According to Crant, proactive individuals actively identify opportunities, initiate improvements, and take action to create positive change rather than simply responding to assigned tasks. Sairan emphasizes that leadership growth begins when individuals take ownership beyond their formal responsibilities by identifying inefficiencies, proposing solutions, and adding value without waiting for permission. Her perspective reinforces the idea that leadership is not limited to those with formal authority. Instead, leadership emerges through initiative, responsibility, and a willingness to improve systems and processes. Research suggests that individuals who consistently demonstrate proactive behaviors are more likely to be viewed as leaders, experience career advancement, and contribute meaningfully to organizational success.
Together, these theories suggest that effective leadership extends beyond managing tasks and achieving short-term results. By fostering open communication, developing individual strengths, and encouraging proactive ownership, leaders create environments where employees feel supported, engaged, and empowered to contribute at their highest level. Sairan Aqrawi's insights demonstrate how leadership can be used not only to improve performance but also to unlock potential, strengthen workplace relationships, and cultivate long-term organizational success.
References
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Clifton, D. O., & Harter, J. K. (2003). Investing in strengths. In K. S. Cameron, J. E. Dutton, & R. E. Quinn (Eds.), Positive organizational scholarship: Foundations of a new discipline (pp. 111–121). Berrett-Koehler.
Crant, J. M. (2000). Proactive behavior in organizations. Journal of Management, 26(3), 435–462. https://doi.org/10.1177/014920630002600304 View Crant, J. M.'s Proactive behavior in organizations
Dulebohn, J. H., Bommer, W. H., Liden, R. C., Brouer, R. L., & Ferris, G. R. (2012). A meta-analysis of antecedents and consequences of leader-member exchange: Integrating the past with an eye toward the future. Journal of Management, 38(6), 1715–1759. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206311415280 View Dulebohn, J. H., Bommer, W. H., Liden, R. C., Brouer, R. L., & Ferris, G. R.'s A meta-analysis of antecedents and consequences of leader-member exchange
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 View Edmondson, A. C.'s Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams
Edmondson, A. C. (2018). The fearless organization: Creating psychological safety in the workplace for learning, innovation, and growth. John Wiley & Sons.
Gerstner, C. R., & Day, D. V. (1997). Meta-analytic review of leader-member exchange theory: Correlates and construct issues. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(6), 827–844. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.82.6.827 View Gerstner, C. R., & Day, D. V.'s Meta-analytic review of leader-member exchange theory
Graen, G. B., & Uhl-Bien, M. (1995). Relationship-based approach to leadership: Development of leader-member exchange (LMX) theory of leadership over 25 years: Applying a multi-level multi-domain perspective. The Leadership Quarterly, 6(2), 219–247. https://doi.org/10.1016/1048-9843(95)90036-5 View Graen, G. B., & Uhl-Bien, M.'s Relationship-based approach to leadership
Harter, J. K., Schmidt, F. L., & Hayes, T. L. (2002). Business-unit-level relationship between employee satisfaction, employee engagement, and business outcomes: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(2), 268–279. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.87.2.268 View Harter, J. K., Schmidt, F. L., & Hayes, T. L.'s Business-unit-level relationship between employee satisfaction, employee engagement, and business outcomes
Kahn, W. A. (1990). Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work. Academy of Management Journal, 33(4), 692–724. https://doi.org/10.2307/256287 View Kahn, W. A.'s Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work
Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2016). Burnout. In G. Fink (Ed.), Stress: Concepts, cognition, emotion, and behavior (pp. 351–357). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-800951-2.00044-3 View Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P.'s Burnout. In G. Fink (Ed.), Stress: Concepts, cognition, emotion, and behavior
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