HOW INCLUSION AND BELONGING BRINGS EVERYONE CLOSER
In the constant change of the working world, how can employers strive not only to include, but make everyone feel that they belong? This booklet highlights the nuanced differences between striving for inclusivity and fostering a true sense of belonging within an organisation.
We consider 10 insights on bringing teams and organisations closer through inclusion and belonging.
INCLUSION ENCOURAGES PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY; BELONGING ENCOURAGES RISKIER EXPLORATION.
Inclusion initiatives aim to create a psychologically safe environment where employees feel free to express themselves without fear of negative consequences. However, inclusivity alone can sometimes become a one-size-fits-all approach. A manager who insists on “treating everyone the same” may lack the flexibility to make adjustments for neurodiversity, for example. The pursuit of belonging also has its pitfalls. Belonging –knowing we have a secure place in the ‘tribe’ –can encourage bolder risk-taking and stretching beyond the ‘comfort zone’. These decisions, if not managed and properly considered, can be detrimental to performance.
Key idea: The Venn Diagram of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity
Saturated similarity with views over-simplified
Thoughts, ideas, and perspectives of all individuals matter
Tendancy toward dominant group or ideology
Constantly and consistently recognising and redistributing power
An organisation that engages the full potential of the individual, where innovation thrives and views, beliefs, and values are integrated
Multiple identities represented in an organisation
Disengagement through culture assimilation
What’s our organisation’s balance between comfort and courage?
INCLUSION HAS US FEELING INCLUDED; BELONGING HAS ENVIRONMENTS FEELING EXCLUSIVE
Something exclusive (a VIP event, a small wedding party, close circle of friends, etc) can be very, very good. Or very effective. Exclusivity is the baby we could throw out with the bathwater. Exclusivity –the idea that there is a distinct group with some kind of qualification criteria – is the only way we can ‘belong’ to anything. To get a job, we must pass an interview. To get a Taylor Swift ticket, we must be one of the quickest when they go on sale. Scarcity is a powerful factor of influence. Holding principles of inclusivity alongside practices of belonging will help us get the balance.
Key stat: A study found that scarcity increases the perceived value of items by 50%, significantly influencing decision-making by activating brain areas like the anterior insula and prefrontal cortex.
Source: Frontiers in Psychology, 2020
How and where could we create inclusive and exclusive environments?
WE’RE ALWAYS BEING PROFESSIONAL, BUT FORGET WE’RE
An overused and misunderstood word, a ‘team’ can mean a group, committee, collective, partnership, or even a one-person function. We talk in teams. Team goals. Team days. Team leaders. Leaning on anthropology, ‘tribes’ are considered a form of human social organisation based on a set of smaller groups defined by traditions of common descent, language, culture, and ideology. In this way, our organisations – as professional, logical, and organised as they appear to be – will always have this ‘tribal’ layer. Common vocabulary, a shared culture, a ‘way it works around here’ = I belong.
Key stat: A survey by Qualtrics found that organisations promoting a sense of tribal belonging achieved a 167% increase in employee engagement, compared to a 21% increase in organisations focusing on team inclusivity alone.
Source: SpringerLink
Source: Verna Myers et al.
happening at the tribal layer of our organisation?
We can tap into both kinds of motivation. Inclusion relies on ‘someone else’ doing the including. When done well, we can increase the motivation of those around us. Belonging, on the other hand, is influenced by external factors while ultimately coming from within. ‘Do I belong here?’ is a question we must ask ourselves – typically subconsciously - rather than ask a colleague or boss. As leaders we can directly control how much we include others, but at best can only indirectly influence how much others feel they belong.
Key stat: Employees who feel a strong sense of belonging are approximately 3.5 times more likely to be motivated to contribute to their full potential.
Source: McKinsey & Company
What can I do to promote an intrinsic sense of belonging?
Inclusivity involves recognising and accepting differences –and making proactive, positive allowances for them. Belonging involves celebrating those differences and absorbing this diversity into the organisational identity. The organisation that has begun to acknowledge, accept, and improve inclusiveness is on the right track. The next stop is belonging. Reaching this point takes a different kind of fuel, where we’re not just brought in, but brought together.
Source: Nectar, 800 US-based employees
Are we just getting people together or drawing them closer to each other?
INCLUSION IS ENSURED BY POLICY; BELONGING IS ENABLED BY PEOPLE.
Inclusivity can be implemented through policies, but belonging is created through the people. Every organisation has its rules, there to undergird day-to-day practice. They matter. Yet, no one ever felt belonging because of a policy in place. They felt they belonged because there was something about the people – their responsibilities, rituals, and responses – that made them feel like part of something bigger. And better.
Repor ted limitations of remote working
Other
None
Slower career progression
Effect on physical health
Effect on psychological health
Technological issues
Lack of work-life balance
Lack of dedicated work space
Missing out on opportunities at work
Increased distractions
Poor team communication
Lack of social interaction
Source: Positive Group, New Ways of Working
What could we solve by influencing habits over enforcing rules?
INCLUSION IS BEST APPROACHED STRATEGICALLY; BELONGING IS BEST APPROACHED TACTICALLY
We can make an inclusion strategy and roll out our plan to bring everone in. It’ll need this kind of overview and long-term goalsetting. Yet for belonging, we could be better off choosing tactics over strategy. We can gather case-by-case approaches to foster the sense that we’re truly part of something meaningful. Approaching belonging strategically may be less effective, given how much is beyond our control (see point 5).
Key stat: 81% of employees say that being part of an inclusive culture is important to them, but only 53% feel their organisation fosters a sense of belonging.
Source: Deloitte
How have we balanced strategy and tactics?
Measuring inclusion often relies on quantifiable data, whereas belonging is measured by the immeasurable emotional connection and sense of acceptance within a group.
While it’s not as simple as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ people, the issue we face typically challenge one of the two hemispheres of the brain more than the other. Left (speech, language, logic) ultimately looks at the parts and right (nonverbal memory, spatial awareness, imagination) deals in wholes.
Inclusion is mainly a ‘left-brain’ challenge (closely linked to our language and logic), whilst the idea of belonging is more ‘right-brain’ (formed emotionally and imaginatively).
idea: Split Brain Theory
Analytics
Logic
Patterns
Language
Arithmetic
Imagination
Emotion
Intuition
Creativity
Spacial comprehension
Roger W. Sperry won a Nobel prize in 1981 for his split brain research, yet not everything we might believe about this duality is true. Humans are not ‘dominant’ in one side or another, nor is one side stronger (unless due to damage). Nor do we use one ‘side’ without the other. What is true is that the sides of the brain perform different functions.
What’s the problem we’re trying to solve with the wrong ‘hemisphere’?
INCLUSION ALLOWS PEOPLE TO CONSUME; BELONGING INSPIRES PEOPLE TO CONTRIBUTE.
Inclusivity opens the door to all, which is a fantastic thing for every employee. Once through the door, belonging goes beyond mere participation to motivating employees. Inclusivity makes it easy for everyone to consume from the same table, yet workplaces are spaces for contribution, not consumption. Our sense of being ‘one of us’ shapes what we bring to the party.
Expectation of proactive contribution
Increased desire for proactive contribution
Lack of contribution
Key idea: The Vicious and Virtuous Cycle of Proactive Encouragement
Inaction or reactive behaviour becomes habit
Task of encouraging proactivity becomes unneccesary 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 VS
Task of encouraged proactivity becomes more difficult
Increased desire fuels proactive contribution
Affirm contribution
Testing of contribution
Encourage contribution
How will we straddle the paradox of encouraged proactivity?
As humans, we fuel ourselves with short-release and long-release energy. A bowl of pasta sets us up nicely for a marathon, but an energy bar (or several) will be useful before we cross the finish line. Our organisations, teams, meetings, policies, and offices are only inclusive as long as they’re inclusive. It’s short-release. If we slip from being inclusive, it’s immediately not inclusive. Whereas belonging has a long-release energy that isn’t so easily undone. Come together or stay together?
Key stat: Belonging is at the top of the most recent Global Human Capital Trends survey with 79% of survey respondents saying that fostering a sense of belonging in the workforce was important to their organisation’s success in the next 12–18 months. 93% agreed that a sense of belonging drives organisational performance.
Source: Deloitte
What would the best possible version of inclusion and belonging look like in the long term?
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