Great Leaders Create a Culture of Belonging
/Is your superpower the ability to help your employees feel they belong? When employees know they are part of a team that ‘has each other’s back’ and their contribution matters, employees experience amazing mental, physical, and financial health benefits. Imagine how fantastic that would feel. And there is also benefit to your success as their leader and the company when you help your employees feel they belong. Imagine how much less stress you would feel knowing you lead a high-performing team that is loyal, creative, productive and has greater attention to detail (I could go on). Simply put, creating a culture of belonging is a Win-Win-Win.
Create a Culture of Belonging
So, let’s explore how to create an at-work culture of belonging. To do this I think it is important to start by recognizing that every team culture will be unique – just like every family has a culture that is also unique. I also want to recognize that every great leader from Alan Mulally (one of my all-time favourites), to Bob Iger, Jeff Weiner and Reshma Saujani likely have best-practices that are unique to their style and personality… just like I expect you have a style that is unique to you. But to get your creative juices flowing, let me share a few recommendations I share with leaders I’ve coached.
1. Be Authentic, become Trustworthy
Be sure you are being yourself. If you try to ‘be’ someone else, others will recognize this and wonder what you are hiding and when you are going to fall out of your act; they wont be able to trust you or their surroundings.
One of the most difficult things for many leaders is admitting they don’t have all the answers. But it’s also important to know that even the very best leaders make mistakes and have something to learn. Learning, listening and pushing your boundaries should be moments of authenticity your whole team expects and duplicates. Another example of authenticity may be if you are participating in training and team building activities. It’s OK to share this is new territory for you as well and that like them, you may feel a bit uncomfortable. The important thing is to find a way to participate, have fun and be part of their team. People respect honesty. Being authentic and transparent will build trust with those around you, and it will likely help others do the same.
2. Honour Values
Values are not something to keep secret. Values are who we are; they influence our how we respond to joy, pressure, challenges and the unknown.
Your values will influence your behaviour and the decisions you make. Your values are often the things people remember about you minutes, days and even years later. It is difficult to fake values – especially for a long time which is why as a leader, hiring people for their values is often more important than hiring them for their skills. As a leader it is also important to be sure your team know the corporate values and how they can use those values to inform their behaviour and decisions as they work which in turn help your team rely on each other, decisions that haven’t even been made yet and of course, your customer / client experience.
3. Have One-on-One Meetings
I’ve always been a big fan of leaders having one-on-one meetings with their direct reports. Typically, every two weeks should work well, however in times of great change, high-stress or high-volume, it may be better to have one meeting each week.
I also want to share my recommendation that as a leader, have one-on-one, ‘welcome to the team, just want us to get to know each other’ introductory conversations with new employees. I don’t mean just your direct reports, I also mean having one-on-one introduction meetings with the new employees who report into your direct reports and even perhaps two levels below (depending on the size of your teams). Nothing says “I matter and I belong” more on day #1 of your new job than finding a meeting has already been booked for you to have a 30-minute one-on-one intro conversation with your boss’s boss for later that week.
4. Help Others Feel Great
Be sure your team feel they are respected, and their work is relevant. There are many ways to help people feel respected. What is important is to find ways that are natural for you. Here are a few recommendations, but please note, this is not an exhaustive list.
Option 1. Tell them they did a great job. Give them encouragement, even if they have experienced a set-back. Validate their effort, not only the results, especially if they worked hard but the project didn’t turn out exactly as planned. Success almost never happens the first time, it takes an iterative process so help them feel proud especially when they may be feeling discouraged.
Option 2. Let them see and/or speak with an end-user of your product or service. Help them hear stories of the meaningful impact and important contribution their contribution has had.
Option 3. Help them know what happens next with the work they do. Help them see how important their quality work and perhaps their creative work is, and how it makes someone else’s job one step down the line better and less stressful.
5. Empower Autonomy
Employees are often happier when they feel they have some input over what they do and when they do it, especially if their position allows them to work in a hybrid model.
Empowering autonomy often generates an increased sense of commitment, responsibility, pride in their work and pride in the respect the company provides them. It’s still OK to have some company or department structure. For example, one company I heard of allows flexibility through the week but asks everyone to be in-office every Wednesday to help facilitate community, provide opportunity for spontaneous conversations and to implement formal training. So, go ahead and give them some autonomy while making sure they know you are always available for support, the purpose of a project and the important timelines. They will make the right decisions.
6. Promote ‘Everyone Has a Voice’
Develop a more productive teamwork model by making sure everyone has a voice – an opportunity to contribute. Practice an attitude of acceptance and glass half full and instead listen to each other’s ideas and learned experience. A great corporate culture recognizes great ideas don’t pay attention to hierarchy and the people who are closest to the clients or manufacturers likely have some of the most relevant ideas. To support this, when someone’s idea is moved forward and/or included, be sure to recognize their contribution.
7. Nourish Creativity
Embrace new ways of thinking and even go out of your way to be exposed to new ideas and new people. Lead by example so people can see how it ‘works’.
As a leader (and in many ways we are all leaders), encourage and support everyone around you to find ways for them to experience something different at work and outside of work. Ask others what they are reading and watching and consider reading and watching yourself. Attend conferences, take an online class and/or attend corporate training opportunities. Start building a reading library at work for people to recommend and share books and articles. And above and beyond anything, keep an open mind.
8. Build ‘Familiarity’ Within Your Team
The pandemic has been a challenging ‘friend’ to teamwork and creating a culture of belonging. At the same time, it has provided an opportunity for us all to stretch and grow as we faced new personal and professional challenges including how to connect virtually. I don’t want virtual meetings to replace all in-person communication, but as we move forward. I do hope we can use our newly learned skills and acceptance of virtual connection as one more opportunity to bring teams – especially remote teams together to share each other’s work, to participate in education and training and to find ways to get to know each other as individuals.
9. Encourage Connection with Community
There are endless ways to connect with our community and none of them must be formal or corporate driven. For example:
Option 1. Support your team getting together for half-a-day once a month to do something community oriented like visit a Foodbank and pack groceries. Especially if you all can’t be off-line at once you can do this as a team, mini-teams or as individuals.
Option 2. Ask everyone to pitch in $10 so you can outfit a child from head-to-toe who could use some help as they start playing soccer, baseball, hockey or whatever.
Option 3. Invite a guest speaker from a local not-for-profit to share what their organization does and how their organization impacts the community.
Conclusion
Being surrounded by others doesn’t mean you and I will automatically feel a sense of belonging. A culture of belonging is all about feeling accepted, of being part of something worthwhile that deepen our sense of importance, pride and accomplishment.
Belonging is so powerful that it becomes part of our identity; it shapes how you and I think, how we respond to things and will influence many of our basic behaviours. The desire to belong is also a fundamental and extremely powerful motivator. As a leader, recognizing the importance and power of inspiring a sense of belonging with those around you - be it at work, with people you share a hobby, people at the gym or simply with your family. Your sense of belonging is an important opportunity to drive success for yourself and for everyone / everything round you.
Be well and happy communicating, leading and creating a culture of belonging within your company or within your team.
Bruce
Learn More About Bruce Mayhew
Toronto corporate trainer and executive coach Bruce Mayhew Consulting is in the people business… it just so happens that training and/or executive coaching is involved. Let us help you improve your productivity and employee engagement.
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Toronto based corporate trainer and executive coach Bruce Mayhew Consulting offers leadership training and professional development across Canada and the USA.
