You Matter!

The last several weeks we’ve been talking about what it means to “belong” in the workplace.

 Today, I want to talk about how to intentionally cultivate belongingness in the workplace. With the key word being intentionally! For example, many of us have a list of tasks the employee needs to go through when onboarding but, how many of us include the following to foster a sense of belonging right away?

·       Support the new employees in making connections within the first 30 days. This includes people within their immediate (core) team as well as those in the larger team. To be clear, this goes beyond giving them an organization chart (although this can be very helpful as well!).

·       Don’t forget about existing employees. Sometimes long-standing employees take each other for granted. And just like any relationship, ongoing care needs to be intentional and planned for.

·       Honor the wisdom within. When new initiatives, policies, and procedures come down the line, ask staff for ideas on how to implement. This will reinforce the idea of contribution and ownership.

·       Give feedback on a regular basis. Just like we do with children, we want to “catch our teams being good”! To celebrate or acknowledge our teams with positive descriptive feedback.

Want to lean more? Click here to download the new resource, “A Sense of Belonging”!