Belonging, the real deal

I've seen as many people lack a sense of belonging in completely homogeneous groups. It doesn't take a diverse group to challenge a culture of connection. 

Belonging is a function of conversation. People feel a sense of belonging when they feel like their stories are appreciated, ideas and efforts valued, learning shared and feedback useful. This can happen in any constellations of generating and color, background and foreground. None of these are the exclusive domain of any demographic. They are possible for any human being with even a minimal growth mindset.

Belonging

In his piece, The Beautiful Trap of Belonging, Richard Bartlett talks about how communities form from the experience of belonging. Intrinsic to belonging is the absence of status differences. Peter Block also talks about this when he says that nimble organizations are those where people share power, knowledge and responsibility. This is in contrast to slow organizations where power is divided into two classes of haves and have-nots.

One of the practical ways to get around status differences is rotating positions of what is typically called leadership. This is the rotation of common decisions, interactions outside the team and facilitating team meetings and projects. Empower, knowledge and responsibilities shared people feel sense of belonging and in doing so are able to show up with their best.