Creating a Culture of Belonging
In any office there could be two kind of situations. In the first situation employees come to work. It’s a traditional kind of a work place where individuals are simply focused on achieving their own goal. They are not too focused on team building and there are occasional rift amongst those who work there. Staff is penalised if they make a mistake.
Now consider another situation wherein employees work in harmony. The environment is friendly and comfortable. Employees work in teams and if there is a mistake, it is analysed yet accepted as a part of a normal work place culture.
It is important that if a business wants to grow, or an organisation wants to succeed they need to practice the second work place model. Employer should promote motivation to their employees. It’s more of a neuro-scientific approach. It’s a known fact that the human brain responds well to positive recognition and feedback. It can reduce fear and anxiety in employees and promote an environment of creativity and collaboration.
In order to create a sense of belonging at a work place, employers should focus on gathering individuals with high emotional intelligence. On the other hand leaders within the organisation should focus on building policies which create a sense of belonging. They should provide opportunities by establishing policies which allow people to take risks and experience growth through loss.
Leaders in a work place can create a culture of belonging in the following ways:
- Invest in your employees. This would help make them establish a sense of belonging and in turn improve their productivity.
- Everyone should be treated in a fair manner. Employees should feel that they are welcome to work within the organisation and they should feel happy coming to work.
- Create situations which would help employees thrive mentally and physically
- Leader should try to establish a positive rapport with the people in their team. They should be able to identify the strengths of their employees. Awareness that each employee is an individual with innate abilities which need to be brought out. Tapping into their potential would spark creativity in the work place and promote a better work environment.
- There should be opportunities for spending informal time with the employees. The conversations should be focused on their thoughts and desires of the employees. Spending time with individuals makes employers more aware of their personal needs and desires. Once an employee starts to feel comfortable and welcome in the work place, they look forward to working within the organisation and there prevails a general feeling of positivity.
- Relationship building should be focused and personal and is an important part of any work place environment.
- Make sure that there I a connection between the mission of the company and it vision. The focus should be on giving back. This can be established by building connections with nonprofit organisations.
The above mentioned are only a few ways for enforcing a culture of belonging in the workplace. However these changes can create positivity in the work place and would benefit to employees and employers both.
