How to Build Belonging at Work

Why Is Belonging in the Workplace Important?

Belonging — the belief that we are connected, supported, and respected — is a basic human need. It’s also a critical component of creating cultures that enable everyone to feel included at work. Belonging in the workplace can pave the way for greater individual and organizational performance, innovation, satisfaction, and persistence through challenges.

Most leaders have a rough idea of what belonging is, but the true importance and value of belonging at work is probably more complex than they might imagine. Beyond just “Do I fit in here?” having a sense of belonging in the workplace involves answering multiple questions, such as:

• Can I connect with my peers professionally? Socially?
• Do I trust my peers, supervisors, and leaders?
• Do I feel like my unique perspective and experiences are valued?
• Am I able to share my authentic self?
• Am I free from worries about fitting in?

The Value of Belonging at Work

Research suggests that in the workplace, both belonging and uncertainty about belonging both matter a lot, as they influence everything from job satisfaction and self-esteem to performance and wellbeing.

This is because when everyone consistently feels included and certain that they belong at work, people are more willing to take risks and more comfortable asking for (and giving) help. So part of the value of belonging in the workplace is that it actually helps to encourage more innovation in the organization and fosters innovative mindsets through open communication.

In addition, belonging is linked to increased persistence through challenges, bouncing back after failure, less likelihood to be thrown off by organizational shifts, and reduced employee turnover. For example, in a recent partnership with a leading global automotive organization, our researchers found that employee perceptions of inclusion, belonging uncertainty, and belonging at work were the strongest predictors of turnover intentions, burnout, and work-life balance.

In another study, building connection and belonging with other participants was also highlighted as one of the most valuable outcomes of engaging in leadership development training.

Luckily, research confirms that belonging uncertainty and belonging in the workplace can both be influenced by organizations and their leaders.

By intentionally working to decrease uncertainty around belonging, leaders invite employees to set aside worries, concerns, or stress. Then they no longer have to expend as much energy wondering if they belong at work, and they’re free to contribute to business objectives in a meaningful, productive, and fulfilling way.

The Impact of Uncertainty About Belonging in the Workplace

Belonging & Belonging Uncertainty: 2 Sides of the Same Coin

We often talk about belonging as a single concept of feeling that you fit in. However, feeling as if you belong is only one side of the coin.

Before we can fully understand the value of belonging — and particularly the importance of belonging in the workplace — we must first understand the other side of the coin: a term known as “belonging uncertainty.”

People experience belonging uncertainty when they aren’t consistently sure whether they fit in at work. This vacillating sense of security can arise from feeling different from others around you, either in appearance or cultural experiences. Belonging uncertainty is especially common if employees come from a background that is different from everyone else on the team.

These individuals may worry about being treated negatively based on stereotypes, or perceive subtle messages about who can (and can’t) be successful at work, causing them to feel less welcome and experience belonging uncertainty. Other team members who do not perceive such messages or feel such burdens do not experience belonging uncertainty.

Belonging uncertainty often leads people to hide aspects of themselves, or not put their whole selves out there. That makes it tricky to detect. But a key indicator is when someone seems hesitant to participate. When that happens, leaders have a clue that the environment might not feel very welcoming to someone on the team.

As leaders, it’s our responsibility to help lift everyone in the entire organization, however and wherever we can. Without intentional support, employees experiencing belonging uncertainty may feel almost as if they’re carrying around a heavy backpack, weighing them down and causing them to struggle to engage fully, think creatively, or bring their full selves to work.

The concerns that arise from belonging uncertainty can also cause people to interpret neutral events negatively. For example, imagine that 2 employees give a big presentation at a quarterly meeting, and neither receives any applause when they finish.

• An employee with low belonging uncertainty may not really notice or, if they do, attribute the lack of applause to an audience eager to get to the next break.
• An employee who does experience belonging uncertainty might jump to conclusions, interpreting the silence as feedback that their presentation was confusing or poorly received. They might even tell themselves they’re not cut out for their job or the organization.

Even if the second employee is able to counter those negative thoughts with positive self-talk, the mental energy involved in processing those thoughts and questioning themselves is a burden they face, on top of their work responsibilities and the stress of giving a big presentation.

For leaders, if one person on the team feels they’re carrying around a heavy backpack, while another is not so weighed down, it’s going to be much easier for the second employee to tackle their work challenges than the first. This is why leaders should work to understand belonging uncertainty and how the workplace feels to everyone on the team, providing additional support for those who need it.

How to Create a Sense of Belonging in the Workplace

3 Tips for Leaders

Here’s the good news for leaders looking for advice on how to build belonging in the workplace: Your efforts don’t have to involve big or expensive gestures. Leaders can incorporate the following actions into everyday work life to counteract belonging uncertainty and instill a culture of belonging at work.

For maximum impact, know that the most powerful experiences involve fostering all elements of belonging: connecting with peers, building trust, valuing all employees’ unique voices, and decreasing belonging uncertainty.

1. Create intentional opportunities for connection.

Consistency is key. When trying to foster belonging at work, most organizations begin with creating opportunities for employees to connect. Many of us have attended a company pizza party or team mixer as an opportunity to meet people and build relationships. While that’s a start, leaders can make those experiences more potent by prioritizing consistent, ongoing opportunities for connection over one grandiose but infrequent event.

Being able to connect with colleagues twice a month is more impactful than a large, once-yearly occasion, even if the opportunities are small, because it serves as a booster for belonging at work. Whether reserving time at the beginning of meetings for team members to share something about themselves or facilitating cross-group coffee chats, creating space for people to connect with peers in a meaningful way on a regular basis is a promising way to support a sense of belonging.

Leaders can also build trust, an important element of belonging, by creating both social and professional opportunities to connect. Offering opportunities to share hobbies or personally held customs encourages employees to bring all parts of themselves to work, and begins to build a foundation of trust. Organizations might offer voluntary Employee Resource Groups to create spaces for connection, for example.

• TIP: Build small, ongoing opportunities for connection into your team or organizational culture. If you consistently focus on building leadership trust and create time for colleagues to make connections with one another, the impact compounds over time. You might set aside a few minutes to express gratitude publicly at the start of every team or department meeting, and create space for others to do the same. Or you might ask colleagues to bring questions as icebreaker activities, or set aside time to share wins and give kudos to teammates. Regardless, finding a sustainable way for employees to connect with each other authentically and consistently is key.

2. Flip the script on uncertainty and failure.

Normalize making mistakes. When people lack a sense of belonging, it can be an isolating experience. Akin to dealing with imposter syndrome, belonging uncertainty causes employees who feel they don’t belong to think they are the only ones experiencing those thoughts.

But in fact, most of us — at some point in our careers — have questioned ourselves and our abilities. When colleagues are willing to share their own uncertainties or even failures publicly, they normalize the feeling and help take away its power. This message can be particularly effective when it comes from colleagues further along in their careers. It can be powerful when a senior leader tells a younger manager their challenges and how they overcame them. Others have the same doubts, and it can be helpful to realize that they’re not alone in their worries and that their concerns might dissipate over time.

You might even consider keeping and sharing with colleagues “a resume of failures,” following in the footsteps of the story about a Princeton professor who created a CV of missteps. Rather than bulleting your accomplishments, list every job you didn’t get, every grant that wasn’t funded, and every idea that was rejected. The resume of failures will likely be much more extensive than your real resume — and more beneficial, too. Failures might have initially reinforced a sense that you don’t belong, but often upon reflection, we realize that we learned more from our failures than our successes. By typing them out and sharing them with your team or newer colleagues, you can reinforce the reality that everyone has to overcome hurdles — and that falling short of expectations doesn’t mean someone doesn’t belong in a role or doesn’t have what it takes. It means they have an opportunity to learn and develop.

• TIP: Normalize failure and frame uncertainty as common and temporary. Encourage a culture where employees can speak openly about handling stress, uncertainty, or setbacks. Encourage senior leaders to help bust myths around mistakes by reinforcing that failure is transient and to be expected. Model open and candid sharing of lessons learned, because that signals a willingness to make yourself vulnerable and encourages innovation, rather than sabotages it.
• TIP: Explore mentoring as a way to provide support during transition points. During times of transition, like onboarding, promotion, and new managerial responsibilities, could senior members of the team help reinforce and support other members? For example, if a new person joins the group or if someone is promoted, invite a more senior colleague to step in to share his or her experiences with the new manager. Coaching and mentoring programs can be used to develop new leaders, not only helping to support and onboard them, but also enabling both parties to benefit from mutual trust-building and an enhanced culture of belonging at work.

3. Show humility by not assuming others’ experiences.

Create opportunities for others to share. Leaders who consistently create space for connection and share their own self-doubts are more likely to have employees who feel psychologically safe at work, and subsequently are more comfortable sharing their experiences with belonging and belonging uncertainty. This is particularly important for employees who are most often overlooked and underestimated.

Power dynamics can often come into place in group settings, with those who hold more senior positions or privileged social identities taking up the most “airtime” in meetings. For example, one Catalyst study found that 1 in 5 women leaders feel overlooked or ignored during group video calls. Individuals from historically underestimated groups often report similar experiences.

Break the mold by scaffolding opportunities for all employees to share openly and honestly with you. When they do, remain open and choose your words wisely. What may seem innocuous to you doesn’t always seem that way to others. For example, if someone on your team opens up to you, and you respond with, “Oh, I know exactly how you feel!” you may think that you’re showing empathy, but that could come across as failing to acknowledge their personal experiences.

Everyone has their own lived experiences, so it’s important that leaders not downplay or invalidate others. Here is where a well-placed silence can be powerful. Don’t cut off potential sharing by moving on to another topic too soon.

Also, be mindful to not push employees to share their personal lives with you. Your job is simply to provide the space, not force anyone to share. Finally, discourage employees from speaking for others by asking everyone to focus on their own experiences. Give people a platform to share their own experiences and perspectives, so others don’t end up talking for them and the whole team can learn valuable lessons.

• TIP: Don’t assume you have the answers. Compassionate leadership starts with listening, and leaders sometimes make false assumptions about employees they don’t hear from, relate to, or understand. Instead of jumping to the conclusion that someone is “just shy,” for example, consider other explanations. Foster a trusting relationship over time, so employees can feel comfortable opening up at their own pace. Build an organization that values different perspectives by modeling (and training your team in) inclusive leadership practices and active listening skills. Particular things to practice include listening for understanding, remaining present in the moment, withholding judgement, and speaking less to hear more.

Better Leaders Focus on Building Belonging at Work

Leading with a focus on building belonging at work requires humility and bravery. Without a focus on equipping leaders and teams with the knowledge about how to create a sense of belonging in the workplace, organizations will never be as strong or productive as they could be.

At CCL, we believe in equipping leaders to cultivate organizational cultures that truly support everyone in the organization — ensuring people are better than just okay. We’ve created a downloadable collection of leadership resources on compassion, wellbeing, and belonging with actionable tips gleaned from our research.

The bottom line: belonging in the workplace is about more than just fitting in. True belonging is built on a strong foundation of trust, connection, and freedom from uncertainty. Fostering a sense of belonging at work acknowledges that everyone brings value through their different experiences and perspectives, and that some individuals might also be burdened with concerns. It’s a critical component of employee wellbeing, too, because when leaders consistently commit to fostering belonging at work, individuals and organizations thrive.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

Take a meaningful step toward increasing belonging at your workplace by starting a conversation with colleagues on your team or at your organization. Download Our Belonging at Work Conversation Guide now.