Belonging – it’s not a new concept, but it is getting redefined inside our organizational worlds. Belonging was one of the concepts behind Covid’s Great Resignation (the workforce’s massive loss of good workers who now want to work at a place where their values align) and Quiet Quitting (employees feeling disrespected or underappreciated, and only working to the levels of their paycheck). These two types of workforce re-centerings have at their core, the word “Belonging.” If employees felt they didn’t belong at their organization, they made trade-offs such as finding a new position in an organization that aligned more perfectly with their own convictions (The Great Resignation) or minimizing the strain on their time at an organization that didn’t respect them (Quiet Quitting). “Belonging” at an organization is a tricky thing for leaders to navigate if they want to keep their valuable employees.
But, Belonging’s partner concept is “Community.” And while it’s easier to think about both of these concepts outside of the business world, we are seeing organizations start thinking about these two terms conjunctively inside the future of business. Building Community and harnessing Belonging inside an organization is where both terms can coexist and build something quite exquisite and elegant – and just what our world needs. We are waking up to Belonging + Community in business as we try to find our new organizational equilibrium.
My #Teal colleague, Will Van Inwagen from Enlivening Edge, discusses these concepts in a short article and shares an adventure where we can explore bringing both Belonging and Community inside our current organizations. Please join us as we discover Belonging and Community (#Wholeness) in our organizations and inside our workforces.