Aga Bajer & Associates reposted this
Founder & CEO at CultureBrained® 🧠 | We help multinational scale-ups turn their company culture into rocket fuel for meaningful growth
“I’m exhausted of constantly having to prove myself,” my friend confided over coffee last weekend. “I want a place where I can just be myself, where people recognize and value my experience and skills. I'm tired of managing perceptions. I want to focus on what really matters.” Her words echo a common frustration, one that underlines a larger issue. They are a symptom of a deeper problem—a widespread failure to meet a fundamental human need: TO BELONG. We can't be surprised when people fail to bring their best selves to a game they don’t feel part of, can we? So, what does it take to turn this around? 𝐓𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠, 𝐰𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐝𝐝 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐬. If you want to reflect on how good your org is at creating belonging, here are a few simple questions to ask about each of these elements: 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐔𝐄𝐃 ❓Can employees truly be themselves at work without fear of judgment? ❓ Do they feel seen, known, understood, and accepted by their colleagues? ❓ Is there genuine appreciation for their knowledge, skills, and contributions? 𝐀𝐃𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐔𝐄 ❓Are employees empowered to make meaningful contributions to projects that matter? ❓ Do they have strong reasons to believe they’d be missed if they were gone? ❓ Are individual efforts recognized in ways that motivate and inspire further growth and contribution? 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐔𝐄𝐒 ❓ Do employees feel a deep connection with the core values and mission of the organization? ❓ Are they able to express and pursue their personal values within the framework of the organization? ❓ Is there a sense of pride among the staff about being part of the organization? Asking these questions can reveal a lot about the cultural health of your workplace. These are questions my team and I often ask in our exploration of organizational dynamics, seeking to uncover deeper truths about how companies cultivate a supportive and inclusive environment. #belonging #culture #companyculture
Trying to prove yourself is a waste of energy. Just try to be better than your yesterday self. A better person, a better leader, a better husband/wife... If you do something expecting to get something in return, whether feeling valued, appreciated or whatever, you will find yourself exhausted sooner or later. Because 99.9% of people will never appreciate
Thank you for bringing this into the light Aga Bajer Too often the conversation is stuck on being who we are as in how we look and our identities. Though that is important, it is so much more critical that we feel our contributions matter because at the end of the day what we care about is what drives us and motivates us. If what we care about and the work we do is not being acknowledged, then we don’t feel we belong.
I rather like this. I’ve always found identifying shared values as the fundamental foundation of workplace missed something. That something was community and human connection which are just as necessary. By framing belonging in three dimensions of values this model seems to capture culture as the intersection between community (or if you prefer, belonging) and values.
I love this value-based dimensional of belonging! And I love how you expressed them in questions (forcing us to get curious and reflect it to our own situations)💜 I had a guest on my pod that talked about the exhaustion and the need to be in a place where she could relax and reconnect with her sense of belonging. The guest was Lola Akinmade btw. :)
This can be so damaging, it's really a wonder that more employers don't take more note of it! To expect folk to come into a workplace where they DON'T feel they belong... and be able to do their best, quality work?? To take risks, innovate, collaborate, stretch themselves...?? It's just not going to happen!
Thanks for sharing
Great questions, Aga Bajer, thanks for sharing.
Love this!
Great work Aga
Founder & CEO at CultureBrained® 🧠 | We help multinational scale-ups turn their company culture into rocket fuel for meaningful growth
5mo📌 If you are working on cultivating a better company culture at your org right now and look for a place where you belong - alongside outstanding peers on the same journey, check out the CultureBrained® Community here: tinyurl.com/culturebrained