Belonging at the organizational level

- So, what does belonging mean to you? Here's an exercise you can do to help you define belonging. To get the best out of this experience, have a paper and pen ready to jot down your thoughts. Here we go. Think about a community. Could be work, family, social, or some other group where you truly feel a sense of belonging. Think about that feeling, and think about one word to describe that feeling when you feel that sense of belonging, and write down that one word. Again, a community where you truly feel a sense of belonging, and one word that describes that feeling. Pause this video and take a moment now to write down that one word. (upbeat music) For me, I think of a group of girlfriends, other Black women from all over the country who I spent most of my time with in college. The word that comes to my mind when I think about being with that group of girlfriends is "seen". Here's some other words that have come to people's mind when I ask that question. Safe, acknowledged, accomplishment, joy, acceptance, valued, loved, family, celebrated. All of those words have such warm feelings. I'm sure your words feel the same. Now imagine feeling that way at work every day. You can see why, if that's how you felt at work, how you'd be more equipped to be your best and most creative self. Now think about what that community did to make you feel a sense of belonging. Here are examples of common responses in my training. Feeling welcomed, sharing common values, having space to be appreciated as yourself, being empowered to own your job, and being seen as a subject matter expert, listening and just having your presence acknowledged, and feeling a sense of team and community within the group. Think about how you would answer this question. This can give you some insight into what is and is not working for your current work environment. Pause the video now and take a moment to write down what that community did to make you feel a sense of belonging. (upbeat music) Okay, so now that you understand this for yourself, now do the same exercise with your team. This can give you some very simple insight into how you can shift your team's practices to create a culture belonging for yourself and others. This is just one way to define what belonging means to you. We'll dig deeper into this throughout the course, but first, I'm going to introduce you to your tour guide for this course, the eighth street method. This framework will guide you on our path to belonging.