The Importance of Feeling Like You Belong in Your Workplace

What does belonging have to do with work performance? Everything.

Previously published on Forbes

Have you ever felt left out or excluded from important conversations or meetings at work? Have you ever hid or covered parts of who you are or what you believe — your political or religious affiliation, or details about your personal life, history and background, for example — in order to fit in and be accepted at work?

Most of us have experienced this at some point during our careers, and it never feels good. What’s more, it can impact performance in unseen ways.

Let’s explore what people are giving their attention and energy to when they feel like they don’t belong.

First a definition of belonging — the experience of being seen and heard and welcome with all of who we are. Every human being has a need to belong. And belonging is a potent force at work.

Yet one of the biggest impediments to belonging is fitting in. “Fitting in is about assessing a situation and becoming what you need to be in order to be accepted,” Brene Brown observes. “Belonging, on the other hand, doesn’t require us to change who we are; it…