Our full potential is unleashed when we feel like we belong. A recent study by Qualtrics found that a sense of belonging is the strongest driver of employee engagement—ahead of typical drivers like trust in leadership and the potential for career growth. The global studyfound that people who feel like they belong are almost three times as likely to have a greater sense of well-being: 78 percent versus 28 percent. Only 20 percent of employees who feel they don't belong are engaged, versus 91 percent of those who feel they do belong.
So, if belonging is such a powerful ingredient in our engagement, what interrupts it? We need to investigate what is celebrated, rewarded, and represented in the workplace. It turns out that this is often a very narrow version of our many identities.
We all have both visible and invisible aspects of our identity that make us who we are. Some of those are innate dimensions (gender, age, ethnicity, ability, sexual orientation), and some we acquire throughout our lifetimes (parenting, chronic illness, mental health issues). Yet many of us spend precious time, energy, and effort hiding or downplaying core elements of our identity or experience to blend in with a majority culture around us because we don't feel safe enough to be more authentic.
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