Helping team members feel like they belong

Have you ever been invited to a meeting or office social event and feel like you don’t belong? What about when you finally feel like you’ve found your peeps, tribe, or whatever you call the group you’re comfortable with? A feeling of belonging helps in so many ways and yet it can be elusive. Read on to learn about how belonging provides value and what you can do as a project manager to help foster that feeling in your team members. 

When people feel like they belong, they are more engaged in their work; they are happier and healthier; and they’re a lot more likely to stay in their job. Your team members contribute more to your project: creative solutions that are aligned with the project’s objectives and the organization’s strategy; fewer errors; higher productivity; more enthusiasm. The list goes on.

Belonging is something that employees feel. You can’t execute an action plan to make it magically appear. Humans have an inherent need to belong. Our precursors were far more likely to survive when they belonged to a group. Today, the need to belong is even stronger due to remote work, less in-person interactions, bad behavior kindled by anonymity, and all the uncertainty of our times. How wonderful it is to feel like you fit in.

Although you can’t force a feeling of belonging, project managers can coax it along in several ways: 

• Tie the project and team efforts to the organization’s mission. People feel like they belong when their values are in line with the organization’s mission — they feel like they belong to something worthwhile and have purpose. Take the time to show your team members how their work supports the project goals and, in turn, how that supports the organization’s mission.
• Include team members in defining team goals and norms. People are more engaged when they help define their team’s goals. They feel that they have a say in the team’s direction. Helping to define the team’s norms – that is, the behaviors that everyone considers acceptable – creates a bond of shared values with teammates. Are there standard work hours or can people work when they are most productive? What method of communication do people use? How do people behave in meetings?
• Involve team members in project planning. Contributing to the project plan gives team members a sense of ownership in the project. They also can see where tasks fit in the big picture and how tasks interact, which helps them produce higher-quality deliverables. That deeper understanding might help people spot early warnings that things aren’t going as planned.
• Highlight contribution by assigning team members their own project tasks. You might assign tasks to technical team leaders, who then assign and manage all the tasks within their area of expertise. While that saves time building a project schedule, you miss an opportunity to emphasize what specific team members contribute to the project. Take the time to determine who will deliver on each task and assign tasks directly to them. Ask them for task status as the project proceeds. This inspires pride in their individual contributions and demonstrates how they help make the project successful.
• Ask for team member recommendations and suggestions. Feeling needed enhances a sense of belonging. Asking for input during the project shows that you want and value team member contributions. It also boosts morale, particularly when their input helps deliver better project outcomes. You also get a sense of the team’s mood. That way, you can communicate proactively to leverage positive views of the project or reduce negative ones.
• Assign management-related tasks to team members. Team members can also contribute by checking and reporting on risks. Using their relationships, they can assist with organizational change management activities. They can work with stakeholders to draft new business processes. For more advanced team members, you can delegate project management tasks. This makes them feel valued while also easing your workload so you can work on more complicated project elements.

What helps you feel like you belong when you work on a project? What doesn’t?

For more about belonging, check out the Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging for All LinkedIn learning path.

Coming Up:

Leading with Curiosity

How do you get better at asking questions? Natalie Nixon has invited me to join her on Wednesday December 14th at 12pm ET to explore what it means for a cognitively and experientially diverse team to be curious and creative and what you, as a leader can do to support that effort.