75. Why belonging matters and how to build it

Data point of the week
According to a study on workplace belonging by BetterUp:

“High belonging was linked to a whopping 56% increase in job performance, a 50% drop in turnover risk, and a 75% reduction in sick days. For a 10,000-person company, this would result in annual savings of more than $52M.

Employees with higher workplace belonging also showed a 167% increase in their employer promoter score (their willingness to recommend their company to others). They also received double the raises, and 18 times more promotions.”

The researchers decided to run an experiment to test a series of interventions to see if they could reduce the costs of exclusion. They found that encouraging mentorship was so powerful that it led previously excluded employees to work even harder for their team than their included co-workers.

In this intervention participants were asked to imagine how they would coach someone else through an experience of exclusion.

Reflection
While this experiment took place in the lab, mentoring can have a big impact in real world settings too. Mentoring someone is an investment, and when we invest our time and energy we become emotionally invested in the outcome. We’ve bought in. The more we contribute, the more we care, and the more we care, the more connected we feel to our mentee and the organization. Contributing—and inviting others to contribute—increases belonging.

Being a mentor can also shift how we see ourselves. When we teach or coach, we feel compelled to act in alignment with the advice we’re doling out, changing our own behavior. Teaching is a way to learn something on a deeper level.

One study of a middle school peer tutoring program found that being a tutor improved students’ grades, self-concept, and attitudes towards school, and significantly decreased their likelihood of dropping out (1% of tutors compared to 12% of non-tutors dropped out).

Mentoring clearly provides benefits for mentors and mentees!

Based on the experiment above, a simple (and free!) strategy for helping someone through a hardship is to ask them to imagine how they would coach someone else going through a similar experience. For example, “What advice would you give to someone new, who was feeling in over their head (or that it wasn’t the right fit, or was struggling with the transition)?”

Connection Skill & Action Step:  Be a mentor/find a mentor
Mentor relationships can help people integrate more quickly into new environments, accelerate learning, and increase social networks and sense of belonging.

To reap the full benefits of mentoring, research out of MIT highlights a couple of findings to keep in mind.

• Being mentored by a colleague who is slightly more advanced in their career led to faster promotions and higher retention … whereas being mentored by someone “at the top” (senior-junior pairings) did not. Mentors who are more familiar with your work, office culture, and peer networks, are more valuable than superstars.

• Having diverse networks at work led to more promotions and greater career success. Try to balance affiliative needs—the support and camaraderie that comes from connecting with people like you—with building relationships (including mentoring) across difference.

Implementing ProjectConnect groups—to build relationships between 4-6 employees—is another way to help employees diversify their networks and establish informal mentoring relationships.   

Consider becoming a mentor:

• Once you’ve been in your job for a year or more, consider helping a new employee learn the ropes.

• Consider coaching someone in an area where you’ve developed skills, knowledge, or expertise that you could pass on to others. Is there something that you’re good at or have been successful in?

Find a mentor:

• If you’re new to your job, consider joining a mentor program (if your workplace has one) or asking someone who’s been at your organization for a while if they’d be wiling to offer you occasional advice and insight.

• If you’re working to improve a specific skill or knowledge area, is there someone you could ask to share their expertise or coach you?

Questions. Please share your responses in the comments. Just click "post comment," enter your name and click "post as guest."

Have you ever had a mentor? If so, what impact did it have on you?

Have you ever mentored someone else? If so, what did you get out of it and what do you think your mentee got out of it?