Page 28 - Inquisitive Employee Engagement Guide v22

Tribes and Communities evolve – people have a natural inclination to connect, they want
to belong to something, be part of something worthwhile. They want to
Belonging contribute, feel valued, connect and communicate.

The shift towards multidisciplinary teams, focused on shorter projects, in
networked environments, with different Leaders, provides opportunities for this
and challenges too – multiple roles and multiple managers. Such team
structures have the potential to deliver great tribes if it is part of the remit but it
is vital to clarify the people roles of Project Leaders and Line Managers – both
have new roles and different skillsets are required. If people feel conflicted over
their allegiance you lose them in both tribes – you need to ensure it makes
sense to belong to both; in fact many tribes at work.

Set about fostering a sense of community, loyalty and friendship in the
tone set by leadership. Provide opportunities for people to build relationships
through work and work across departments on projects.

Engaged , self actualised employees sit at the top of Maslow's motivation
hierarchy. It is a journey from top to bottom that is impacted massively by your
business environment – if people do not sense stability or feel safe, they seek to
survive and do not trust enough to belong. If someone at the top is talking to
someone at the bottom you need to consider how different their views are and
adjust your communication accordingly to engage the audience.

How do you help people trust and feel safe? If your employee experience is
focused towards enabling everyone - you will create some amazing tribes. How
can you actively cultivate awesome Tribes?

Senator Bill Bradley defines a movement as having three elements 1) A narrative that tells a story about who we are and the
future we are trying to build. 2) A connection between and among the leader and the tribe. 3) Something to do - the fewer
limits the better. Too often organizations fail to do anything but the third. Seth Godin in Tribes

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