"Belonging-ness": The secret ingredient of success

What is the secret ingredient that helps teams succeed?

How does one outperform while other teams with even better resources lag?

What drives teams to excel in times of adversity?

 Prior experience, market share, funding and everything else being the same, what gives a team the extra edge? The teams that outperform and continue to beat the traditional odds are the ones that create a “sense of belongingness”. 

 My experience in building a successful business and years of volunteer service in the Heartfulness movement, (now a global non-profit spread across 100+ countries), I believe that the most important thing is to make people belong. 

Do they feel that this is my team?

 Do they feel this is my company?

 Do they feel oneness of purpose?

 Do they feel this is mine….

When this sense of “mine-ness” begins to grow, it’s a contagious feeling. People stretch themselves to outperform. The usual motivations like more money, more power, better benefits etc. are all superseded by a feeling of shared vision and a strong sense of purpose.

 World over, we are facing challenging times. As we work together to counter the threats of the virus and its after-effects, I urge you all to create a sense of belongingness in your teams, your communities and even your families. 

Think of this example. A storm is coming. A window in your home is broken. The glass is shattered, and you don’t have money to fix it. What would you do? 

You would borrow money, call in a favor or get creative with some other materials to fix the window. Whatever it takes, you would fix the window. Why? Because the security and safety of your family is at stake. You will fix the window because you have the sense that this is my family and I must take care of it.

The sense of belonging creates the urgency to care, to protect, to nurture, to nourish and most important of all to love. Belongingness is extremely profound, lacking which we cannot develop any relationship at all.

Art Credits: Jasmee Rathod and Heartfulness Magazine