How do Meaning, Mattering, and Belonging relate to each other? And how do we as talent development professionals, as learning professionals create meaning and a sense of mattering and belonging for the participants in our work?

We tend to experience negatives so much more intensely and remember them more pointedly than positives (#BrainOnTheSavannah?), so I'll start by asking you to remember a time when you felt like you didn't belong or like you didn't matter.

What was that like for you? How did it feel in your body? What was it about the situation that made you feel like you didn't belong or didn't matter? How did you feel about the others in the group or place? What did you want to do? Or what DID you do?

Take a minute to really think about that feeling.

If you were to re-write that story to make our hero (you) feel confident, like you matter and belong in that situation, how would you write it? What would you change outside of your character? 

Would you add someone? Would you give someone who was there some special lines to say that would make a difference? What would you change? And HOW would that make a difference to our hero (you) in the end?

As people who enjoy learning, we sometimes have a hard time imagining how vulnerable some of our learners feel when they participate in our sessions. Personally, I love that feeling of being a bit off balance in a class because I know that means I'm going to learn something, AND I have lots of positive feelings, memories, and results from both the learning process and having learned things, so I DIG THAT FEELING!! Bring it on!!

But what if you have a history of feeling humiliated if you're wrong about something? or a history of being told you need to have all the answers? or of not trusting people around you to give you grace?

UGH!!

We are super powerful in our role--we know this!! We can create and change energy in our sessions, whether we are in person or virtual, by using language, activities, physical structure, tools, groupings, and more. It's like magic! However, we have to think about it--to plan for it--to be aware of what our learners need and to use these techniques to make a difference.

What can you do?--What can we do as talent development professionals, as learning professionals to create space where learners find meaning, feel belonging, and are reassured that they matter as they make themselves vulnerable to learning something new and to discovering different perspectives?

What techniques and tricks do you already use to provide that support? What is one more that you'll try this week? Share in the LInkedIn chat!