I attended a fairly long session the other week , hosted online by The Open University, with both staff and student participants. The event looked at how to foster a sense of belonging among a large and diverse student body . Not an easy task given that even trying to define what belonging means is quite difficult. The general consensus was that the concept of ‘belonging’ is very nebulous and can mean different things to different people. So the question remaining was how can the university encourage students to feel that they belong to what is in effect a very large and multifaceted organisation?
When I went back to the Community Café for my volunteer shift (nothing to do with The OU or Open SU I hasten to add) I took time to reflect on how we are able to make our customers feel welcome and feel that they belong to our small micro- community.
It’s taking time to chat to customers
It’s remembering their back stories
It’s remembering to ask them about things going on in their lives which they had told us about previously- medical appointments, visits with family, maybe little trips somewhere and even funerals they had to attend, which seem to be quite frequent
It’s asking about the important things in their lives that they feel they want to talk about
It’s remembering people who haven’t been around for a while and checking in on them to make sure all is okay
It’s remembering how they like their food prepared and whether they like sprinkles or not on their cappuccinos.
Little things, but they really make a difference and keep our customers coming back.
If only large organisations could find these small micro-communities within their complex structures then maybe other relevant small personal gestures could enhance the feeling that people do belong and do feel valued.
I’m not an expert so these are just my own thoughts and personal opinions.
