The confusion of NOT Belonging: "No, we're not them, they're different and we're separate"

I was at a North London hospital yesterday accompanying a friend. We signed in at reception, she was called in to her appointment, I could see some patients returned back to the waiting area for a while after a prep session.

So I asked at reception whether I should stay-put to give smiling support to my friend, or go down to the café.

The receptionist answered:

"Oh, I couldn't tell you about that. We're not them."

Confusing.

"Well, how long might she be?"

"No, we're not them, they're different and we're separate."

It was a Lewis Carroll conversation: the person you are looking to for help is explaining not only that they can't help you but that they shouldn't, because they are not part of the group that would be able to help you.

She defined her lack of help through NOT belonging to the department my friend was seeing. She reinforced the internal structures:

"They just lease the space from us."

Uh? It's all one NHS hospital, we weren’t in a private wing or external company.

Then, Status:

"We're Surgical. We do day surgery. A whole lot of top specialists doing lots of different things. ‘They’ just do one thing."

And finally, NON accountability.

She was not accountable for looking after the patients of ‘Them’ beyond signing-in. So, you see, she couldn't possibly help me.

The problem for this member of staff was sharing a reception service with another department which used to be separate. Though her job is to serve Reception for both units, she feels she 'belongs' to the surgical, not the investigative, team. So she refused to do anything beyond the basics.

She was dressed in claret-coloured kit, 'raspberry scrubs'. (A staff sign said this was required dress code for surgical teams: you get the importance of this now.)

"You need to ask someone in blue" she said grabbing a lady in blue.

"Hello" said the lady in blue

"I'm Esther. How can I help you?"

Esther was straightforward. She told me how long it might take, where to wait (the next room, not hard to point to), to get tea for me but nothing for my friend because Esther was in charge of that.

That's because Esther is a recovery nurse. She is not a receptionist. It is not her job to look after patients' anxious friends and families. She is not accountable for this. But she does it anyway, because it makes a difference to her that people feel comfortable about the procedure they are coming in for and the support around them.

The raspberry-scrubs receptionist could have told me all that, in less sentences than the confusing stuff about her Not Belonging to the other team.

OK, it’s not a big deal. Organising people in reception has low level risk. 
But it’s a neon-highlighter for how a sense of 'Not Belonging' can trounce personal accountability.

In another context, what if Not Belonging, and Not Being Accountable, spreads to an ethical judgement or a safety risk? We’ve seen catastrophic risks in many sectors. 

Belonging leads to commitment; commitment means accountability.

Commitment means doing more than basic tasks. 
Commitment means relationship more than transactions. 
Commitment means looking at consequences of actions. 
Commitment means connecting up with other teams.

Commitment means being willing to go further, accepting accountability for follow-through.

But it all begins with Belonging.

"We're not them, they're different, we're separate" sums up why organisations need a clear sense of belonging.

Most organisations are complex, many-layered, a mix of mergers, acquisitions and sub-contracting, old and new departments, specialist teams.

In the minefield of belonging to different territory, the lines of accountability can get mangled.

Each break in belonging is a potential breakdown of accountability, or failure-point for ethics, safety and strategy.

Wherever you fit in, you're still part of the same goals. Your team, and its particular specialism, interconnects with others. ‘We're’ all 'Us'.

And that means having a sense of belonging, a shared ethos on which to base commitment, and clear accountability to uphold it.

Show everybody in the organisation how it all connects, the principles that bind all its communities into one, as well as the particular focus of each team.

In a complex organisation like a hospital, it is interdependence not independence that makes it all work.

In this way, belonging brings the cohesion to achieve effectiveness as well as efficiency.

I asked Esther if it was a good hospital to work in. She gave answered firmly:

"It is. But do not look at these new buildings and say it is a good hospital.

Look at the work, look at the people doing the work. Look at how they work with each other.

Then you’ll see: is it a good hospital?

It is a good hospital. But that doesn't mean that everybody in it is good."

She’s right, and about a lot more than hospitals.

Do your teams feel they belong to the same organisation?
Do your people share accountability?

Talk to us about how to create a sense of Belonging.

isabel@belongingspace.com

www.belongingspace.com

Twitter @IsabelBelonging

Twitter @BelongingSpace

Can Credit Unions* restore faith in the ethical standards of financial institutions? (*Now with Royal approval)

The Duchess of Cornwall gave her enthusiastic support this week to the work of Credit Unions and their role in providing financial services for the most vulnerable.

Thursday was International Day of Credit Unions, with activities across many countries, to recognise the achievements of this distinct kind of institution.

Belonging is at the heart of Credit Unions: customers belong as members and investors, they share ownership and benefits of the fund, as well as a voice in the decisions around it. They are mutually-owned, ethically-run, and locally-based.

In contrast with the recent scandals around PayDay loans used by the most financially and socially vulnerable to tide them over week-on-week. With compound interest of up to 4,000% this left people with impossible debts.

Ethics - and commercial sustainability - have no place in this practice. Under pressure from public and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Wonga recently wrote off £220m of debts for 330,000 customers. 

The Credit Unions show us a different model: one in which ethics, commerce and financial services are easy partners.

Shared ownership means shared accountability, creating a powerful sense of belonging. 

Purpose is twinned with ethos, giving people principles to believe in and a reason to commit.

Belonging is not just about what you are doing, or how much money you are making: but who you are serving, and why.

Mutual support, strong principles, sharing, exchange and interdependence are all features of this kind of belonging.

Ethics benefits too. When people feel they belong to something they commit more firmly to its principles.

When people belong they do the right thing because they want to, not just because it says so in the rules.

The theme of this year's ICU Day is "Local Service. Global Good". The World Council of Credit Unions says this “emphasizes credit unions' positive impact in their communities and around the world” 

In the UK there are 524 Credit Unions with £1.1bn worth of assets and almost 1.5 million members, of which the Duchess of Cornwall herself is one.  

The Duchess said: “Credit Unions serve people, not profit” and could be “a real force for change in the financial landscape”.

They are growing in popularity in the UK, though just 2% of population are members. Although returns on savings are low, the appeal is in mutual support, with members borrowing and lending through the fund. Gateway Credit Union in South Wales reports significant growth.

In the US, Credit Unions are used by 46% of adult population with strong regional brands.

Mazuma Credit Union, based in Kansas City, exudes the power of belonging. Respected for its great work with the communities it serves as well as a great culture for the people who work within it, it has achieved consistent growth and stability through the recession.

Public faith in financial institutions crashed after a host of ethical disasters. Even the Co-op, the paragon of ‘good business’, is sullied by the scandals around the previous CEO and revelations about failings in Governance.

Are the major financial institutions are too big to be held accountable?

Can Credit Unions set high standards of ethics, and help restore confidence in finance houses?

Mark Lyonette, chief executive of the Association of British Credit Unions Limited says “Credit unions are a very good way of keeping banking in check.”

The unique ethos and structure of credit Unions must be welcome to the FCA. In its earnest efforts to improve standards of ethical conduct in financial sectors it stresses

“Treating customers fairly remains central to our expectations of firms’ conduct, that firms put the well-being of customers at the heart of how they run their businesses.”

Let's hope that the ethics of Credit Unions, and the spirit of belonging, can imbue shared accountability across the financial sector.

We surely need it.

Do your customers, employees and investors all feel they belong to your organisation?
Does everyone in your business uphold its ethics?

Talk to us about how to create a sense of Belonging.

isabel@belongingspace.com

www.belongingspace.com

twitter@IsabelBelonging

Belonging is the sum of the parts: Lessons on maths and collaboration from the writers of The Simpsons

It's one of the most common challenges in corporate culture: cross-discipline collaboration.

It's depressingly common for experts to Belong exclusively to their specialist team, blocking any integration with the wider business.

How do you get them to work together so the sum of the parts really is greater?

Commitment to separateness?

This week I have been running a series of workshops in Germany with a company of mostly scientists, all dedicated and well-meaning, but experts in particular areas. 

Sure enough, the challenge of getting specialists to work together came up loud and clear, with two recurring themes:  

"Ko-operation" and "Kommunication" 

(luckily the translation to English is straightforward).

Though the teams have achieved great innovations, how much more potential is restrained?

With another client, two small teams - both in digital development - were intent on defining their separateness: 

"No, we're COMPLETELY different! They're FRONT end development and we're BACK end!"

Thereby reducing their specialist expertise to two ends of a pantomime horse.

It is this ring-fencing that is the problem: Belonging is reduced to such a small level that collaboration is almost impossible.

"Ah, but we're SPECIALISTS - the others just don't understand what we do."

Far from the whole being greater, too often the parts are fighting so hard in factions that they can't even see the sum.

Insights from the Simpsons writers

What a joy then, last Friday evening, to join a special event at The Science Museum  on The Mathematical Secrets of The Simpsons.

It revealed secrets not only of mindblowing maths and humour - but also of easy collaboration.

Our host, Simon Singh, recently published a book (The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets) full of the hidden-maths written into episodes of The Simpsons. 

He held a genial conversation with two of the writers who provide covert nerdiness: Al Jean and David X Cohen. Both are brilliant mathematicians (Harvard and Berkeley, PhDs in maths so complex that it would befuddle even Lisa Simpson) who are also funny, wrote for The Harvard Lampoon, then graduated to writing comedy-show scripts.

The audience was entranced, right from Simon Singh checking our capacity for both maths and humour with his Mathematickle Test. We passed, so he was happy to share. To uncover the maths secrets he has found in The Simpsons and Futurama you must read Mr Singh's excellent book, and article in The Guardian. (Valuable pre-lecture cramming for a non-mathematician:  perfect numbers, narcissistic numbers, Mersenne prime numbers...)

Cross-discipline exchange was a fascinating theme. The writing team includes several gifted mathematicians (David X Cohen found he was not the first Simpsons writer to have a paper on post-PhD maths research published in 'Discrete Applied Mathematics') as well as non-nerds. 
Yet clearly there's no 'us and them' split in the writing team, or with the other creative disciplines.

The secret maths gags are very funny, the tributes to mathematicians and physicists are irreverent hero-worship. Turns out the maths-comedy subculture runs deep: in the audience a chap outed himself as a "Chartered Accountant and Stand-up Comedian" (perhaps not a boast he makes to clients?).

All of us were bowled over by Al Jean and David X Cohen's disarming mix of super-cleverness and feet-on-the-ground humility. 
No arrogant smartypants, no superior comedy-elite, no BigShot PrimeTimeWriter Divas. 

On the contrary: there was understatement, informality, and sheer pleasure that people got the jokes that they had hidden in there.

All great ingredients for good collaboration. 

And the most critical one: egos are subordinate to content.

How do you manage collaboration between such refined specialisms?

Cross-discipline collaboration remains a holy-grail for many companies. 

As with our German client, and the digital Front-and-Back-Enders, business success and individual motivation hang on integration. 

Yet it's harder to fathom even than the taxicab number that recurs in both Futurama and the Simpsons 

How has The Simpsons team mixed its cocktail of disciplines and heritage - writers, mathematicians, physicists, comedians, animators, producers - into such potent force, with apparently fluidity?

They've avoided the silos (even barbed-wire) between departments, open derision between experts, abject refusal to exchange ideas...

All those problems that - in so many companies - get in way of Belonging, causing mass frustration and wasting months and years of business time; leaving motivation, innovation and profit (both fiscal and cultural) running down the drain.

But pay attention to Al Jean, David x Cohen and The Simpsons and Futurama teams, and the answers are in plain sight:

Secret formula for collaboration

• Respect throughout, regardless of status or giftedness
• Mutual support between teams
• Easy exchange between experts
• Don't take yourself too seriously, however brilliant you are
• Do take your colleagues seriously, recognise how brilliant they are
• Appreciation and reward are based on your contribution to the whole not on isolated expertise
• No-one's more special on their own than the collective brainpower

And above all, the generosity of spirit that says:

"This knowledge (or this gag) is much more useful if it's shared".

(Thank you to Simon, Al and David for, in the same spirit, signing the book for 9-year old Arthur: he's chuffed to bits to be called a 'fellow nerd' and to be encouraged with pride in maths-geekiness.)

And the winning bit of evidence behind this formula is the duration of the collaboration of Al Jean, David X Cohen and The Simpsons team: 25 years, and still writing and laughing together.

So take note, all those businesses of experts who can't work together properly. 

Listen up, all you micro-teams with your closed-minded separatism.

And pay attention to the detail: 

There is clever maths and cross-discipline collaboration - all hidden in Bart's shorts.

Would you like to get your specialists collaborating easily?

Do you have a whole lot of experts working in isolation?

Talk to us about how to create a sense of Belonging.

isabel@belongingspace.com

www.belongingspace.com

twitter@IsabelBelonging 

Catch Simon Singh's book tour 
“The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets”
Next date Archway 17 October 

NonBelonging and NewBelonging: Rewriting the rules in a spirit of adventure

A most interesting angle on Belonging from Andy Swann, the plucky fellow who has set himself up as I am The Work Project.

This is the challenge he has set:

  "Can I go a year working outside the usual structures of work and  still make a living?"

Is this, essentially, NonBelonging?

Here's what he says so far:

"The Work Experiment involves a few different elements. To fully question what work is conceptually and emotionally, the structures we put around it, the mechanisms it perpetuates in our lives, how it continues to evolve and how it could perhaps be changed for the better, I need to change my relationship with work.

As of today, I'm not employed. I have nothing lined up but an open mind. I have enough money in the bank to last around one month. I'm very comfortable asking for what I need, so I'm equally comfortable being asked. I'm now working solely within the parameters of the work project."

And here are his guidelines:

"- I won't charge a pre-determined rate or fee for my work.

- For any work I do, all I'll ask is that the value I create is recognised.

- Recognition doesn't have to be purely financial (although it will need to be sometimes), it can be in value - products, services... anything.

- I'll work anywhere, consider any offer, but reserve the right to say no.

- I'm open to going anywhere in the world and will listen to any offer or idea. The aim of the experiment is to see whether this unstructured approach to work is sustainable and personally more fulfilling."

Not content with that Andy found himself twiddling his thumbs and noticing that his Twitter followership was still only around 500 despite pretty decent networking. 

So he put out a message to appeal to his next 100 Twitter followers, promising something good.

Here's what he says happens: 

"Within minutes I'd amassed well over the 100 followers I needed for the project and was hit by a wave on enthusiasm, constructive comment, sharing and interest. 

I was pretty taken aback and I now had a responsibility to deal with it all!"

Having identified the first 100 followers he sent an introductory tweet asking

"How can I support you?"

  And within 72 hours Andy had etablished #100connections, a bubbling community of talent and goodwill, exchanging ideas and support between each other - the Twitter equivalent of the barn-raising scene in Witness, the whole village pulling together to build a barn in a day.

He's gathered more support for this community from his discussions at the Culturevist event this week, with a like-minded bunch who put culture before the tasks of an organisation. 

What a great paradox. Someone who appears consciously to be NonBelonging, is working to several of our core principles of Belonging:

- Purpose (test whether he can go a year outside the usual structures of work and still make a living)

- Ethos (fairness, hardwork, openness, spirit of adventure)

- Community (offering support)

- Camaraderie (easy exchange, wanting success for each other in the team)

- Appreciation (recognising value, openly acknowledging help)

I'm intrigued. What does he belong to? Himself, or everything, or nothing?

So I'll be catching up with Andy later this month to find out what Belonging means to him and how his experience relates to our research - watch this BelongingSpace for an update.

Wishing Andy every success with his adventure. What a refreshing inspiration for a Friday.

Do you want to Belong or NonBelong?

What makes Belonging work in your organisation?

Find how we can help you create a sense of Belonging.

isabel@belongingspace.com

Follow us on Twitter for #Belonging insights

@IsabelBelonging

And you can offer Andy work (within his parameters) at

andy@iamtheworkproject.com

@AndySwann

The formal and informal symbols of Belonging: Welshness in a NATO goody-bag

A powerful aspect of Belonging is in the symbols that represent identity.

Not only the formal symbols of flags, heraldry and iconic buildings. For organisations and nations, culture is revealed most in the informal symbols: What we eat, how we behave, how we greet each other.

This is one of the parameters we use at The BelongingSpace to assess Belonging and culture. We identify the way symbols are used by people and organisations to represent Belonging.

So it was interesting to see what was included, to sum up Wales and Welshness, in the goody-bag, given last Friday to world leaders going home from the NATO summit hosted in Newport, Wales.

A tough challenge. Can any list of national symbols avoid being dry and caricatured?

David Cameron said he wanted to "promote Welsh businesses and culture".

But does this modest list of items really sum up the character of Wales?

A humble basket of gifts in a willow basket, held out from the tiny Principality to the noble world leaders.  

(See full list at the end of this article.)

 

The rugby ball and the selection of Dylan Thomas were unavoidable. The natty Corgi socks are apparently The Prince of Wales’ favourite. The whisky from Penderyn - the only Welsh distillery - will chase away any maudlin tendencies. 

The digital art is a modern take on ancient landscapes. The willow, slate and gold showcase natural resources and crafts. Newport’s famous Transporter Bridge represents engineering.

And great to see UK technology in the marvellous RaspberryPi, built in Wales.

Maybe the Welshcakes hold a symbol of the Welsh psyche - pragmatic, straightforward, warm hearted: plain ingredients giving a surprisingly delicious treat.

But overall it’s a bit disappointing. Despite real commitment from craftspeople and businesses, the goody bags have undersold Welsh industry and impact.

David Cameron spoke about  

“Wales’ strong defence and aerospace sectors… fine examples of its strong heritage in craftsmanship and food too.”

But he’s made Wales look parochial.

It’s as if Myfanwy Price has pottered along her sweetshop shelves and Mrs Organ Morgan has grabbed a few things from the back of her store.

(For full Welsh flavour, hear these characters in Dylan Thomas’ poem ‘Under Milk Wood’ read by Richard Burton)

No mention, in the going-home bag, of the scale of Welsh industry and invention.

No reference to the global contribution from the other (beyond Thomas) great Welsh heroes: the actors, writers, scientists, the social reformers, Nye Bevan the pioneer of the NHS.

No sharing, in the scrumptious foods, of the diversity held within Wales strong communities.

No hint, in the presentation, of the Welsh hewn-from-granite spirit or so-straight-it’s-more-unbearably-funny sense of humour. What would Rob Brydon make of it all?

And, hang on - Welshness in a bag, and NO MUSIC?!!

Happily, the Prince of Wales treated the leaders to live performances by musicians from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, the Welsh National Opera Brass Consort, and his very own Official Harpist Hannah Stone.

But they needed a reminder to take back home.

You have not experienced Welshness (or music) till you've been engulfed in the full power of a Welsh choir singing 'Cwm Rhonda’.

(sung here heartily by Morriston Orpheus Choir)

A cliché, maybe: and a symbol worth having.

Unique singing unmatched even by the great Russian sound (stick that, Putin) or the high intellect of German conductors (sorry Mrs Merckel) or the refinement of Italian opera (mi dispiace, but it’s hard to keep up with Italian Prime Ministers).

Human voices, in richest harmony, the resonance bouncing off your heart: the essence of humanity.

Exactly what this NATO meeting - depressingly on the edge of conflict rather than unity - needed.

Sadly, one symbol of NATO's challenges at the summit was upfront on its web page in the four languages listed:

English, French, Russian, Ukrainian

An irony of language betrays the old Wales-England tension: in Cymraeg, “Cymru”means “land of fellow countrymen”; in English, “Wales” means “land of foreigners”.
Belonging and not belonging

So does the basket of goodies sum up what the people of Wales see in themselves?

Who better to ask for comment than a Welsh identity expert: Rebecca Price, MD of Frank Bright and Abel.

“What ultimately defines Welsh identity is the people. From Neil Kinnock to Tom Jones, from Rhys Ifans to my mum’s 'pillar of the local chapel' next door neighbour, we’re people with heart, gently self mocking, who never take ourselves too seriously. I am who I am, because I’m Welsh. 

 It means I’m direct, with no varnish or gloss and laugh to the toes of my shoes.”

(I was looking for a couple of lines: Rebecca, mentioning a love of language, sent me an eloquent essay on her national identity which I have published fully on the next blog) 

The formal symbol, the red Welsh dragon, sat proudly opposite the US stars and stripes on Obama's car on a visit to a Newport primary school.

And yet - for anyone proud of the interdependence of nations in the United Kingdom - while we face the possibility of losing the blue of the Scottish Saltire from the Union flag, there is no symbol of Wales represented in it.

Will we have to replace the blue with the black and yellow of the St David's flag?

Symbols in action?

The Newport summit gave a great global profile to Wales.

Will these symbols have a lasting impact?

I wonder if the leaders will wear their Welsh gold cuff links and bracelets, or keep their bathroom items in the little willow basket, or whether President Obama will throw his rugby ball across the White House lawn?

Our symbols of heritage can hold us together and stand us apart: choose them carefully.

How can organisations select symbols that really represent them?

A few tips to avoid the predictability of the Newport baskets:

-     Remember it’s in the informal symbols that culture is truly revealed

-     Look deeper than the obvious literal symbols, to richer experience

-     Look broader at both heritage and ambition, diverse perspectives

-     The simpler the better

-     Listen to the phrases used in everyday exchange

-     Bring home the senses: the simple tastes, sounds, touch, sights and smells, of every day

-     Pin down what people share, and take for granted, in their community

-     Find what makes people laugh

-     Ask people what they are most proud of

   
Or capture the fleeting moments - as with Welsh singing – in which we share common heritage and make stronger connections.

What are the symbols - formal and informal - that sum up your country?

Talk to us about how to create a sense of Belonging.

isabel@belongingspace.com

www.belongingspace.com

twitter@IsabelBelonging

Here's the full list of the NATO goody bag from WalesOnline

- Willow baskets, handcrafted using willow grown in South Wales by Caerphilly based Hatton Willow, Cardiff maker Seren Willow and Out to Learn Willow from Ogmore;

- Personalised Nato coasters made from Welsh slate made by Valley Mill;

- A commemorative piece crafted by the Royal Mint, designed by engraver Jody Clark and produced at Llantrisant;

- Locally produced Welsh cakes supplied by Celtic Manor resort;

- Cufflinks and bracelets produced using Welsh gold by Clogau jewellers;

- Honey made by Hilltop Honey in Caersws;

- Whisky bottled by the Penderyn Distillery;

- Welsh rugby balls, representing Wales’s national sport, presented by the Welsh Rugby Union;

- A book of “Selected Poems by Dylan Thomas” presented by Orion Publishing;

- Woollen journals woven by Jane Beck and Nia Hobbs in Ceredigion;

- Woollen socks produced by family-run Corgi Hosiery, based in Carmarthenshire;

- Prints of a photograph of Newport Transporter Bridge taken by Pradip Kotecha, which won the Iconic Newport photography competition presented by the competition’s organisers, University of South Wales;

- Framed prints of iPad paintings of “400 iconic views of Newport” by artist Joseph Anthony Connor;

- A Sony Raspberry Pi credit-card sized computer, built at Pencoed, near Bridgend;

- Taylors Welsh Crisps, made from potatoes ‘born and raised in Wales’;

- Fudge created by Eboni ac eifori in Pwllheli, and the Fudge Fairy sweet shop in Caldicot;

- Chocolates and sweets handmade by Michelin trained pastry chef Beverly Reed, from Creative Food in Newport;

- Ties from Port Talbot based First Corporate Clothing; and

- Bags from Red Hat Printing in Newport, produced by Ralawise in North Wales and Weston Mill.

A message from the Prime Minister inside the gift basket reads: “During this summit you will see many examples of Wales’ strong defence and aerospace sectors. Here are some fine examples of its strong heritage in craftsmanship and food too.

“From the poems of Dylan Thomas and the craftsmanship of the Royal Mint to produce being made today in Wales, I hope you will enjoy each of these gifts and be inspired by them to find out about all that Wales has to offer.”

Find more on our work on Belonging at www.belongingspace.com