Skip to main content
Commsy creative stuff straight to your inbox

Blog

Levers of belonging

< Blog home

Levers of belonging

Three, two, one, pull!

“A lever is a tool you can use to make moving toward your goal easier.” 

What does this have to do with belonging?

In her wonderfully creative book, Design for Belonging, Susie Wise lives up to her name by drawing on various scholars, theorists and activists to explore nine different levers that we can work with (or rather, pull on) to help build and bring about belonging:

  • Space
  • Roles
  • Events
  • Rituals
  • Grouping
  • Communications
  • Clothing
  • Food
  • Schedules and rhythms

When considered thoughtfully at work, school, home or out in the community, these tools can cultivate inclusive environments and positive experiences, create meaningful moments and encourage self-expression. 

How? 

Let’s find out by taking a closer look at six of Susie’s levers of belonging… 

 

Space

“Space is used to construct who is in and who is out.” 

Space can be designed to be welcoming and inclusive, or it can be a barrier, stopping people from showing up and squashing their creativity. 

Susie cites the Magical Bridge Playground in California as a good example of an inclusive, multi-layered environment. Like the playground, we can go further than our legal obligations. 'Space can be designed to be welcoming and inclusive, or it can be a barrier, stopping people from showing up and squashing their creativity' wording in green circle illustration

Spaces send signals; outfitting your workspaces to enable easy access for people with different kinds of bodies, mobility and assistive devices, and introducing different ways of learning and thinking, can have a huge impact. 

Questions to ponder: 

  • Who could benefit from a space designed to reduce stimulation? 
  • What virtual spaces work best for your team, and what tools could you introduce to assist hybrid working? 
  • Is the furniture in your office moveable and is it laid out in a way that invites conversation and collaboration? 
  • How can we make people’s homes more comfortable for work?  

 

Roles

“Because every role is designed, new roles can be designed to foster belonging.” 

Whether you’re hiring an equity diversity and inclusion practitioner or seeking consultancy in this space, understanding the purpose of these roles in practice is key. Susie’s advice is to start by evaluating the roles you currently have, to identify what you might need. These could be formal, named or claimed roles.

Questions to ponder:

  • What additional responsibilities are which people being burdened with, are there any patterns? 
  • In which areas and levels of the business do people lack a sense of belonging?
  • Collect stories, not just data. What do they tell you about people’s experiences in their roles?
  • What role could you try out, to shift and improve team dynamics?

 

Events

“Event design is about crafting an experience … to design them for inclusion and belonging raises the bar.”

Events have the potential to produce harmful experiences of othering and exclusion, that’s why we must make belonging the central premise from which everything else builds. 

Whether it’s to raise money, solve a problem, say hello or say goodbye, Susie says it’s vital that you’re clear about the purpose of your event – simply sending the invite is not enough because different people may require different communications to feel welcome and wanted. 

Questions to ponder: 

  • Think about the method of invitation. Is it via a channel everyone’s engaged with?
  • Think about the when and where. Whether it’s virtual or in person, have you considered work schedules, family commitments and religious practices? 
  • How can you make the event as accessible as possible? 
  • Do the speakers, panellists or hosts represent the people you’re trying to reach? 

 

Communications 

“We are always sending explicit and implicit messages about who belongs and who doesn’t.”

Communications can be crafted to invite people in, and visual representation has a role to play in this. Building belonging is as much about eradicating exclusion as it is elevating inclusion. For example, Susie references the #ILookLikeAnEngineer campaign, which responds to a lack of representation in the field by spotlighting women of colour. 'Communications can be crafted to invite people in, and visual representation has a role to play in this' wording in mid green illustration

Questions to ponder: 

  • Have you represented the people you want to engage? 
  • What channels work best for which individuals, groups, teams or communities? 
  • What real life stories could you tell to offer a more powerful message of belonging? 
  • Gather feedback about your communications. What changes will you make as a result?

 

Food 

“Breaking bread together is a communal act that often equates with belonging.” 

At Alive, we believe food has the power to bring people together; that’s why we’re creating a collaborative comms cookbook to share with the comms community. 

Susie also appreciates the significance of mealtimes and uses The Big Table in Columbus, Ohio, as an example of its power. This event gives over 10,000 people a seat at the table and encourages connection, creativity and conversation over a meal. 

Questions to ponder: 

  • Food helps create moments that matter. What food means a lot to you and why? 
  • Is there an opportunity to virtually bring together different colleagues at lunchtime? 
  • Preparing and sharing food for others is a way of expressing culture, heritage and nationality. Could your next work event be a potluck? 
  • What other creative outlets encourage people to share stories and express themselves? 

 

Schedules and rhythms 

“Schedules can be the beating heart of an organisation, but only if they are designed to support people and their needs.”

Schedules help set up days and times for connecting, sharing, learning – all of which support belonging. Ensuring everyone has a regular opportunity to participate is key. 'Schedules help set up days and times for connecting, sharing, learning – all of which support belonging. Ensuring everyone has a regular opportunity to participate is key' wording in blue and green illustration

We can also use schedules and rhythms to disrupt routine and switch things up – this can spark excitement and creativity! 

Questions to ponder: 

  • Is there a different, more creative space you could hold your next project meeting?
  • What curveball or quirky question could you start your morning call with? 
  • Who does your current schedule prioritise and are there any timetabled events that consistently exclude certain people? 
  •  How could your schedule better reflect the needs of your employees and community? 

Experimenting with these different levers of belonging requires a foundation of trust and psychological safety. Understanding which of these areas is most important for your team is vital to building belonging in your organisation; so connect, have conversations, run workshops and be prepared to respond and react to feedback. 

 

Design for Belonging by Susie Wise is packed with plenty of thought-provoking examples, ideas and activities – grab yourself a copy to explore more levers of belonging! 

“Use the levers to truly change the way people experience the world.”

By Lauren Castle

“The guys at Alive understand the complexities of our business which means we don’t need to explain the detail of every project or design piece – they’re already on it, which keeps things moving and delivers the results we need.”

Emily Stoten — Head of Marketing, Selecta

“I feel like they own and care for the project as much as we do! I would not use anyone else for my creative work and think Alive is ahead of the game.”

Jo Hobbs — Communications Manager

“Thanks for all your help. We are delighted with the campaign, both in terms of the creativity and messaging but also the thought taken over the rollout of the materials. All looks absolutely fabulous!”

Sarah Crowdy — Campaign and Media Officer Communications, South East Water

“We went to ‘Alive’ for ideas on how to run a specific employee program in Europe. Alan and his team were brilliant in coming up with fresh, creative and practical approaches. The team took charge and executed brilliantly. We are pleased with the progress made so far and hope to have the same level of partnership and commitment going forward.”

Sobha Varghese — Tata Consultancy Services

“‘The short animation developed in co-production with clinicians and young people is outstanding! Informative, developmentally appropriate, vitally fun and engaging. We are really grateful for the expertise of the Alive with Ideas team for their innovative approach in building children’s health literacy.'”

Kath Evans — Director of Children’s Nursing at Barts Health

“Our mission was to update the DASA brand visuals to better reflect our innovative and forward-thinking organisation. After receiving numerous pitches from different branding agencies, Alive stood out with their clear passion and understanding of our identity and goals. We thoroughly enjoyed working with the Alive Team who provided expert guidance and injected some much needed creativity into the project; resulting in an accessible and engaging new brand that we are immensely proud of.

Thank you again for all the work you have done with us!”

Lianne Springer — Communications and Engagement Lead - Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA)

“Alive wowed us during the pitch process and they didn’t stop wowing us throughout the whole project. Every person we worked with at Alive were so friendly, knowledgeable and clearly passionate about what they do. They have worked with us to really understand what we do and have created a new brand and website that really stands out from our competitors. Thank you!”

Louise Burnard, Head of Marketing and Communications UK — Be | Shaping the Future

“I think the team have done such a brilliant job, particularly with responding to our requests. It's one of the best mental health videos I've ever seen. Very proud to be associated with your exemplary work. Thank you so much.”

Dr Anna Batho — Clinical Psychologist – Critical Care, UCLH

“We have worked with Alan, Caroline and the wider Alive With Ideas team for many years. In that time, they have provided a dedicated service that is second to none. We appreciate their attention to detail and creative approach to bringing our brand, communications and stories to life. And would recommend them to anyone looking for creative communications support.”

Georgia Beech — Internal Communications Specialist, Ocado Group

“This is brilliant. I wanted to give my heartfelt thanks to all of the team who worked on this. You all understood exactly what we wanted to communicate and why, and then managed to do it in a way that was far better than anything I could have imagined. I’m a bit choked up to be honest!”

Sarah Wright, Head of Communications and Campaigns — NEA

“Each time I work with the team, I am always stunned at the effort and creativity that goes into each detail and am always eager for the end result. The team is extremely accommodating and always provide a fresh approach to our projects that elevates our communications materials!”

Alana Khaytin, Communications Specialist — Braskem America

“What I really appreciate about Alive is that they work with us as partners, and care as much about getting it right for our patients as we do.”

Sara Langston, Patient Engagement & Marketing Manager — italk

“Alive are unique in how much they deeply listen and invest in you and your ideas. I have not come across a company that listens as much as they do to ensure your needs are understood and met (actually - they always exceed my needs and expectations). Everyone I recommend Alive to has an equally brilliant experience. When you work with Alive, you are not only getting some genius creativity brought into your life, you are also hanging out with some of the best examples of human beings I’ve ever known.”

Steph Tranter, Hybrid Exec Coach & Psychologist — StephTranter.com

“Alive helped us create a video of our response to the floods of winter 2019. Our Chief Officer received messages from all round the country praising us for it and was really pleased with both the video and the response to it.”

Alexander Mills, Communications Manager — South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

“Alive were professional, friendly and great to work with. Most importantly they were creative, helping us to bring an extremely important safety campaign to life.”

Jack Grasby — South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

“The (Alive) team were able to creatively pull together and document (in just over 2minutes) everything our service has achieved over the last few months, from thousands of prescriptions deliveries to hundreds of phone calls made to the vulnerable. The final product was so powerful and reflective of what our service has and continues to achieve. It couldn’t have been better received within the service – thanks Alive for once again helping us to communicate our vision!’”

Emma Wright — South Yorkshire & Rescue

“We worked with the team at Alive to create our staff recognition video.
At a time like this, its never been more important to share the amazing work that our staff have done and continue to do on a daily basis under very difficult circumstances. We wanted to shout about this and recognise that when the time came, South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue stepped up to the plate. We didn’t want an ordinary thank you post on social media or a basic email sent out internally, we wanted something special. Enter Alive. ”

Emma Wright — South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

“This looks amazing - brought a smile to my face scrolling through it :-)”

Jack Ford, Head of Marketing — streamGO

“Our company is fun, we have great brands, but most importantly we’re all about our people – and I wanted an agency who would understand that and help us bring it to life through our website and other comms. Straight away I felt that Alive ‘got’ us and provided the creative inspiration exactly where we needed it, as well as the technical expertise to deliver a well-functioning website.”

Keren McCarron, Head of Corporate Affairs & Communications — KP Snacks

“Boom!
Thank you so much. Incredible work done at incredible speed by incredible people.
Outstanding work as ever and what a turnaround. As for the concepts – wow. These are that good it would be an insult to describe them as just good. It’s a joke, quite frankly. This is exactly the Alive effect I was after. Right now I feel like I am living in an Alive With Ideas wonderland. Thank you!”

Jack Grasby, Campaigns Manager — SYFR

“If you are looking to improve creativity and build teamwork, I highly recommend a session like this for your team. No matter where you are in your creativity journey, a workshop like this can give your team a boost of energy and ideas to invigorate their creative thinking.”

Amy Lilja, IC Manager — Hennepin Healthcare

“Alive were there to help when we were working every hour to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. They gave us the creativity, ideas and support we needed to deliver campaigns which empowered our residents in the most difficult time most of us have ever seen, personally and professionally. The team understood what we needed, worked closely with us and delivered fast without any compromise on quality. Working with Alive has been a joy in the darkest of times and I have no doubt will have helped to save lives. Thanks team x”

Julie Odams, Assistant Director of Communications & Customers — Derbyshire County Council

“We got 'Alive' involved to help us shift mindsets across our organisation and they delivered! Using simple, clear and creative ideas the team have delivered us a campaign which has seen a dramatic increase in idea sharing and development. They’ve also played a significant role in creating a culture of shared success. I wouldn’t hesitate to work with again, in fact, we already are!”

Gavin Buckle — B&Q
Alive logo