Workplace belonging is a powerful driver of performance. Over the years, dozens of high-profile studies have shown that diverse teams and high-belonging cultures can deliver sustainable growth, improved decision-making, and robust leadership pipelines, while being more enjoyable to work in. All things considered, belonging should be non-negotiable.
To mark LGBTQIA+ History Month, Robert Half’s BELONG UK network held a webinar exploring how belonging can lead to stronger teams and better business results, featuring fintech entrepreneur, executive coach, and former standup comedian Julia Streets, MBE.
Julia began her career in the typing pool at Price Waterhouse and her fast paced, highly successful career took her all the way to serve on the executive committee of the technology business of the New York Stock Exchange some fifteen years later. She now runs Streets Consulting—a business she founded 18 years ago—and is an inclusion advocate and hosted the DiverCity Podcast for 18 seasons, interviewing hundreds of guests.
She shared how workplace belonging can lead to high-performing teams and client relationships; which leadership behaviours foster trust and inclusion; and how recruitment and culture intersect to strengthen workplaces.
1. Create psychologically safe environments to unleash true potential
Creating an environment in which everyone feels a sense of belonging allows all workers to feel like a “legitimate component” of the organisation. Moreover, Julia points out just how much energy—and therefore productivity—a person can waste when they’re focused on self-protection and maintaining their psychological safety at work rather than thriving.
“Every minute that we don't feel like we're belonging, we're actually undermining our potential, but also our contribution. And, as organisations, why would you not want to have every single employee turning up and just going, ‘You know what? I’m happy to be here. I feel like I've got a contribution to make. And I really want to thrive, not survive,’” she says.
2. View belonging as a commercial performance lever
Julia points out that the commercial reality of high-belonging cultures—namely, stronger revenue, growth, and profitability—is well worth leaning into. Studies by McKinsey, Bain, and others have tied inclusion and belonging to long‑term performance, making it more of a profit-and-loss issue than an HR one.
“[The Human Rights Campaign] have proven that companies with stronger inclusion practices will deliver that stronger revenue growth and profitability,” she says. “The research is still proving the value of leaning in and ensuring that you don't take your eye off the
belonging narrative. It's also important that, within your organisation, you support those in control of your P&Ls and ultimately have to deliver the performance.”
3. Replace unconscious biases with curiosity
The truth is that we all have biases, and businesses can’t hope to create psychological safety and shift culture in a meaningful way without leadership understanding the importance of taking action to confront their own biases.
“So, I say to D&I professionals within organisations, that's where your role steps in. In helping people to get curious, helping them to learn, and then helping them to lead. And how do you lead very diverse organisations? Well, the greatest starting point is to show up at your ERGs and to listen,” she says.
“Go and truly, truly, deeply listen and observe. And then ask the questions, because your ERG and your DNI individuals will help you. So, really get curious, be conscious of what's going on, and then also be very, very mindful of what's actually at play around you.”
4. Understand the relationship between representation and better decisions, products, and pipelines
There’s quantifiable benefit in having a diverse range of lived experiences and voices at all levels within an organisation. It opens the door for a 360-degree approach to decision-making and strategy that goes beyond the binary.
“People are developing apps and banking services and financial services, and they're doing it at a great pace, but not all of it is fit for our disability community,” says Julia. “By having some disabled representation—visible and invisible—at your table when you are designing that application, your uplift could be huge, because there is a part of your community who will not only use your banking services but will advocate for you.”
Moreover, younger workers are much more likely to leave an organisation that doesn’t align with their values or demonstrate inclusive leadership. Julia says, “[Gen Z] are going to vote with their feet, and they are very clear about what matters to them in terms of purpose. So, if they feel they don't belong, or see that their peer group or senior leaders aren't being represented well, or indeed may be leaving, it sends a massive signal, and they will vote with their feet. What does that mean? In three to five years, your pipeline of succession talent is going to be, in my view, severely compromised.”
5. Taking a long-term view of workplace belonging
Julia believes that today’s inclusion choices will shape tomorrow’s performance. Although some organisations may currently be taking a step back from being publicly vocal about DEI in the current political climate, she advises that truly ‘enlightened’ leaders aren’t rolling back inclusivity behind the scenes because of the opportunities it offers.
She says, “One of the things that gives me the greatest hope is that the most enlightened leaders are taking that longer-term view. So, when we think about how to drive the performance of our business, we're always thinking about the sustainability of our companies. When we think about the current narrative, we ask, ‘What is our longer-term view?’ And that is where the biggest opportunity lies. What do we do today, tomorrow, next quarter, next year, that is going to sustain the success of our company?”
“For me, that is the thing that really opened my eyes, that I will hold onto when we think about leadership and opportunity. That is going to sustain our businesses and also make the work you are doing matter, at a time when we may be feeling a little bit underwhelmed. For me, that is the big thing that we should all hang on to.”
