Tenet Round-up: The Belonging Issue 📰
A round-up of content about the most important value of Oddball Leadership.
Oddball Leadership is marked by four core values: belonging, gratitude, curiosity, and joy. Here's a round-up of past posts based on each value. And — if you're ready to level up your leadership skills — there are some open-ended questions at the end of the post for you to ponder this week!
First up: Belonging. The value from where everything else grows. After all, a team that can't exist authentically can't access gratitude, curiosity, or joy. They're too busy bracing for impact.
Let's dig in. 👇🏻
THE BELONGING READING LIST
- Seen. Heard. Valued. What ensuring psychological safety actually requires of you as a leader, and why cookie-cutter approaches to team culture consistently fall flat.
- The Leadership Skill We Don't Measure. A practice more challenging than active listening — active presence — can only take root in a place that feels psychologically safe.
- Workplace Grace. This one gets into the mechanics: how you handle conflict, correction, and the very human mess of working alongside people without blowing up the safety you've worked to build.
- "I'm Sorry." What a real apology looks and sounds like — and why leaning into your mistakes instead of deflecting them is one of the most belonging-forward things you can do.
QUESTIONS TO SIT WITH THIS WEEK
Before you go back to your daily routine, try one of these on for size:
- When have you felt the most genuine sense of belonging at work — and what did the leader or culture do (or not do) to make that possible?
- If someone on your team were asked right now whether they feel psychologically safe, what do you think they'd say? What's your evidence?
- Where in your own leadership — or in the culture around you — do you see belonging treated as a platitude instead of a practice? What can you do to influence more intentional belonging?
If you have any thoughts about these questions, or would like to share your answers, I think it would be awesome to hear from you. Just drop me a line at bri@oddballleadership.com.
Next week? Gratitude.
And yes, it goes way beyond the pizza party. 🍕
Posts linked above are available in full to Oddball Leadership subscribers. Free and paid memberships are available at OddballLeadership.com — come hang out with us! 💖
