Design For Belonging: How to Build Inclusive Workplaces | Susie Wise

When people don’t feel like they belong at work, their performance and well-being suffer. But, when individuals can be their authentic selves, the benefits for both the employee and the workplace are substantial. So what can organizations do to help promote belonging and inclusion in the workplace?

Dr. Susie Wise studies, writes, and teaches how levers of design like roles, events, and spaces can be used to foster feelings of belonging and reduce othering in organizations and beyond.

In this episode, Dart and Susie talk about Susie’s book, Design for Belonging, moments of belonging like code-switching, invitation, diverging, and exiting, and how leaders can design belonging into the workplace.

Topics Include:
- Stories of belonging
- Contexts of belonging
- Othering and alienation
- Design as a path to belonging
- Design neglect
- Levers of belonging
- The importance of descent
- Impacts and effects of systems
- Who designs experiences
- And other topics…

Dr. Susie Wise is a designer with experience in education, tech, and the social sector. She coaches leaders in innovation practices, liberatory design, and storytelling for inclusion. She founded and led the d.school's K12 Lab, catalyzing national projects like School Retool and the Shadow a Student Challenge.

She is also a co-creator of Liberatory Design. Susie teaches at the d.school at Stanford University and coaches with the Mira Fellowship. She lives with her family and their dog Hijiki in Oakland, CA, USA. Susie is the author of Designing for Belonging, where Susie explains how to use simple levers of design to set the stage for belonging to emerge.

Resources Mentioned:
Designing for Belonging: https://www.designforbelonging.com/ 

Work with Dart:
Dart is the CEO and co-founder of the work design firm 11fold. Build work that makes employees feel alive, connected to their work, and focused on what’s most important to the business. Book a call at 11fold.com.