Over the past few years, belonging has become one of the most used words in organisational life. Strategies promise it, surveys measure it and leaders talk about creating cultures where everyone belongs. That is a good thing. But in its work with organisations across sectors, Inclusivitii keeps noticing something quieter sitting underneath it: people can belong and still feel they do not matter.
What is the difference?
Psychologist Isaac Prilleltensky describes mattering as two things working together: feeling valued and adding value.
Someone can be invited to every meeting, included in every team social and named in every organisation chart, and still leave each day feeling invisible. Their ideas are heard but not acted on. Their expertise is acknowledged but not sought. They are in the room, but the room would carry on the same without them.
Belonging opens the door. Mattering is what makes people want to stay and give their best.
Why this matters for inclusion
For many colleagues from marginalised groups, this is a familiar experience. Organisations can be very good at representation and welcome, and much less good at influence and recognition. When that gap persists, people disengage, stop offering ideas and eventually leave, often while the belonging scores still look healthy.
Mattering also shines a light on services and communities. A community can be consulted and still not matter if nothing changes as a result. This is why Inclusivitii places such weight on genuine co-production and lived experience panels: involvement only counts when it shapes decisions.
What leaders can do
- Notice people: ask what they are working on and what they need, and remember the answer.
- Close the loop: when someone contributes an idea, tell them what happened to it, even if the answer is no.
- Seek out expertise: ask for people's views because you need them, not because you need to be seen asking.
- Share credit visibly: name contributions in the spaces where recognition shapes careers.
- Measure both: alongside "I feel I belong", ask "I feel my contribution makes a difference here".
The shift
Organisations that pay attention to both belonging and mattering build cultures where people are not only welcome, but genuinely valued, and where that value shows up in decisions, opportunities and outcomes.