From Performative to Powerful: The Path to Real Belonging
We’ve all seen it: the perfectly curated diversity post on social media, the inclusive mission statement on the website, the celebratory email during Pride, Black History Month, or International Women’s Day.
The optics are polished. The language is inclusive. But something still feels off.
Because sometimes, inclusion is more performance than practice.
And when that happens, when people can feel the disconnect between what’s being said and what’s being lived, the damage runs deeper than silence. It erodes trust.
So let’s talk about it. Let’s talk about performative inclusion, how to recognize it, and most importantly, what real belonging actually looks and feels like.
The Difference Between Inclusion and Belonging
Inclusion is the invite. Belonging is what happens after you walk through the door.
Inclusion says, “You’re welcome here.” Belonging says, “You’re needed here.”
The first is about access. The second is about acceptance, influence, and voice. And yet, too many workplaces stop at inclusion as a checkbox, focusing on representation without ever re-examining the systems, mindsets, and cultures that people are being invited into.
When inclusion is performative, it often looks like:
Celebrating diversity but never promoting it.
Hiring for optics but excluding them from decision-making.
Asking for input but never acting on it.
Featuring faces but silencing voices.
It’s surface-level inclusion without structural change.
And people feel it. You can’t fake belonging.
Performative Inclusion Feels Like...
Being invited to the meeting, but not being heard in it.
Being asked to represent, but not to lead.
Being visible in marketing materials, but invisible in leadership decisions.
Being expected to educate others, but rarely supported yourself.
Performative inclusion often demands emotional labor from marginalized groups without offering psychological safety, power, or real opportunity in return. It’s exhausting, disheartening, and unsustainable.
And here’s the hard truth: it’s not enough to look inclusive. You have to be inclusive, deeply, intentionally, consistently.
What Real Belonging Looks Like
Belonging is more than a feeling, it’s a structure. A culture. A commitment.
Here’s what it looks like in action:
Psychological safety. People feel safe to speak up, take risks, and share perspectives without fear of judgment or punishment.
Equity in access and opportunity. Not just being present in the room but being given the same tools, resources, and chances to grow and lead.
Celebration without tokenization. Appreciating identity and difference without making people feel like they are the only one or a spokesperson for their group.
Voices that shape, not just echo. Diverse perspectives are central to strategy and direction not an afterthought or checkbox.
Cultural humility. Leaders acknowledge that they don’t know everything. They listen. They unlearn. They evolve.
Belonging Is Built, Not Bought
You can’t workshop your way into belonging. You build it in the small, consistent, courageous choices that prioritize people over performance.
That means asking hard questions:
Do our actions match our values?
Who’s in the room and who’s still missing?
Who gets the mic, the raise, the credit, the promotion?
What’s being rewarded and what’s being ignored?
And it means being brave enough to sit in the discomfort of the answers.
Because real inclusion isn’t comfortable. It disrupts. It challenges. It stretches your systems and your ego. But that’s the point.
Comfort doesn’t create change, courage does.
So, What Now?
If you want to move from performative inclusion to real belonging, here are five places to start:
Listen actively and respond meaningfully. Invite feedback and do something with it. Acknowledge harm. Share progress. Be accountable.
Audit your culture honestly. Where are the blind spots? Who’s thriving, and who’s surviving? Who’s choosing to stay silent and why?
Invest in leadership from underrepresented voices. Not just mentorship. Not just visibility. Power. Budget. Decision-making. Real influence.
Build systems that scale inclusion. Create policies, rituals, and norms that make belonging a default, not a rare exception.
Model the change, especially at the top. Belonging is a leadership responsibility. If it’s not being lived by those in power, it won’t be believed by those without it.
Belonging Isn’t a Trend—It’s a Promise
A promise that says: you don’t have to conform to be accepted. You don’t have to code-switch to be respected. You don’t have to shrink to make others comfortable.
You get to show up fully and still rise.
That’s the culture people crave. That’s what drives retention, innovation, and purpose. And that’s what the best organizations are building, not for PR, but for people.
So let’s stop performing inclusion and start practicing belonging. Every day, in every meeting, with every voice.
Because when people feel like they belong, they don’t just stay.
They shine.
Have a story about when you felt included or excluded? A moment of real belonging or real discomfort? I’d love to hear it. Let’s grow from it, together.
We’re ready to serve you!
Ricardo Molina
RM Leadership Academy