Wheel of Belonging: Building a World through Deep Empathy With Naomi Clare Crellin
📑 Chapters
00:00 Story Highlight
03:49 The Story Behind Storycraft Lab
07:09 The Google Artemis Exhibit
12:13 The Wheel of Belonging
18:23 Designing for Belonging and Connection
23:45 LOVE & appreciation as belonging
24:52 Cultivating Leadership of Belonging
27:07 Business Benefits of Belonging
30:40 Belonging as an Essential Nutrient
33:03 Conversation Recap
34:39 Naomi's MAGIC
36:27 Belonging via Shared Experiences
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MAGICademy Podcast (00:00)
freedom to be, actually began with people expressing to us an emotional state of anxiety or skepticism or fear for one reason or another as they were approaching an event. You know, will I fit in here? Do I belong? To build trust, to allow for full expression and ultimately a sense that people are welcomed and
able to succeed just as they are, they are free to be themselves within an experience. There's a lot of activation all the way along this love and appreciation pathway. So people were talking about welcoming, valuing, being loved and appreciated. There's a term called belonging uncertainty, which is just as damaging as a feeling of not belonging, right? So if you're in this space of uncertainty,
and constantly questioning. Do I belong? You know, that can be harmful to individuals. Ultimately that's harmful to organizations and businesses as well. So imagine a future where, you know, we consider belonging as an essential nutrient to our flourishing and growth that is part of the recipe that we put together for ourselves on a daily basis. And if we've got
100 % of our vitamin C and vitamin D and vitamin K and iron, how much do we have of belonging? What do I need to put that into?
Jiani (01:39)
Welcome to MAGICademy podcast. Today with us is Naomi, the founder of Storycraft Lab, an innovative lab that leverages its research -based frameworks diagnostic tools technologies creativity and magic to help people develop and experience innovative ways to experience
topics that they want. they did a project with Google Experience Lab They are also innovators of audience profiles and and wheel of belongings So today we're going to talk about how do we actually, from a story builder's perspective, craft
stories and experiences and actually leverage consistent ways to empathize with our people, with the audience, with the talent to craft that amazing experience, no matter if it's in person or if it's in a virtual reality. So, so great to have you Naomi to join us today.
Naomi Crellin (02:44)
Thank Chiani, it's lovely to be here with you.
Jiani (02:47)
Wonderful. So I think the first question is an imaginative one. so beep beep, a spaceship just landed and out walked a friendly alien seems harmless And how would you introduce yourself to this cute creature?
Naomi Crellin (03:05)
cute. I do like the fact that it's a cute alien. Thank you for that. That will shape the way that I approach it. So, you know, I would begin by describing myself as a mother and as an educator, as somebody that is passionate about teaching
Jiani (03:08)
That's important, I think.
Naomi Crellin (03:26)
Helping others succeed, you know, that's something that I love to do in life. It brings me great joy and energy when I see other people step into their full potential.
Yeah, I'm not sure what the alien would do with that information.
Jiani (03:42)
It's beautiful. I don't know either.
What does our audience think? Wonderful. So for Storycraft Lab, what was the story behind it? When was the moment that you think, okay, it's time for me to give birth to the Storycraft Lab so we can help more people?
Naomi Crellin (03:49)
you
Yeah, yeah.
No.
Well, was, there were a few different things that were happening in my life. I had been working agency side and not necessarily feeling that I was fitting into traditional definitions of what a leader would be, you know, at that time.
the industry was even more.
Creative directors tended to be male more than female, the majority of the time. the progression just wasn't happening as naturally as I wanted. And just didn't feel that sense of belonging within any particular organization. So long story short, I decided that I needed to create
the space that worked for me as my true and authentic self and allowed me to be a leader and creative and a mother and an educator and do all of the things that I believed were important in the world of experience design. So I decided
create that space for myself. then initially when I set up Storycraft, it was really just, it was me and maybe one or two other contractors. central to the idea was balancing this book of business on the one side, it was working with museums and this kind of like deep narrative content experiences.
and the journeys and the work that the museum curatorial teams would do to sit with their understanding of audience, often over a development timeline of many years. And then on the other side of my book of business was experiential design. And so I continued to support agencies as an independent person, thinking about the
creative experience creation generation, Imagining and ideating and that timeline tended to move very, very quickly. So I was looking at ways in which really we could bring the thoughtfulness around audience experience on the museum side.
bring that into the world of experience design to make it more meaningful at this kind of speed and scale that it needed to, to function within those parameters to benefit experience design. And then for the museum and the narrative content experiences to benefit from what I was seeing and learning and practicing in experience design, which is much more immersive and agile
Jiani (06:47)
yes.
Naomi Crellin (06:49)
very kind of quick development and testing, rapid learnings, right? So that was where the idea of story craft and lab kind of came together, these kind of intersectional spaces where you've got on the one hand the thinking component, on the other hand, the
Jiani (07:06)
Yes. Yes, yes, yes.
read about your story. There's like a NASA one. There's a Google experience one. There's like multiple many other ones. What was the most memorable?
Naomi Crellin (07:13)
Hmm.
Yeah, I think you've just named
the two that come to mind. Just in terms of like for me on my journey, wow, you know, we've really kind of reached a place where this is touching people and Hammy's out there in the world in an incredible way. And one was the Artemis exhibit design that we created for NASA.
used our quiz, the experience profiles to develop a custom version for them that had this engagement. It allowed people to see themselves as a part of the Artemis team. And that was part of the Ask for NASA. that they were looking for new ways to reach traditionally underserved audiences and have them kind of really understand how.
how they relate to the work of NASA, which can otherwise seem very far removed from the day to day. So the storytelling exhibit, they're focused on suited and booted, right? So we asked people to take the quiz and find out what their role on Team Artemis would be.
Jiani (08:16)
Yes.
Naomi Crellin (08:23)
We did a series of interviews. This is part of our process at Storycraft. We begin with a lot of interviews and the research and the listening to generate the recommendations that we make. So they're very strategically informed. One of the quotes that really resonated with us from those interviews was that the ground systems team at NASA says, we're the boots on the ground that are putting the boots on the moon.
Right? So this whole narrative idea of boots and the boots that we wear and the boots that we step into became the vehicle that we use to allow people to feel connected with the Artemis mission. So they would take the quiz to find out the boots that they would wear for Artemis mission.
Jiani (09:09)
Hahaha
Naomi Crellin (09:11)
and you know there were and there are you know in terms of spacesuit designs there are different types of boots you know you've got landing boots and you've got ground boots and you've got space boots and you've got moon boots all of these boots are very specifically designed for different roles so seeing
Jiani (09:23)
Hahaha
Do
they take different quizzes to fit into the types of boots or do they choose their own boots?
Naomi Crellin (09:34)
Yeah.
now with all of these quizzes, people can self identify so they can, we usually make sure that there's a description around it so that folks that don't want to be told can read through and self determine. But the quiz will ask them a series of questions around what they're excited about and what content they like and how they see themselves within a team
Jiani (09:41)
that's great.
Naomi Crellin (09:59)
relate to other people and then the results would give them a set of boots. what's lovely about that is that it also helps.
provide people with a journey from that point on. And at NASA, the exhibit itself that we designed and delivered was just within a 20 by 20 footprint. So it was relatively small. No, it was a bit bigger than that. It was about 30 by 30. But still, it's a contained space.
universe of content that is available through NASA is just ginormous. So it was really kind of recommending, you know, if you're the ground boost, then let's have you start here with this content where you can learn about the work of NASA and learn about the work of the Artemis mission and intent. Or if you've got a different type of result, you would be pointed to a different content journey.
So while spatially, you know, it was a relatively small footprint in terms of content and the depth and the distance to which people could go with that. It gave them a place to begin because that can be kind of overwhelming for folks. You know, where do I begin learning about this topic?
So that was amazing to see. It was in 2021 that took off there. So kind pandemic times. But we saw it launch at Comic -Con, which was amazing in San Diego. And it went on to travel the United States. There was a really kind of
activation of just a selfie opportunity where people could step into their boots and they got their NASA boots pins from taking the quiz and they were able to share all of that online, which was quite a departure from the traditional method of storytelling for NASA. So that was, gosh, that was an amazing one. And just.
So much credit goes to Katie Mull on my team, who's our VP of Creative Strategy, who did just brilliant work on that project, along with many others on the team. That was a wonderful one. And then the Wheel of Belonging manifesting at Google's Experience Institute, Exide Days, was another moment where
Jiani (12:13)
I love that.
Naomi Crellin (12:24)
I felt that we were creating real value for the experience, yeah, with.
Jiani (12:29)
And why Wheel of Belonging out of all the other topics that's out there? Yeah, why Wheel Belonging?
Naomi Crellin (12:34)
Yeah.
Well, we started our work with Google's Experience Institute to help them better understand evolving techno -social norms. And that's something that we again do through research, through interviews, through social listening, through survey tours. And that was where we had initially collaborated with them to test out the experience profiles as a tool for personalization based
preference rather than demographic segmentation. In the process of doing our research there, we kept hearing in the interview references to this idea of belonging. And we heard it with such frequency and such volume, really, that the team at Google's Experience Institute said,
We'd like you to dig into this a little bit further and to understand it better for us so that we can start to draw some dotted and potentially direct lines between belonging and experience, right? And how we can create those things with intention. So we did this through the act of storytelling or story sharing.
really. We asked people to tell us stories of moments where they had experienced belonging, what belonging meant to them, what the result of that experience of belonging produced for them. And we found through those conversations that belonging is not a binary thing. It is absolutely a journey that people go on, you
There's a beginning state that people would talk about. You know, at the beginning I was feeling this or I was sensing another thing or I had this intention and this hope for an experience. And then the following set of moments occurred, these touch points on their journey that allowed them to feel a sense of belonging, which produced a condition, whether that was empowerment.
or connection or a sense of purpose, mission, freedom to be, know, all of those, those different aspects of belonging that are deeply beneficial. So in those stories, we also observed that the act of talking about belonging sparked a sense of belonging, you know, which...
It's a little meta, right? But you can understand why when we're talking about what belonging means to us, we're talking about something that is inherently kind of emotional. It's connected to other humans through the act of sharing and through having somebody else receive and respond to that moment of sharing. So, you know, for experience design, we began to center on the importance of spaces where we ask.
our audiences to share with us what belonging means.
Jiani (15:24)
I like that. Do
they go through... So I would bet everybody goes through different processes of the journey of Belonging. It feels like a story itself. It's like a story about Belonging.
Naomi Crellin (15:31)
Yeah. Yeah, it was. Yeah,
it is. And it's the story. It's still going. But folks would, you know, they would tell us their stories of belonging. And we started to. And this is all kind of qualitative research at that point in time, all conversations based. And we started to hear certain themes or ideas.
So what we did was go back to all of the conversations and we were looking at the frequencies of certain words and keywords, groupings of words that were being used by people as they were telling us stories. And we looked at that view of the qualitative data and essentially translated it into quantitative. Right. So it
we could start to see what was bubbling up and how things were progressing. So I think then that gave us a set of these pathways that came through, right? That I mentioned that were to do with freedom to be or true authenticity or, you know, fulfillment and joy, you know, as one of those pathways, a sense of universality and connection.
So we started to identify these different pathways and all of the pathways have these different touch points, know, that describe that progression and that journey. And the Wheel of Belonging Now as a framework allows people to come in and express themselves individually, right? You're not always just on one pathway either. You can experience moments that pull from many different pathways as an individual.
So people can step into the physical wheel of belonging space or they can engage with the app as well as a way of expressing this. they can talk about their individual perspective, but they can also pretty quickly then in a group setting see where things converge with other humans as well. So you've got a million different individual stories, all of which are unique.
But there are common touch points that bubble up, whether you're looking at this from the organizational level or just across humans in general, that allow us as experienced designers to know where to start. Right? If we were to do one or two things, let's just pick one or two things that we can do and make happen. What's the best, most intentional, most strategic use of our time and resources as we approach
right? So it allows people to get this kind of map, star map, let's say, that a constellation emerges that is specific to an organization that they can then design around and increase that sense of belonging for
is the Wheel of Belonging and the way that these different touch points are laid out, the idea is that individuals begin their journey at the outer touch points, right? And then they are progressing towards belonging at the center.
So just to give an example here, one of the pathways, freedom to be, actually began with people expressing to us an emotional state of anxiety or skepticism or fear for one reason or another as they were approaching an event. Will I fit in here? Do I belong? Right.
So the touch points that were important to this particular pathway involved ways in which we can design to ensure safety, to build trust, to allow for full expression and ultimately a sense that people are welcomed and able to succeed just as they are. They are free to be themselves within an experience.
acknowledging that for many folks there's a journey. You know, they don't just jump out of bed and feel free to be themselves within a particular environment on any given day. There are certain conditions that we need to design for to enable that journey towards
so you can see here this was a physical structure where people could step into, we call them the looms. They could step in and grab a ribbon and start building towards.
Jiani (20:04)
to visually map out their journey.
Naomi Crellin (20:06)
Yeah,
to visually map out their journey. And there are some adjacent exercises that we have here. can see Natalie, who's our VP, our wonderful VP of Interpretive Strategy at the Identities Ikegai table, which is absolutely a tool that we developed to support that journey
Jiani (20:22)
Sugar.
Naomi Crellin (20:28)
safety and trust because it allows people to step into a space. It's almost like, and Natalie actually introduced me to this term, it's a scaffolding activity, right? Yeah, so because sometimes the act of sharing can be scary, right, for one reason or another. So how do we help people to get into the mindset of sharing about themselves and learning about one another?
Jiani (20:38)
yes scaffolding.
Naomi Crellin (20:55)
And the identity Ikigai is an exercise.
because it's so a little bit noisy.
Jiani (21:02)
Very bouncy.
Naomi Crellin (21:04)
Yes, it was. It's Instagram related. You can see here this is a view of a two dimensional structure, so an interactive where people could weave and we would collect the data there. And so we actually took the wheel of belonging as this physical experience after the XI Days event at Google.
It toured around the continent and the world really went a lot around South America, around America. Mario International was a big partner in helping that as well as Google's Experience Institute and many other organizations as well. And what it started to reveal to us were the touch points that were bubbling up for different groups.
Jiani (21:53)
It's kind of like a live qualitative research, like art.
Naomi Crellin (21:57)
-huh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and people,
you know, they're co -creating. It's interesting for them to see and to learn about one another, but then also for organizations to be able to understand that information, to know more about their audience in a meaningful way, and then really be able to advocate for their audience through design.
We've been taking that idea and using it for thinking about belonging centered design as well. This is an example from, yeah, it can be used in so many different ways. know, at the start of team engagements, asking them to share with one another their belonging journey is a really emotionally connective exercise. But then when we start to take that journey,
towards belonging here at the bottom. And this was an exercise we did with the students and align it to the customer journey or the experience journey. It gives us this amazing kind of design prompt in how do we design to meet these needs at the various different touch points. this was, and now we're looking at
the different types of results. And you can see here, you know, the active interpretation that we can go through once we have this data, how we can identify the pathways that are really important, right? So, so what was quite interesting as we did this exercise, we looked at, you know, curious being one of the top touch points and also trust. But when you look at a little bit further,
There's a lot of activation all the way along this love and appreciation pathway. So people were talking about welcoming, valuing, being loved and appreciated. Which again kind of highlights some really important themes that we can design for.
There you go.
Jiani (24:09)
I love that.
I think this can definitely be turning to like a virtual experience where we can potentially map out like a global belonging journey.
Naomi Crellin (24:18)
Yes, let's do it.
I think that would be amazing. We've got the Belonging Playbook published in partnership with Google XI. And the data set that we've been, in addition to the Wheel of Belonging that we've been leaning into, is from something called the Belonging Index, which is from
value graphics, which is this massive quantitative data set globally that captures values for individuals. Now, belonging is the number one value in the United States. It's in the top three worldwide.
Naomi Crellin (24:52)
So we've actually been working with the Wheel of Belonging most recently in training some of these leadership teams. We've been working with a consulting, a global consulting firm to look at what it means to use the principles of belonging and the Wheel
leadership teams and their development. So what that usually begins with is this moment where you're connecting the team to one another. So before we even begin the conversation around applications, business applications and outcomes, we first start with the individuals on that leadership team and use the conversations around belonging to connect with one another.
to understand how they can create an internal leadership team culture that is open, that is authentic, that is resilient, that has a way of navigating challenges in our turbulent world with an eye towards the future. So what's nice about that is that
It supports the individual, right? So we turn the lens to ourselves first as leaders, understand the benefit of belonging at that personal level, and then the act of empathizing and understanding the benefits of belonging for the broader organization. You know, how do we roll this out to our teams?
to our clients. How can we use the Wheel of Belonging or these belonging conversations that are supported by the Wheel as a means of developing those client relationships that are so much more than a business transaction? Because that helps what we're seeing as a result of the behavioral outcomes of belonging include.
a willingness to recommend. Right. And that recommendation is key to moving people along the buyer's journey. You know, and I think that there's also data that we see coming from value graphics that large database that is headed up by David Allison that demonstrates that individuals are willing to pay up to 12%
more for the product services and experiences that are aligned with their values. And if belonging is one of the key values, then there's a real kind of business benefit to pursuing belonging. So there's this kind of multi -level approach where you have to make the business argument, you have to demonstrate the personal impact. And then we get to the work of talking about applications and strategies
how we can create cultures of belonging. Ultimately, I really believe that as experienced designers, as experienced creators, we are creators of culture. This is what we do. That's the magic of what we do, is generate the emotions, the feelings.
Jiani (27:45)
Yes.
Naomi Crellin (27:52)
that are associated with a culture and ultimately that shapes behaviors and outcomes as well. for somebody that started Storycraft Lab because I felt a lack of belonging, really as a leader and as a human, it's kind of wonderful to come full circle and now be able to see, having created that for myself.
how we can bring that and offer it to others too.
Jiani (28:19)
Yeah. And I think it's, it's, it's kind of a connection thing because sometimes, the, a lot of people feel that, but they may not be able to pay enough attention to deal with that sort of like lack of belonging. And they maybe just feel like that's common. That's how everything should be like lack of belonging. It's just like the standard and, and having you.
Naomi Crellin (28:38)
Yeah.
Jiani (28:43)
not only sharing that, also creating a personable technology tool to help people bring that out of their subconsciousness or to be worked on files, file the way. It's a healing. It helps people to kind of unleash that part of themselves. And just by
process of going through the wheel of belonging, they immediately have a stronger sense of belonging because they are talking about belonging as you said tend
Naomi Crellin (29:09)
Yeah.
You know, and it's, it's sorry to interrupt you. Yeah, I'm just getting excited about what you were saying. I didn't mean to interrupt. It's, it's so interesting as well that there there is scientific research that shows that there is a health benefit to belonging. And in fact, you know, that it is physiologically damaging when belonging is not present.
Jiani (29:15)
tend to have stronger belongings. I'm sorry, I'm just repeating.
Naomi Crellin (29:37)
And I think it was Geoffrey (Corrected) Cohen talked about this in his book on belonging. There's a term called belonging uncertainty, which is just as damaging as a feeling of not belonging. Right. So if you're in this space of uncertainty and constantly questioning, do I belong? You know, that that can be harmful to individuals
Ultimately, that's harmful to organizations and businesses as well. So there is a real human impact in designing experiences that help people move towards belonging and don't just let them sit in that space of uncertainty as well.
Jiani (30:16)
Beautiful. Moving into the magical, wild future with all the advancements of technologies, AI, VR, web three and neural links, you name it. What would be, what would be the best future that you can ever imagine, envision? What would that, what would that look like coming from your perspective?
Naomi Crellin (30:39)
Mmm.
I think that there a wonderful future would be that everybody knows that there is a place that they belong and that there are ways in which they can find that out for themselves. And I think part of that magic is the sentience, the understanding as an individual of the value of belonging and recognizing when it's not present enough in your
and feeling confident and empowered and able to go out and find it. Right. So if I'm missing this thing, agency, how can I now go out and ensure that I have this in my life? Because it's a component of our ability to flourish as humans. Right. And
Jiani (31:11)
agency.
Naomi Crellin (31:25)
So imagine a future where we consider belonging as an essential nutrient to our flourishing and growth that is part of the recipe that we put together for ourselves on a daily basis. And if we've got 100 % of our vitamin C and vitamin D and vitamin K and iron, how much do we have of belonging right now? What do I need to put that into my life?
Jiani (31:31)
Mmm.
My Apple watch tells me.
Naomi Crellin (31:54)
as your belonging arbiter. And actually, there's
some amazing work that is coming out of the Marriott School of Business in Salt Lake. And it's, they're researching the physical components of belonging and what happens in the act of storytelling when people connect with one another emotionally.
They're doing some just fantastic work. It's Brigham Young University and Matt Dwarden and Camilla Hodge just leading the way on making sure that we have those researchers so your Apple Watch can tell you what's going on.
Jiani (32:33)
This
is amazing. So it's based on our heart rates
Naomi Crellin (32:36)
Mmm, yes, that's a whole other podcast.
Jiani (32:41)
Yes, we should definitely do
that. Yeah, in another session. Wonderful. wish this episode can continue. We will see you next time, maybe. Come back. can definitely do another one. And for this episode, I'm going to just give our audience a brief recap, and then we'll move into the magic portion of our conversation.
Naomi Crellin (32:53)
I would love to.
Jiani (33:04)
So we talked about the founding stories of Naomi and what the mission and vision behind the Starry Craft Lab. We were exploring the stories that Starry Craft Lab was able to create with Google Experience Lab on the Wheel of Belonging and with NASA on helping people to identify which boots they wanted to bring as they start their interstellar adventures.
And we focused actually a little bit more on Wheel of Belonging and we see Belonging as not only one state rather than it's a continuously meanderous journey that people reach and there are different aspects of Belonging as you can see from the Wheel of Belonging and it will be interesting to find out what is your current experience.
your journey of your belonging, where do you locate? so feel free to do the activity practices in the show note to find out your belonging journey. And then we also transferred that into the context of leadership, the culture building. Naomi mentioned that as experienced designers, leaders, we are ultimately creating experiences.
for people and for culture. So we're building culture through stories, through experiences, and ultimately, hopefully in the beautiful co -flourishing future, we are able to see belonging as our essential vitamins for our mind and our spirits.
That will be a beautiful place. Wonderful. So magic. Naomi, when you were 11 years old, 16 years old or five years old, what did you enjoy creating so much that time becomes so irrelevant for
Naomi Crellin (34:35)
Yes, go start. Yeah.
You know, I think back to my mid, early to mid teens, really. And at that point in time, there was the kind of birth of the or at least I became aware of the rave culture in the UK. There was a group called in the area that I grew
Exodus. They call themselves the Exodus Peace Warriors. And they would create these parties that would take place in different locations, different settings each week. And at that point, this was dating myself, but pre cell phones for sure. So you would actually call up from a call box.
in the UK and you would hear the tape recorder answering phone kind of click over it. Yes, was. It's very kind of wild and kind of magical in terms of my memory. And they would give you a clue for where the meetup spot would be and you would go to the meetup spot with your friends and then they would lead you as a convoy to the location for
Jiani (35:39)
yeah, yeah, yeah. That's one of those red booths. Yeah, so classic, beautiful.
Naomi Crellin (36:01)
which might be on a farm, it might be in a factory, it might be, you just didn't know week to week. So you would go out on this adventure and you would have, you'd really have to find friends. It wouldn't be something you could do alone because you'd have to have somebody, a car to ride in. So it was this kind of magical shared experience. And then you'd party the night away until the sun came up in the morning. You'd lose track of your need to sleep.
Jiani (36:26)
Hahaha
Naomi Crellin (36:27)
as you mentioned. But it was a series of these shared transcendent moments in various locations that were magical because you were sharing them with other people that were also on their own interpretation and version of a journey and an adventure as well.
It was kind of this act of supportive exploration and trying new things.
Jiani (36:54)
It's kind of like a journey. They're creating a story for you to experience in the physical world.
Naomi Crellin (36:59)
Yes,
yeah. And then, you know, the there would be different people would turn up and DJ and it was very organic, right? You sometimes you had big names or whatever, but sometimes it was just, you know, some people from the community that would would step up and do that. And there was this the ritual of dance and shared rhythm and moving.
your body and your minds together in a space that was new, was, it just connected you to the universe on a whole different level, but it required that it was a shared experience with others. You know, there was this aspect of co -creation that was.
Jiani (37:38)
It's something special when we are able to connect with each other
feel each other's existence. Amazing. What do you...
Naomi Crellin (37:43)
Mm -hmm. Yeah. I'd love to.
Sorry, I'd love to check in with other folks that maybe went to the Exodus peace rapes in the south of England.
Jiani (37:55)
Yeah,
our audience who would like to get in touch with Naomi, definitely do that. All the content information is in the show note below. So the hint is the Exodus So if you have any experience, definitely that would be the icebreaker when you get together. Yeah, wonderful.
Naomi Crellin (38:13)
Yes, yes.
Jiani (38:17)
As we wrap up this conversation, what do you think is your magic,
Naomi Crellin (38:20)
empathy.
of it, know, standing on somebody else's shoes, extending empathy to another. I believe that empathy is magic and yeah, I'm honored to channel it as much as I possibly can in the work that we do.
I love it.
Jiani (38:35)
So good to have met you, Naomi. Thank you so much for sharing your time with us today. Thank you for sharing your framework and your magic with us. And it's our pleasure and honor to be able to spend this one hour with you. And I'm just so happy.
Naomi Crellin (38:51)
Yes.
And I reflect my gratitude back to you, Jyami. I really appreciate what you're doing with this podcast and helping people to focus in on the centrality of magic to transformation and growth in their lives. Thank you.
💕 Story Overview
In this episode with Naomi, we went into a deep meditative state to explore how belonging serves as a fundamental human need with measurable impacts on well-being, productivity, and collective success. Through thoughtful research and frameworks like the "Wheel of Belonging," we discuss how intentionally designed experiences within a context/environment/culture can seek ways to foster authentic connection where everyone feels true belonging.
MAGICal Insights:
Belonging as an Essential Nutrient
"Belonging uncertainty" causes physiological damage. Belonging isn't optional but is an essential vitamin that delivers measurable health benefits for our co-flourishing. Therefore, we should intentionally cultivate and measure belonging in our lives across communities.
The Journey of Belonging Through Story-Sharing
When we share our experiences, we simultaneously map our journeys and strengthen our connections to each other. The act of sharing belonging stories creates belonging itself. This self-reinforcing process demonstrates how storytelling functions as both an assessment tool and an intervention for belonging.
Experience Design as Culture Creation
Experiences generate emotions and feelings that shape behaviors and outcomes, which build cultures. As we (coaches, guides, therapists, designers, researchers, creatives, C-leaders…) create experiences, please believe in the potent impact of each space we build and hold, which has the potential to evolve and reshape a culture on both micro and macro levels across communities (family, neighbood, or organizations).
What is Belonging?
According to Mahar, Cobigo & Stuart (2013) a sense of belonging is:
“A subjective feeling of value and respect derived from a reciprocal relationship to an external referent that is built on a foundation of shared experiences, beliefs or personal characteristics.”
Belonging emerges from meaningful connections with chosen groups where one desires and feels accepted as a member. This multifaceted experience can be either strengthened or weakened through the intricate interplay between contextual circumstances and individual characteristics. Therefore, a sense of belonging is more of an ever-changing emotion through experience.
A sense of belonging can resonate with childlike wonder (Game, 2003), linking us to formative experiences from our past. When we say something "feels childlike," we're connecting to that time when we belonged without question. I wonder if our pursuit of belonging throughout life stems from trying to recapture that pure state of acceptance and wonder we once knew instinctively, where our place in the world felt mythic and assured rather than uncertain.
According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, humans need to feel that they belong to a social group (family, community, and companies) and are accepted and loved. Even though the hierarchy has little empirical evidence and the writings are more philosophical than scientific, it does provide a general guidance for us to conceptualize and organize some of our basic needs as human beings. Trivedi & Mehta (2019) suggested that there is room to include other motivating factors like perception, expectations, and experience. With Naomi’s help, let’s explore how deep empathy can design experiences to create a sense of belonging.
Belonging and Wellbeing
Research by Baldwin & Keefer (2020) suggests that belonging is a fundamental prerequisite for human happiness and wellbeing. While belonging has traditionally been studied through relational connections with people or attachment to places, emerging research explores a third dimension: temporal belonging or "temporal rootedness" during an experience.
This temporal aspect of belonging connects us to meaningful experiences and timelines—past, present, and future—providing existential grounding that significantly impacts psychological well-being. This means that an experience can strengthen or weaken a sense of belonging with consequent impact on our daily well-being.
“So imagine a future where, you know, we consider belonging as an essential nutrient to our flourishing and growth that is part of the recipe that we put together for ourselves daily. And if we’ve got 100% of our vitamin C and vitamin D and vitamin K and iron, how much do we have of belonging? What do I need to put that into?”
The Wheel of Belonging
Naomi and the StoryCraft Lab has devoted years of qualitative research combined with actual practice to develop a framework "Wheel of Belonging" to guide the design of belonging experiences.
It identifies eight distinct pathways—Empowerment, Freedom to Be, Purpose-full, Fulfillment & Joy, Love & Appreciation, True Authenticity, Thinking Differently, and Universality—that represent individual journeys from emotional states to social connections and personal transformation.
These pathways toward belonging are grounded in three core dimensions:
Making meaning, where we felt a deep inner alignment of purpose and value through the experience, and aspired to explore practical implications through innovative actions within context.
Engaging feeling, where we generate a feeling not only through our minds but also through our body, and as those individual feelings are shared with others beyond ourselves, a sense of belonging is created.
Accessing magic, where we deeply experience and/or reflect on the experience, a form of transformation toward growth takes place, whether it is a micro/macro shift of perspective and/or change of behavior, going beyond the current self.
Building Space of Collective Belonging
In the workplace, experiences of "unbelonging" can lead to frustration, demotivation, and diminished wellbeing. Thissen, Biermann-Teuscher, Horstman, & Meershoek (2023) demonstrate that workplace health is inherently social, constructed through daily interactions where colleagues care for each other, collaborate on tasks, and remain attuned to each other's mental states. Beyond individual health promotion initiatives, belonging encompasses multiple dimensions that directly influence talent wellbeing:
Physical/psychological dimension, where talents feel valued and experience fitting in;
Organizational dimension, where talents feel appreciated by management and see their expertise reflected in decision-making;
Spatio-material dimension, where physical environments either foster inclusion or create barriers to connection.
When talents experience belonging, they develop greater psychological and social resilience, increased confidence, and stronger motivation. Organizations seeking to improve workplace health should therefore, move beyond individualized approaches to wellness and instead cultivate inclusive environments where social connections flourish, talents expertise is recognized, and physical spaces facilitate rather than hinder collaboration—recognizing that belonging is not merely a pleasant workplace feature but a crucial ingredient for holistic talent wellbeing.
From a collective perspective, according to Pizarro et. al. (2022), collective effervescence (CE)—the powerful shared energy people experience during communal gatherings—creates direct pathways to belonging by bridging the gap between individual identity and group connection. Originally identified by Émile Durkheim, this phenomenon generates self-transcendent emotions that expand our perspective beyond personal concerns, similar to how children naturally experience wonder and connection before developing rigid identities. Thoughtfully designed experiences has the potential to foster collective effervescence through music, creative expression, or meaningful rituals have the potential to activate crucial touchpoints on the belonging journey: safety, emotional resonance, and authentic self-expression. This approach doesn't merely create memorable moments—it cultivates the essential "nutrient" of belonging that research shows fundamentally supports human well-being and flourishing.
Toward a Future of Belonging
Imagine a world where everyone understands the importance of belonging and feels empowered to seek it out or cultivate it within when it's missing, where technology might help us measure and cultivate this essential human need, and where experiences are intentionally designed to help people progress along their unique belonging journeys.
As experienced creators build cultures through stories and shared moments, they have the opportunity to make belonging a cornerstone of how we connect—as essential to our flourishing as our daily vitamins or nutrients.
Reference
Baldwin, M., & Keefer, L. A. (2020). Being here and now: The benefits of belonging in space and time. Journal of Happiness Studies, 21(8), 3069-3093.
Game, A. (2003). Belonging: experience in sacred time and space. In Timespace (pp. 238-251). Routledge.
Mahar, A. L., Cobigo, V., & Stuart, H. (2013). Conceptualizing belonging. Disability and Rehabilitation, 35(12), 1026-1032.
Pizarro, J. J., Zumeta, L. N., Bouchat, P., Włodarczyk, A., Rimé, B., Basabe, N., ... & Páez, D. (2022). Emotional processes, collective behavior, and social movements: A meta-analytic review of collective effervescence outcomes during collective gatherings and demonstrations. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 974683.
Thissen, L., Biermann-Teuscher, D., Horstman, K., & Meershoek, A. (2023). (Un) belonging at work: an overlooked ingredient of workplace health. Health promotion international, 38(3), daad061.
Trivedi, A. J., & Mehta, A. (2019). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs-theory of human motivation. International Journal of Research in all Subjects in Multi Languages, 7(6), 38-41.
⭐Naomi’s MAGIC
Naomi identifies “empathy” as her core magic - the transformative ability to stand in another person's shoes and genuinely understand their perspective. She views this capacity not merely as a skill but as a magical force that creates connection and understanding. Throughout her work with the Wheel of Belonging and other projects, Naomi channels this empathic gift to help people express their authentic selves and find their place in communities.
Connect with Guest
Naomi Clare Crellin is an Experience Innovation Strategist, Educator, and Audience advocate, Founder, and CEO of Storycraft Lab, a visionary in crafting immersive experiences, a dedicated educator shaping the future of innovation, and a passionate advocate for engaging audiences in meaningful ways.
Credits & Revisions:
Guest: Naomi Clare Crellin
Story Writer/Editor: Dr. Jiani Wu
AI Partner: Perplexity, Claude
Initial Publication: April 11, 2025 (Integreted belonging research in workplace)
Disclaimer:
AI technologies are harnessed to create initial content derived from genuine conversations. Human re-creation & review are used to ensure accuracy, relevance & quality.