The Hero’s Journey and Belonging at Work
When I worked at Lucas Films, it was hard not to become immersed in the concept of the Hero’s Journey through the Star Wars story arc.
When I became the Director of Talent Design at Airbnb, I was pleased to find that our founders also used the hero's journey to think about travelers and hosting - which is what their whole business was - and how it increased people’s belonging.
This inspired our team to think about the hero’s journey as part of our onboarding process to increase belonging at work.
My good friend Craig Forman, who was working for Culture Amp at the time, caught me a few years ago at a conference and asked me about this.
You can watch his this quick two-minute interview here or read the edited transcript below.
Edited Transcript:
Andrea:
One of the key elements of a hero's journey is entering a strange or new world and discovering what elements help you feel like you belong in that new world. For Airbnb’s hosts and guests, it's about feeling safe, secure, and welcomed and starting to get clues about the community that you're in, whether it's a coffee shop or a way to navigate public transportation.
We use those same elements in our onboarding programming where we want people to feel supported in their new world - working at Airbnb - and learn about what it's like to feel support from someone who's going to take you on the journey.
Craig:
You mentioned to me the usage of tests. Could you talk a little about that?
Andrea:
One of the things that we encourage managers to do with an onboarding buddy is to create a small test. It should not be scary, but something that allows you to test your skills in a new environment and show them to others. This can be something as small as pushing code early. It could also be something bigger, like a presentation in front of a team where you share what you've done early so that your contributions can be seen by all.
Craig:
Very cool. Thank you so much for your time!
Andrea:
I really enjoyed it. Bye, people geeks!