How to Become More Inclusive at Work: The One Thing Nobody Talks About

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Three weeks ago, I watched a senior manager at a major Sydney corporation explain to his team why they needed to "embrace diversity initiatives." Painful doesn't begin to describe it. He rattled off statistics about gender representation, mentioned unconscious bias training, and wrapped up with some generic statement about "valuing different perspectives."

The room went silent. Not the good kind of silent.

Here's what that manager missed, and what 90% of Australian workplaces are getting wrong about inclusion: it's not about the policies, the training sessions, or the motivational posters. It's about changing how people actually talk to each other every single day.

The Real Problem With Workplace Inclusion

After twenty-three years in corporate training and consulting, I've seen inclusion initiatives fail more times than I care to count. Companies spend thousands on workshops, hire diversity consultants, update their mission statements, and wonder why nothing changes.

The answer is brutally simple. Inclusion happens in micro-moments. The five-second pause before someone responds to a colleague's idea. The way people frame questions in meetings. Whether someone gets interrupted or listened to.

Most organisations treat inclusion like a destination instead of a daily practice.

I learned this the hard way back in 2019 when I was running communication training sessions for a mining company in Perth. Beautiful PowerPoint slides about respectful communication. Excellent feedback forms. Zero behaviour change.

What Actually Makes Workplaces More Inclusive

1. Stop Making Assumptions About Communication Styles

Here's something that'll ruffle feathers: not everyone processes information the same way, and that's not a problem to fix. It's a strength to leverage.

I've worked with brilliant engineers who need fifteen minutes to formulate their thoughts before speaking. I've trained sales teams full of people who think out loud and interrupt each other constantly. Both styles are valid. Both contribute value.

The inclusive approach isn't trying to make everyone communicate identically. It's creating space for different communication patterns to coexist.

2. Master the Art of the Follow-Up Question

This one technique transforms team dynamics faster than any other intervention I've used. Instead of moving on after someone shares an idea, ask: "Can you tell me more about that?" or "What led you to that conclusion?"

Sounds basic? Try it for a week. You'll be amazed how many good ideas were barely scratched on the surface.

Last month, I was facilitating a strategy session for a Brisbane tech startup. Junior developer mentions a potential security vulnerability. CEO nods and moves on. I stopped the conversation: "Sarah, can you walk us through your thinking on that?"

Turned out she'd identified a major flaw that would've cost them six figures to fix later. But she wasn't confident enough to push harder initially.

The Language Trap That Kills Inclusion

Pay attention to how decisions get framed in your workplace. Do people say "we should" or "I think we need to"? Subtle difference. Massive impact.

"We should implement this new process" creates collective ownership. "I think we need to implement this new process" positions one person as the authority.

I've watched entire departments become more collaborative just by shifting from "I" language to "we" language during planning sessions. It's not about being politically correct – it's about creating psychological safety.

The Exception: When someone needs to take individual accountability, use "I" language. "I made the call to delay the project" rather than "we decided to delay the project." Don't hide behind collective language when individual responsibility matters.

Why Most Inclusion Training Fails

Standard diversity training focuses on what not to do. Don't make assumptions. Don't interrupt. Don't exclude people from conversations.

Helpful? Maybe. Effective? Rarely.

People need to know what TO do, not just what to avoid. Here's what actually works:

Amplification Technique: When someone shares an idea that gets overlooked, repeat it back and give credit. "Building on what Marcus suggested about the client onboarding process..."

The Two-Minute Rule: In brainstorming sessions, everyone gets two uninterrupted minutes to share their initial thoughts before discussion begins.

Rotation Leadership: Different team members facilitate different parts of meetings. Spreads influence and develops skills simultaneously.

These aren't revolutionary concepts. They're practical tools that change behaviour immediately.

The Australian Context

We've got a particular challenge in Australian workplaces with what I call "aggressive agreement." Someone presents an idea, and instead of exploring it, we jump straight to "Yeah, that's right, we should definitely do that."

Sounds positive. Actually shuts down deeper thinking.

I see this constantly in employee engagement workshops across Melbourne and Sydney. Teams that pride themselves on being collaborative but rarely dig beneath surface-level consensus.

Real inclusion means being comfortable with productive disagreement. "I see your point about the timeline, and I'm concerned about the resource allocation aspect. How do we balance both?"

What About Remote Work?

Remote work has created new inclusion challenges and opportunities. Virtual meetings can actually be more inclusive for people who process information differently – they can take notes, refer to documents, think before speaking.

But remote work also makes it easier for some voices to disappear entirely.

Solution: The Check-In Protocol. Start every virtual meeting by going around the group for thirty-second updates. Not project status reports – just "how are you doing and what's on your mind?"

Creates connection and ensures everyone speaks early in the meeting. Once people have spoken once, they're more likely to contribute throughout.

The Economics of Inclusion

Here's the business case nobody talks about: inclusive workplaces make better decisions because they surface more information before committing to direction.

I worked with a logistics company last year that was hemorrhaging money on a new software system. Took six months to figure out why. Turns out the warehouse staff knew from week one that the system wouldn't work with their existing processes, but nobody asked for their input during implementation.

Classic inclusion failure. Not about diversity metrics or cultural sensitivity. About creating systems where relevant information reaches decision-makers.

The 15% Rule: In every major decision, at least 15% of input should come from people who weren't involved in the original planning. Fresh perspectives catch blind spots.

Practical Implementation

Start small. Pick one meeting per week and implement the two-minute rule. See what happens.

Monitor your own language for a week. Count how many times you use "I think" versus "what if we" in group discussions.

Ask follow-up questions. Even when you think you understand what someone means.

Don't announce you're "implementing inclusion initiatives." Just start behaving more inclusively and let the results speak for themselves.

The One Thing That Actually Matters

After all these years, here's what I've learned: inclusion isn't about making everyone feel comfortable all the time. It's about making everyone feel heard when it matters.

Sometimes inclusive leadership means asking difficult questions. Sometimes it means slowing down when the group wants to move fast. Sometimes it means calling out dynamics that aren't working.

The goal isn't harmony. The goal is better outcomes through broader input.

Most organisations overcomplicate this. They create committees and policies and measurement frameworks. Meanwhile, the real work happens in daily interactions between people who may or may not feel safe enough to share what they really think.

Change that dynamic, and everything else follows.

Moving Forward

Workplace inclusion is like learning to drive in traffic. You can study the road rules all you want, but until you're actually navigating between other drivers, making split-second decisions about when to merge and when to wait, you're not really driving.

Same with inclusion. You can attend workshops and read articles (including this one), but the real skill develops through practice in actual workplace situations.

The question isn't whether your workplace needs to become more inclusive. The question is whether you're willing to change how you show up in daily interactions with your colleagues.

Start tomorrow. Pick one technique from this article and use it consistently for two weeks. See what shifts.

The results might surprise you.