How Inclusive Language Can Help You To Negotiate, Lead And Communicate For Success
When people hear the term “inclusive language,” they automatically think about diversity, equity, and inclusion.
But it’s much more than that.
Inclusive Communication
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In this quick article, you’ll learn how to use inclusive language in order to improve your negotiation, conflict resolution, and business skills.
The goal of inclusive language is to create an environment where individuals feel welcomed, cared for, and encouraged to participate in the conversation.
Inclusivity can be shown through your wording in an email, who you choose to include in meetings or even your body language in a negotiation. It’s what makes people welcome and want to stay and engage.
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From a negotiation standpoint, the chances of you being able to win over the other side become a lot higher when the other party feels welcomed and heard, too.
Alissa Carpenter, Founder of Everything’s Not Ok And That's Ok and author of How to Listen and How to Be Heard: Inclusive Conversations In The Workplace, suggests 3 ways to implement inclusive language into your business, negotiations, and general life.
Notice your non-verbal cues
Your actions and body language are just as important for creating an environment that is truly inclusive.
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If You Want To Go Far, Go Together
Including people in work events, meetings, conversation, and emails can make them feel like their input and presence is worthy and valued.
It’s the simple things, but they really add up.
To implement this, invite more than just the executive board to your next meeting. Other lower-end employees may have something valuable to add to the conversation and will add a unique perspective to conversations.
Remove your ego
Removing your ego is extremely difficult. But, when it’s done it has the potential to be the most impactful.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself to remove your ego and see things from another point of view:
Did I reach out to people who think and who act and who experience life differently before I make the decision?
Did I use that information to inform my decision?
Did I make the best decision for my team for the organization?
How does my decision impact other diverse colleagues?
Understand that you will make mistakes but you can recover
Making inclusivity a normal practice will take time, trial-and-error, and a whole lot of patience.
If you do slip up, learn from the mistake instead of being shut down by it.
Don’t be afraid to take ownership for the mistake. Here are some things to keep in mind while taking ownership and apologizing.
I’m sorry THAT vs I’m sorry IF
If you’ve ever started an apology with “I’m sorry if you…”, you probably noticed the other party’s negative reaction. What went wrong here?
This is where our word choices can make all the difference.
By saying “I’m sorry IF…”, you appear to be questioning the validity of their feelings, verses apologizing for your actions.
When you say “I’m sorry THAT you feel that way”, you are affirming their feelings are real and noticed.
Try face-to-face communications as much as possible
Face-to-face communication is difficult during the pandemic, but utilizing tools like Zoom or Skype can be extremely beneficial to these conversations and negotiations.
When you are able to see the person’s face, you are able to see the person’s emotions through their facial expressions.
If you are just using text or email as your method of communication, you are limited to exclamation points and emojis which have a lot of room for miscommunication.
Since you can hear the other parties’ tone and inflection during a phone call, they are better than text or email. However, they still don’t allow you to see each other's facial expressions, which can be critical in communication.
This is why face-to-face or an in-person approach for a conversation with high emotion is not only beneficial but can make or break a conversation or negotiation.
According to Glassdoor, “67% of job seekers consider workplace diversity an important factor when considering employment opportunities, and more than 50% of current employees want their workplace to do more to increase diversity”.
And, “the majority of women in the workforce feel excluded from decision making, do not feel comfortable expressing their opinions, and do not feel as though they can succeed”, according to Culture Amp.
Inclusive environments, conversations, and negotiations are critical to maintaining strong relationships and will help you to create the connections you need to get the best deal in your next negotiation.
Inclusivity will take time, but the results are worth it.