Don’t delegate employee responsibility to a policy

It won’t shock you that I’m a fan of inclusive language.

It also won’t shock you to learn that increasingly people are becoming more aware of the power of our words, and those that choose to not think about the impact of them are falling foul of disciplinary processes.

Something that does grind me gears however are the approaches we take to help our human selves address these problems. For example, it’s increasingly popular for businesses to have “inclusive language guides” available. And in and of itself, not a bad idea.

It’s helpful.

But as a stand-alone solution to human learning and having a growth mindset… for me it’s a big miss.

Why?

Because a glossary of terms without any explanation as to WHY these words are or are not acceptable in the workplace is not actual helpful at all.

It’s training people to pass a test.

It’s not giving any knowledge as to the reasons, and therefore not giving them any ownership of their own word choices.

It’s delegating responsibility for the use of language to a document, and away from a person.

Except for the person whose job it is to keep that document up to date.  Which let’s face it, in most cases is something that was likely downloaded from the internet or created by AI, and so even that person doesn’t understand either.

So, yes, great idea as a guidance tool to help give people a steer and even start conversations on the topic itself.

But if you think this covers you for taking “reasonable steps” to prevent harm in your workplace when it comes to language… Well, I’m not convinced.

“Okay Katie, you’ve had your moan and we see what you’re saying, but what do you suggest instead?”

Do the hard thing.

Have proper conversations in your workplace about WHY language is so important, and HOW it causes harm to people, even when it’s not intended.

ASK your own employees to help you shape the acceptable language you choose to use.

LISTEN to the views of those directly impacted, and also those who don’t understand yet. What do you need to do bridge that gap?

Then if you need a guide, great, but make it co-created. Make your people accountable for informing you when it needs reviewing, and repeat the steps.

This will also make it easier for people to challenge each other in a productive way, because THEY will be able to explain WHY they’re doing it.

Remember, language will always evolve.

It always has.

And that’s a good thing.

Help your people develop the skills to be agile and evolve with it.