Why 'Normal' Communication Excludes People
Standard workplace communication was designed by and for a specific demographic. The norms — indirect requests, implied context, cultural idioms, and assumption-heavy shorthand — work well for people who share the dominant culture. For everyone else, they create invisible barriers.
This isn't about political correctness. It's about effectiveness. If 30% of your team is interpreting your emails differently than you intended — because of cultural background, language proficiency, neurodivergence, or communication style — you're operating at 70% efficiency. Inclusive communication isn't a nice-to-have. It's a performance optimization.
The changes are small. The impact is significant.
Clarity Over Cleverness
Replace idioms with direct language. 'Let's circle back' → 'Let's discuss this again on Thursday.' 'Low-hanging fruit' → 'Tasks we can complete quickly.' 'Move the needle' → 'Make measurable progress.' Idioms assume shared cultural knowledge. Direct language assumes nothing.
State the action clearly. 'It would be great if someone could look into the data issue' → '[Name], please investigate the data discrepancy and report back by Friday.' The first version might be politely ambiguous to a native English speaker. To a non-native speaker, it's genuinely ambiguous about who should act and when.
Write for your most literal reader. If someone could misinterpret your email by reading it exactly as written, rewrite it. Sarcasm, understatement, and British-style indirection ('I'm not entirely sure that's the best approach' meaning 'that's wrong') don't survive translation.
Structural Accessibility
Use headers and bullet points for emails longer than three paragraphs. Dense text blocks are harder for everyone to parse — and significantly harder for people with dyslexia, ADHD, or anyone reading in their second language.
Front-load the action item. If your email requires someone to do something, put it in the first two sentences. Don't bury it in paragraph four after context they may or may not need.
Define acronyms on first use. Your team's TLA (three-letter acronym) culture excludes anyone who joined in the last six months. Write 'Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)' the first time, then 'CAC' afterward. It takes three seconds and prevents three minutes of confusion.
Meeting Inclusion Through Email
Share agendas 24 hours in advance. This gives introverts and non-native speakers time to prepare contributions they won't volunteer spontaneously. It also gives people with processing differences time to formulate thoughts that real-time discussion makes difficult.
After meetings, send written summaries with decisions and action items. Not everyone processes information best through verbal discussion. The written record ensures that people who think better in text can fully engage with the outcomes.
Offer multiple channels for input. 'If you have thoughts on this proposal, you can share them in the meeting, reply to this email, or add comments to the doc.' This gives voice to people who don't thrive in real-time group discussion — which is a large percentage of any team.
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