How to Become More Inclusive at Work: The Real Story Behind Building Better Teams

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The other day I was sitting in a café in Surry Hills watching this bloke absolutely lose his mind at the barista because she didn't understand his order. Classic Melbourne coffee snob meets Sydney reality, I thought. But then something interesting happened - another customer, an older woman with a thick accent I couldn't place, stepped in and translated. Turns out the barista was Vietnamese, the customer wanted a specific type of grind, and the helpful woman spoke both languages fluently.

That five-minute interaction taught me more about workplace inclusion than half the corporate workshops I've sat through in my 18 years as a business consultant.

What Inclusion Actually Means (And Why Most Companies Get It Wrong)

Here's my controversial take: most inclusion training is absolute rubbish. There, I said it.

Companies spend thousands on generic diversity workshops that tick boxes but change nothing. They hire consultants who've never managed a team to lecture seasoned managers about unconscious bias. Then they wonder why their culture surveys show no improvement.

Real inclusion isn't about quotas or mandatory training sessions. It's about creating environments where different perspectives actually get heard and valued.

Take Atlassian, for example. I've worked with teams there, and they don't just talk about inclusion - they've restructured their entire hiring process around it. They removed university requirements for many roles and focus on skills instead. Revolutionary? Maybe. Effective? Absolutely.

The Three Types of Workplace Exclusion Nobody Talks About

Most people think workplace exclusion is just about obvious discrimination. But after nearly two decades in corporate training, I've identified three subtler forms that destroy team dynamics:

The Meeting Monopoliser Effect You know the type. Same three people dominate every discussion while others sit silent. I've seen brilliant engineers with game-changing ideas never speak up because they can't get a word in edgeways.

Cultural Code-Switching Fatigue This one's massive, especially in Australia's multicultural workforce. When people constantly adjust their communication style, humour, or even their name to "fit in," they're burning mental energy that could be channelling innovation instead.

The solution isn't telling everyone to "be themselves" - that's management consultant nonsense. The solution is creating multiple communication channels where different styles can thrive.

The Expertise Hierarchy Problem Here's where I'll lose some of you: I think most workplaces are too obsessed with credentials and experience hierarchies. Some of the best insights I've encountered came from apprentices, recent graduates, or career changers who see problems differently.

But we've created cultures where speaking up feels risky if you're not the senior person in the room.

My Biggest Inclusion Mistake (And What It Taught Me)

About five years ago, I was running a communication training session for a mining company in Perth. Typical blokey environment, you'd think. I made assumptions about what kind of training they'd need.

Turns out, the biggest communication barriers weren't about gender or cultural differences - they were between different generations of workers. The older blokes had decades of practical knowledge but struggled with new digital systems. The younger workers understood the tech but hadn't developed the safety instincts that keep people alive in dangerous environments.

I'd prepared a generic inclusion workshop when what they actually needed was intergenerational mentoring programs.

That failure taught me something crucial: inclusion isn't one-size-fits-all. You need to understand your specific team dynamics before applying solutions.

The Australian Advantage (And Why We're Wasting It)

Australia has a massive advantage in workplace inclusion that we're completely squandering. We've got this cultural value around "fair dinkum" - being genuine and straightforward. But somehow in corporate environments, we've lost that.

Instead of authentic conversations about difference, we get sanitised HR-speak. Instead of acknowledging that different backgrounds bring different strengths, we pretend everyone's identical.

I worked with a Brisbane logistics company last year where the warehouse manager - a third-generation Italian-Australian - was struggling with a new hire from Sudan. Classic cultural clash, right? Wrong.

Turns out both guys were passionate about soccer, had similar work ethics, and shared the same dry sense of humour. The real barrier was that head office kept sending them to separate "cultural awareness" sessions instead of just letting them work together on actual projects.

The Economics of Inclusion (Because Everything Comes Down to Money)

Let me share some numbers that'll make your CFO pay attention. Companies with diverse leadership teams are 70% more likely to capture new markets. Not because diversity is morally right (though it is), but because different perspectives spot opportunities others miss.

I've seen this firsthand. A Sydney tech startup I worked with was struggling to break into the Asian market. Their entire leadership team were Anglo-Australian men in their 30s. Brilliant developers, terrible cultural insight.

They hired a Korean-Australian product manager who immediately identified three major cultural assumptions in their user interface that were alienating potential customers. Six months later, their Asia-Pacific revenue increased by 230%.

But here's the thing - they almost didn't hire her because she didn't have a computer science degree. Their original job posting required specific technical qualifications that had nothing to do with what they actually needed.

Practical Strategies That Actually Work

Enough theory. Here's what I've seen work in real Australian workplaces:

The Rotation System Instead of the same people always leading meetings, rotate facilitation duties. I've implemented this with professional development training programs across multiple industries. Different facilitation styles bring out different voices.

The Anonymous Input Method Not everyone's comfortable speaking up publicly. Create ways for people to contribute ideas anonymously, then discuss them openly. Digital tools make this easier than ever.

Project-Based Integration Stop doing inclusion as a separate activity. Build it into actual work projects. Pair people from different backgrounds on real challenges where they need each other's expertise.

The Local Knowledge Audit Ask your team what they know about your customers, markets, or processes that others might not. You'll be amazed what insights emerge.

Why Most Training Programs Miss the Mark

I've delivered hundreds of training sessions on inclusion, and I've learned something important: most programs focus on what not to do instead of what to do.

Don't make assumptions. Don't use inappropriate language. Don't exclude people.

But negative instructions don't create positive behaviours. People need concrete skills for building inclusive environments, not just lists of things to avoid.

That's why I've started focusing training on practical communication techniques, meeting facilitation skills, and conflict resolution. These are transferable abilities that improve inclusion as a side effect of better overall teamwork.

The Remote Work Challenge

COVID changed everything about workplace inclusion. Suddenly we're trying to build inclusive cultures through screens, which is like trying to read body language through a telescope.

Some aspects got easier - introverted team members often participate more in virtual meetings. People with mobility challenges face fewer barriers. Parents can balance work and family more effectively.

But we've also lost the informal conversations that build relationships. The casual mentoring that happens over coffee. The nonverbal communication that helps us understand each other.

Smart companies are being deliberate about recreating these opportunities virtually. Regular one-on-ones. Virtual coffee chats. Online collaboration spaces that encourage both work and social interaction.

The Future of Inclusive Workplaces

Here's my prediction: companies that figure out inclusion will dominate the next decade. Not because it's trendy, but because they'll attract better talent, spot opportunities faster, and adapt to change more effectively.

The businesses that stick with homogeneous leadership teams will gradually become irrelevant. Not through any malicious intent, but because they'll keep missing signals that diverse perspectives would catch.

We're already seeing this in industries like renewable energy, aged care, and technology. The companies leading these sectors aren't just technically excellent - they're culturally sophisticated.

But here's the thing - you can't buy inclusion as a service. You can't outsource it to consultants (present company excepted, obviously). You have to build it into your daily operations, one conversation and one decision at a time.

Getting Started Tomorrow

If you're reading this thinking "my workplace could be more inclusive," here's what to do next week:

Start one new conversation with someone whose perspective you don't usually hear. Ask about their experience, their ideas, their concerns. Not in a formal diversity interview way, but as a genuine human interaction.

Look at your next meeting agenda and ask: whose voices are missing? What viewpoints aren't represented? How could we structure this differently to hear from everyone?

Review your recent hiring decisions. Are you consistently attracting the same types of people? If so, your job descriptions, recruitment channels, or selection criteria might need adjusting.

The beautiful thing about inclusion is that small changes create big ripple effects. When people feel genuinely valued for their unique contributions, they bring their full selves to work. And that's when the magic happens.

Your team becomes more creative, more resilient, and more effective at solving complex problems. Which, last time I checked, is exactly what every business needs right now.

So stop treating inclusion as a compliance exercise and start treating it as a competitive advantage. Because that's exactly what it is.