So let's start. Uh My name is Dominica. And since 2012, I've been working with people to build a culture of effective communication based on trust and shared responsibility.I've worked in NGO S and business environments in both international corporations as well as um agile self managing organization in it. I am also a trainer and project coordinator. I've been conducting trainings and workshops on diversity and inclusion topics in companies. Currently, I'm involved in the design and implementation of activities related to ma managing diversity and inclusion at Monterey. And uh today, I would like to introduce you to the topic, how to build, how to build inclusive communication in an organization and one more time. Um Hi guys.

So how many of you hear this face at work sometimes in meetings among friends? And how many of you identify with the guy's face? I've noticed that this is kind of a habit for some people to greet this face. Hey guys, and I must admit uh that I myself sometimes unconsciously greet like that in the meeting. I've tried many times over past time to consequently remove the collective non guys from vocabulary because um It's a needlessly gendered way to refer a general group of people.

And I think we and our audience deserve better than that. And also because language is powerful enough to evolve and uh because we are working hard to build inclusive spaces at work at home also um in a community to create spaces where people actually feel welcome uh to be themselves. So why would we address a group of people in a gendered way if we don't need to? Um because I respect my friends and colleagues and when I address them, I want to do it in a way where people feel represented and comfortable. That is why I try to rid of this face. So how can we develop a more inclusive communication style? First of all, um recognize your uh bias, unconscious bias, gender gaps in the workspace uh are not overcome by good intentions. Uh Each of us must acknowledge our unconscious bias, gender biases or other biases and look at the ways those biases influence our thoughts, sometimes feelings and sometimes also behaviors. Uh no one is immune further. Um We need to collectively uh step past the antiquated nation of gender binary and move towards inclusion of a broad range of genders and identities. The second thing is to engage in self reflection.

Um The first step to become more culturally competent is to inventory your biases and cultural self efficiency. So if you gain more self-awareness, uh you will become more likely to learn, to learn about um your verbal and also non verbal communication impacts others. You can engage in your own self-awareness inventory. For example, uh you can ask yourself um what is the cultural history of your family? What did you learn about the race during your childhood? Um How has uh your cultural background impacted in the way you feel about other identities?

You can also try to um describe memory that you have about race and what did you learn or describe your first um interaction with some someone that had disability. And the last thing uh I wanted to highlight is long life learning, actively and consciously challenge yourself to widen your own views. Inclusive communication, like inclusion has no finish line. It's a conscious journey and it's only possible to take this journey with small steps. So educate ourselves. OK.

So let's um dive into uh examples. Um These are just uh examples that of course can be multiplied here. Uh I will come back once to the point of lifelong learning as language evolves. Uh It is good to be aware and viggen. And uh so just let's not be afraid to make a mistake sometimes what is important to notice is to be open to feedback and work on it. So I prepare to use some uh examples, for example, like to use an internal or external communication instead of maternity leave, we can use parental leave, uh leave instead of mankind which, and uh which has got men. Um and the word we can use humans instead of um sex change or sex or sex change operation. When we refer to the person, we can uh use post transition person. Uh try to not use mentally ill, more uh efficient as person with the sm diagnosis. Ladies or office girls can be um can be just office stuff. Um him, her, she uh he, we can uh use they, especially when we do not know uh the pronouns um foreign try to uh use immigrants, visitors, travelers, old person, uh young person, we can use just older adults or simply a person.

A young person is also a person. And um the highlight of the of the, of the presentation, hey guys as a greeting, we can simplify is hi all or hi everyone and it will be much more inclusive. OK. Um external uh communication, uh internal communication between our employees, colleagues and friends is just as important as we communicate with the outside world as a company. So um let's move to the ex examples of external communication. Examples of which of course can be used in building internal communication as well. So whether you, you are writing a job description, social job ads, I don't know, email, text message. Uh It's important that each and every communication is unbiased and inclusive. Of course, this is easier said than done since uh it may be difficult to fully comprehend how other may perceive a given a job posting for, for instance, um describing the role as being well suited to recent graduates, suggested bias against older workers, older adults. Um These tips for writing, inclusive job description, these are tips for, for, for writing uh inclusive job description, emails, et cetera. First of all, uh try to remove gender coded words. I split it to female coded words like empath, sensitive, feel support, honest trust, commit, interpersonal compassion, and also male coded words like aggressive, confident, fearless, ambitious, assertive, independent, dominant um driven super super superior. So this, it's really good to try to avoid those worldwide building uh job ads.

The second thing is to avoid gender bias. Uh Women will typically only apply for a job that they meet 1% of the qualification. It's of course not the golden rule, but it happens very often. And to avoid unconscious gender bias, deterring women from applying to your job, consider eliminating requirements that are not essential. So um if the position is um one where training can easily be provided, don't ask for experience in software, generalize areas where transferable skills are OK.

And of course, cla I outline which qualification uh which qualifications are required and which are preferred. And the second, the last thing uh elim elim uh racial bias like gender bias, racial bias can be implied. And oftentimes it's unknowingly uh persuaded by recruitment professionals who otherwise recognize the importance of inclusive job description by um by paying careful attention to words and phrases, you can help eliminate imp implicit and explicit bias in your job. Pa stinks.

And additionally, I put some phrases that are good to avoid. Also, like in your job, it's putting a young and energetic party atmospheric work, hard play hard. It's simply dedicated to um young people and can be biased because of it. Digital native calling all recent colleagues and grads et cetera. So try to avoid those phasing as well to um build more inclusive job uh ads. So what are the rules of inclusive communication? First of all, empathy do not approach inclusion or specifically inclusive communication as a checklist of experiences or a accommodation to, you know, tick off a list instead um try to connect uh empathically with your audience, think about their experiences and how language and uh communication can impact um in the way um they absorb your message, for example, mm Consider uh the need for employee use a name other than that's on their legal documents to understand this more you can read more about that naming and what it can mean for the trans community.

Um So enabling um mm flexible name names policy. It's not just a process to put in the place, it just, it is actually a way to acknowledge and recognize trans identity. The second thing is culture. Um try to work with your community groups. Uh For example, uh employee resource groups, uh try to work them with them by empowering them and giving them a voice in your communication. They know their community better than anyone. Hopefully. Uh So ask for the experiences, listen to uh listen and take them to heart consider.

You can also consider um a program that uh features their stories and experiences in an official uh communication. This um empower, my empowers them and gives them um like visibility, gives their uh gives them more uh authenticity to your uh give actually more authenticity to your communication.

And the last thing is empowerment itself. So provide tools for inclusion and showcase role model behavior. Um Actually, leaders are the role models models, whether they want to be or not to be or whether they are good role models or not. Uh They simply become role models as everyone looks up to them. And uh I think they need your support, including coaching, sometimes gui guidance to be expert in communication. Um Leaders set the bar for the rest of the company. So empowering them goes a long way for your organization. Um You can also uh provide resources like I don't know, inclusive uh language guides, um books, um resources for everyone in your organization. So people can their own skills uh awareness, they can grow with the knowledge about the inclusiveness and inclusive organization, inclusive language. Um You have to meet you, you have to meet um people where they are and give them, the tools to grow. Um You can also considering uh offering a library of books to borrow online or not online uh on topics on diversity and inclusion. Uh You can try to uh schedule a book discussion club, discussion group to encourage people uh to drive their own learning journey by listening and uh discussing relevant uh meetings and this empowerment, this, this empowerment, this, this those things empowers them to, to actually take ownership in creating an inclusive work environment.

Because at the end of the day, we all are responsible to use inclusive language and to build an inclusive work environment. Thank you very much. Are there any questions? Do you have any questions? There are four minutes left. So if you have any, how would you address when this happens? Um simply try to give an example how to be, how to use more uh inclusive language, how to use more inclusive language. It happens to me, it happened to me and my friend approached me and just tell me that Dominica, you used the guy's phrase for example. And actually I was pretty um uh pretty happy that she did it because sometimes you are unconscious, unconsciously use such a such phrase. So just be aware of your biases, be aware of your language, learn, give examples to others and be open for feedback. Uh Like you are in a meeting, who would you suggest to address? Uh So uh would you suggest to address it after the meeting or in the middle of it, I would suggest to do it uh after the meeting, sometimes person is so focused on the what they are telling. So it's, it's, it will be more delicate to do it after the meeting, but right away after the meeting. Hm How would you create awareness in a company?

Uh I think uh I would start with myself and then uh I will uh create a space for uh for people to talk about the language. Uh Actually, at Montreal, we have a lot of initiatives to create awareness, we use inclusive language. Uh And Polish is quite more tricky um because of the femi feminists. But uh if you have very, if you have, if you have in your company, a structure, I would start also with the training with the leaders and, or mentors or managers. Uh Yeah, no question that it really helps to take. OK. Thank you. Hm. OK. Thanks a lot. It was pleasure um to do it and to share my knowledge. Thank you very much. Have a great sessions and have a great time during the conference.