With Americans holding 55 million meetings weekly, chances are you’ve met with your team recently. The secret to making all these meetings as productive as possible? Making them as inclusive as possible.

A more inclusive work environment leads to increased productivity, improved efficiency, and a 59% increase in creativity and innovation – all elements which lead to more successful meetings.

“The one sure way to lose great talent, is to disengage them,” said Bridges Holmes, Vice President, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Corporate Social Responsibility at the Adecco Group. “This can easily happen by not intentionally including those team members in meaningful critical thinking opportunities, which can cause them to feel undervalued. Leading inclusively is free and the only cost is our ego.”

Keep reading to see how to make your meetings more inclusive.

1. Make sure all voices are being heard

A more inclusive group means more perspectives on how to solve problems and new ways your company can innovate. But only if these perspectives are voiced. Unfortunately, according to research, the most diverse voices, such as women and individuals from minority groups, are more than twice as likely to be interrupted in group dialogue. 

To prevent these interruptions, set clear ground rules at the start of every meeting. Determine how and when team members will voice their opinions and make it clear that cutting someone off won’t be tolerated.

2. Be candid and compassionate

Making your team members comfortable enough to participate is essential to running a productive meeting. Being transparent with your colleagues about how their feedback will be used will make workers more invested in the decision-making process, encouraging them to share ideas – especially ideas that provide a different point of view.

Meetings serve as an important tool for team building and collaboration. To build stronger relationships during meetings you’ll need to foster healthy debates between participants, encourage honest and helpful feedback, and show empathy towards your employees.

3. Be mindful of tone

The average worker in the US spends 2.8 hours a week embroiled in conflict, causing companies to lose $359 billion annually. A big cause of conflict isn’t a difference of opinion, but how we express it. During your next meeting make sure you adopt a calm and welcoming tone, give feedback constructively, and acknowledge contribution – research shows that employees prefer public displays of appreciation, especially in meetings.

With a more diverse team, tone is even more important. Some cultures talk more directly than others while generational differences shape the way people communicate. Set the tone at the beginning of each meeting of how to respectfully communicate and team members will follow your example, creating an inclusive culture.

4. Ask enough questions

Communication in management is important and meetings provide a clear pathway to connect with your team. Make the most of this time and leave no questions unasked. As you go through each agenda topic, pause to ask questions, agree on the next steps, and reach conclusions about points brought up.

Questions are critical in integrating all participants in the conversation. Some team members are naturally quieter or don’t feel comfortable giving opinions that dissent with the group. Asking them questions brings them into a discussion that they might not otherwise participate in.

5. Welcome new ideas

With a diverse group, you’re going to have diverse opinions. Make sure participants are comfortable sharing ideas that may differ from the group consensus. When stating the ground rules at the start of a meeting, encourage people to share differing opinions and to disagree respectfully.

Before your next meeting starts, send the agenda to your team members so they can come prepared with ideas free from the influence of others. Practice brainwriting, an exercise where participants write down all their ideas at the start of the meeting, to make employees more committed to expressing their individual ideas and not just go along with the group.

By following these steps to make sure your employees feel comfortable, valuable, and included in important decision-making, you’ll encourage an environment that fosters more diverse ideas, stronger team relationships, and eliminate groupthink which can prevent you from finding the best business decisions.

Diversity and inclusion are integral to a successful business. Adecco is here to help foster inclusive working environments to make the future (and meetings) work for everyone. Check out our blog for more posts on the benefits of hiring diverse working groups like veterans, and for more information on how to run more productive meetings read our article on common meeting mistakes and how to avoid them.

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The COVID-19 pandemic upended work as we know it, and the hybrid model is here to stay – whether employers want it or not. However, it’s an opportunity to reimagine how we think about work. So, as you and your team continue a sporadic return to the office, what ways of working will ensure everyone feels supported, included, and ready to perform at their best? Below, we list five hybrid work opportunities identified in The Adecco Group’s Resetting Normal research and offer our insights into harnessing them.

Better work-life balance for parents

Constant juggling. Crazy hours. Who said remote work was the promised land for working parents? Although 50% of parents said their work-life balance had improved in the pandemic’s wake, parents increasingly prefer to set boundaries between work and family time. Hybrid working gives workers more control over their schedule and shortens their commute time. Flexible work environments are especially highly valued by moms (81%), dads (73%), and those with caring responsibilities (79%) – but parents want to spend more time at the office (51%) than the rest of their colleagues (42%). Cloud-based collaboration tools give working parents the best of both worlds, empowering everyone to work from wherever suits them. Thankfully, driven by the pandemic’s urgency, most firms have already adopted these game-changing tools.

Rethinking the virtual workplace for younger employees

More than half of the nation’s total population are millennials, Gen Z, or younger. But young workers are feeling isolated and are finding it hard to grow their careers without the in-person networking their older colleagues enjoyed. It is vital to find ways to keep younger employees engaged and make sure they have experienced people around to help them grow. As teams and leaders get used to connecting with each other virtually, hybrid workplaces are facilitating relationships between colleagues who are far-flung, multi-generational, and of various seniority levels. Hybrid makes it easier to expand the reach of career-boosting programs like mentorship. ‘Reverse mentoring‘ is on the rise in the hybrid environment, too, helping young workers build vital skills, while giving leaders invaluable insights that help them stay relevant to younger colleagues and customers.

Collaborating and building community in the virtual workplace

From collaborative virtual meetings to virtual polls to whiteboarding: 63% of respondents said their digital and remote working skills improved during the pandemic. Communication and brainstorm increasingly take place on open online platforms, often incorporating real-time translation so colleagues of various language abilities can contribute. Instead of ideas staying stuck jotted on someone’s notepad, they get refined and turned into actionable tasks and scalable solutions. This ‘working out loud,’ approach also makes it harder to hide inaction or mask poor performance. Done right, hybrid working means expanded collaboration for faster innovations and a more open working culture.

Creating an inclusive future of work

Diverse teams drive innovation. Shifting to a hybrid working model is expected to create more opportunities for people with disabilities (75%), working parents (73%), and those from diverse backgrounds (69%). As well as making it easier for existing employees to fully participate, the hybrid workplace allows employers to hire and onboard remote workers from new, untapped talent pools across America and beyond.

At Adecco, we’re experts in helping employers like you navigate all aspects of today’s tricky employment and economic environment. From white papers to case studies to research papers, we have a wealth of insight on the changing world of work. Also: read our tips on managing remote teams, understanding employee absenteeism, energizing employees during tough times, and tackling ghosting coasting.

Learn more about how we can help your business thrive.

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