Everyday Inclusion: The skills that improve wellbeing and performance at work

When we talk about workplace culture, we’re really talking about interactions between colleagues. Culture is the language people use when they speak to each other, the way they listen (or don’t), and the behaviours of those with more power towards those with less. To truly improve it, we need to look these everyday encounters in the eye.

As explored in our report — ‘Beyond the backlash: The leader’s guide to integrating DEI’ — research consistently shows that emotional and social intelligence are more important for performance than hard skills. Additionally, when these skills are valued and nurtured, people’s everyday experience of work radically improves.

The human skills gap

Despite the profound importance of skills like empathy and active listening, they’re often regarded as un-trainable, or not considered seriously at all. The result? Employees are left ill-equipped for collaboration or feeling like they don’t belong.

In practice, this might look like:

• A failure to extend a warm welcome to a new team member

• People being ignored or talked over in meetings

• Dismissive responses to new and experimental ideas

• Excluding certain team members from important conversations

• Insensitively-worded feedback

• Withholding praise or recognition

• Discouraging people from expressing their emotions

Moments like these can be highly damaging, especially if experienced repeatedly. Not just for the individuals who experience them, but for the health of teams and organisations; when people routinely feel excluded and undermined, innovation suffers and talented employees leave.

Vulnerable moments

Through our research, we’ve identified three types of situation with the biggest potential for damaging interactions.

1. When someone starts a job

Beginnings matter. A new starter is stepping into unfamiliar territory, often feeling unsure of the norms, dynamics, and expectations. Even confident people can feel uncertain or exposed when joining a new environment.

What helps:

●       Greeting people warmly, by name

●       Offering to show someone how things work, without being asked

●       Inviting them into conversations, both formal and social

●       Checking in regularly, especially in the early weeks

2. In meetings

Meetings are a common setting for status signals. Who speaks, who gets interrupted, who’s asked for input — all of this communicates value, or lack of it. For those in a minority, the impact of exclusion is amplified.

What helps:

●       Noticing who hasn’t spoken, and inviting their input

●       Listening fully, without interrupting or rushing to respond

●       Building on others’ ideas rather than dismissing them

●       Thanking people for their contributions, especially when it’s taken courage to speak up

Case study

In our work with professional services businesses, we realised that meetings were where the negative interactions were happening, and not just between colleagues. Deference to clients was stifling colleagues from calling out discrimination. Our programme included workshops with mixed-level staff, using role-play to heighten awareness of the feeling of discrimination. We tooled staff with constructive ways to respond to discriminatory behaviours and boosted leaders’ confidence in modelling these.

3. In social situations

Lunches, coffees, post-work drinks — these informal moments are often where bonds are built and opportunities shared. But for those who are newer, different, or outside dominant groups, these moments can feel closed off or even hostile.

What helps:

●       Making space for others to join conversations

●       Asking people for their ideas for social events

●       Noticing who’s been left out, and taking steps to include them

●       Avoiding in-jokes or references that exclude

●       Being mindful of different comfort levels around socialising

Instigating change

A useful framework for everyday inclusion is the simple pairing of observation and action.

Many moments of exclusion go unchallenged not because people don’t care, but because they don’t notice. Developing the habit of observing — really paying attention to how people are spoken to, who gets included, and who doesn’t — is the first step.

But observation on its own isn’t enough. The next step is action — small, deliberate interventions that shift the tone of a moment. This might mean inviting a quieter colleague to share their view, giving credit where it’s due, or offering support when someone’s been unfairly treated.

Inclusion isn’t about grand gestures; it’s built through consistent acts of noticing and responding. Observation sharpens awareness. Action makes that awareness matter.

Like physical exercise, everyday inclusion works best when it's part of people’s daily routine. The goal isn't just to make work more pleasant (though that's a bonus), but to build the kind of environment where people can do their best thinking together. For leaders looking to build healthier cultures, prioritising and embedding core behavioural skills is essential.