How can you address language and communication disorders in the workplace?

LCD: language and communication disorder. **1. Open Communication:** Encourage open dialogue with employees experiencing LCDs. Let them know you're available to discuss their needs and explore potential accommodations. **2. Collaborative Solutions:** Work collaboratively to identify reasonable accommodations that won't compromise job duties. Examples include allowing extra time for presentations, providing written materials alongside verbal instructions, or offering alternative communication methods like email or instant messaging. **3. Raise Awareness:** Educate your team about different LCDs and their potential impact on communication. This fosters understanding and reduces unintentional barriers

Being inclusive from the get-go is essential. Many people with language or communication difficulties may not notice they need assistance or may be hesitant to ask for help as it will single them out. Being clear and concise in your communication is a great first step. Offering supports that everyone can benefit from is another good idea. For example, putting spaces between ideas/paragraphs makes an email easier to read. Another example is offering communication in multiple modes, maybe you make a verbal announcement but also offer a written version of this information. For expressive communication, identify what is easiest for the employee or offer different ways to respond. Some may prefer written communication to conversation.

Addressing language and communication disorders in the workplace requires a proactive and inclusive approach. By providing training, accommodations, clear communication channels, flexibility, and sensitivity, organizations can support employees with language and communication disorders. Individualized support plans, collaboration with specialists, and an emphasis on equal opportunities further contribute to creating an environment that values and fosters the success of all employees, regardless of their communication challenges.

Allow communication and collaboration in multiple modalities that don’t elevate one communication style over the other. In a remote organization especially, be sure that contributors can be involved via voice, text, or other means to ensure no one modality is most rewarded over the other, which will cause systemic inequality for people with communication or language disorders. Also offer interpreter services for anyone who asks for it.

If you're struggling with culture/communication and language barrier problems in the workplace, consider hosting a diversity and communication specialist. Through seminars/webinars and workshops, all of your employees will get a crash-course in the benefits of diversity and how to overcome potential language barriers.

In my experience, working in a multilingual and multifaceted environment needs mutual cooperation. So, working together or contributing as a team promotes continuous communication. The barrier among the members starts falling off and enables better exchange of thoughts.

Prepare the work environment for change by cultivating flexibility and openness, which also means considering that there will be supporters, those indifferent to the issue, and those against addressing matters than don’t directly affect them. Expect to experience some degree of resistance or indifference to the issue, as it happens in any attempt when it comes to new changes in the workplace. It is the nature of humans to prioritize matters than affect them directly. Having empathy is one thing, and being willing to adjust practices and activities for the benefit of others is another. While training, informing, and monitoring are crucial steps, motivating people to consider others in practical ways in the workplace requires more.