English to Russian Other Human Resources

The fear of saying something inappropriate about a person’s gender, race, and ethnicity (among other factors) may stifle dialogue—especially if you fear that people will view you as racist or sexist.37 Sometimes this fear emerges because you once tried to communicate with someone different from you, and things did not go as expected.
That negative experience can make it hard to have a difficult conversation in the future.
Fear of saying the wrong thing stems from the “politeness protocol.”38 This mindset proposes that “potentially offensive or uncomfortable topics should be avoided, ignored, and silenced or spoken about in a very light, casual, and superficial manner.”39 But we should not let fear or the potential of saying something unintended interfere with having difficult conversations.
There may be consequences, and those should certainly be considered, but they shouldn’t stifle open communication.