It’s so common for leaders and organizations to avoid talking about social issues at work. They don’t want to rock the boat, cause problems, or say the wrong thing. But this avoidance may actually be doing more harm than good. So instead of practicing conversation avoidance at your company, try to have a meaningful conversation with your colleagues and address the elephant(s) in the room. Here’s how to do that.

As we talk more about mental health at work, it’s important to understand the source of some of the challenges to having these conversations. Gender is one of the most important factors and it has a long history of influence in our society. It’s even led to gender-based emotion shaming, especially toward women. Thankfully, there are some things we can do to combat this behavior and have more constructive conversations.

While it seems daunting, you can change the tone around mental health and COVID in your company. You can avoid using phrases like “in a post-COVID world” that cause uncertainty. And start supporting your employees by talking about the reality of our situation.