Being a Better Ally After the US Election, and Other Actions for Allies
Each week, Karen Catlin shares five simple actions to create a more inclusive workplace and be a better ally.
1. Prepare to support coworkers after the US election
I speak with potential clients almost daily, and last week, someone asked for my thoughts about how to be a better ally after the upcoming US election on November 3. Given how divided our country is over this election, there’s a good chance there will be division in our workplaces once the results are announced.
We discussed a few ideas for how to be an ally. Consider pushing out work deadlines because people will most likely be distracted. Make space for people to talk about their feelings. Create two communications plans, one for a Biden win and one for a Trump win, with employee assistance program information for anyone who needs emotional support.
There’s so much more an ally can do. I recommend this evergreen article, How to talk about politics at work, by Michelle Kim, CEO of Awaken. Read it now, in advance of election day. You’ll be glad you did.
P.S. If you’re in a position to do so, give people time off to vote. It’s one of the privileges we all should have on election day.
2. Launch an allies community
One way I’m coping with the uncertainty over the upcoming election is spending time in the fresh air and sunshine. Over the weekend, I sat on my patio with David Smith and Brad Johnson’s new book, Good Guys: How Men Can Be Better Allies for Women in the Workplace. I have to admit I was honored to see that they referenced my work throughout their book. Brad and Dave’s message is akin to the Better Allies® approach, albeit with a laser focus on equality for women.
In the rest of today’s newsletter, I’m sharing some of their ideas. With each one, I applied a Better Allies mindset of how to be an ally for anyone marginalized or underrepresented in the workplace, not just women.
Here’s the first one: Launch an allies community.
Brad and Dave recommend creating a male allies community to deepen the understanding of how men can support gender diversity within an organization. Why not expand the focus to allies of all genders who want to level up their ally skills?
As I speak about Better Allies, I hear about a range of approaches for such communities. Larger corporate clients tend to have an employee resource group for allies. Others have a dedicated Slack channel or another discussion forum where they share ideas and articles. Just last week I spoke at a company that created an #Allies channel for people to participate in interactive exercises during my talk. They decided to make it a permanent part of their workspace to continue the dialog.
Consider making an allies community or forum if your organization doesn’t yet have one. Pro tip: If you’re looking for ways to spur dialog, consider sharing something from my “5 Ally Actions” newsletter each Friday.
3. Intentionally meet and mentor underrepresented talent
Here’s another important message from David and Brad’s book:
“If you are a man in any sort of leadership role, intentional interaction with women is a non-negotiable job requirement. … You cannot lead or manage women if you are not willing to have a one-on-one meeting with a woman. Full stop.”
Unfortunately, more than half of the male managers surveyed by Lean In and SurveyMonkey said they were uncomfortable working alone, mentoring, or socializing with a woman. Since #MeToo, senior-level men are far more hesitant to spend time with junior women than junior men.
It turns out that this issue affects more than just women. As I shared in my newsletter back in June, the Center for Talent Innovation uncovered 14 specific microaggressions that Black employees experience at significantly higher rates than all other racial groups surveyed. One of them is, “My manager has met one on one with others on my team, but not with me.”
Allies, let’s be intentional in meeting with and mentoring junior people from all underrepresented groups. Let’s not hold back because someone is different from us.
(If #MeToo concerns are preventing you from doing so, realize that someone isn’t going to accuse you of harassment if you aren’t harassing them. It’s simply not worth the hassle.)
4. Use the time out gesture to interrupt interrupters
Let’s move on to one of the ways Brad and David advise a “good guy” to take action when he notices a woman being interrupted:
“When that interrupter strikes, pretend you’re an NFL referee, and hold up both hands in the time-out gesture. To add some levity, whistle and say, “Dude, that’s five yards for unnecessary interrupting! Now let’s have ____ finish her thought.”
As someone who doesn’t watch American football or use the word “dude,” I don’t think I’d ever say those exact words myself. However, I can imagine using the universal time out signal to interrupt an interrupter of any gender. I’d follow it with “____ was speaking. Let’s let them finish.”
How about you?
5. Ask for directions
In closing, here’s one more idea inspired by David and Brad. As they shared,
“Some men hate asking for directions. We want to project an aura of knowing everything.”
You think men have it bad? Because of “prove it again” bias, women and others from underrepresented groups often have to provide more evidence of their knowledge to be judged equally competent. They very well could be penalized for “asking for directions” at work.
Yet, regardless of our gender, we need to get comfortable with not knowing everything, especially about how someone from an underrepresented group experiences the workplace. We need to get comfortable asking for directions on how we can be better allies.
A best practice is to build relationships first before asking for guidance. Once you have a relationship, you could ask, “What’s one thing I could be doing differently to better support you or to create a more inclusive workplace?” Then take action.
That’s all for this week. I wish you strength and safety as we all move forward,
— Karen Catlin, Founder and Author of Better Allies®
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