Allyship in the workplace
This month’s Triangirls event was a special one – open to anyone interested in allyship. The panel discussion was chaired brilliantly by Amy Dickens and starred Marco Sousa, Matt Cooper, Elliot Inskip, Jason Foo and Brendan Kearns. Below is what I took away from the event.
I learned that there’s a big difference between a brilliant ally and a mediocre or even bad ally:
Brilliant allies don’t just…
- …stand up for someone who is underrepresented but give them the space to talk and shine (if the person is comfortable doing so)
- …give praise in a direct message but say it publicly
- …mention that the next panel discussion or conference they’re invited to is “not diverse enough” but actively step out of the way and offer their spot to someone from an underrepresented background that might otherwise not be considered
- …stay quiet when someone speaks over someone else or something inappropriate is said in a conversation but call it out and make it clear that behaviour like that is unacceptable
Being aware
I think a starting point for any good ally is becoming aware of their own privilege and biases. It’s about knowing that you don’t know what it’s like to live any life other than your own. You don’t know about the microaggressions other people may experience. Unless you are part of an underrepresented group yourself, you might also not know what it feels like to be seen as a representative for an entire group of people. And you need to be aware of that. That and more.
Your unconscious biases are unfortunately — well — unconscious… But there are ways to learn about them and become aware of them. Whether you (and preferably your entire team) take unconscious bias training or whether you check your bias online (e.g. with one of these implicit association tests from Harvard) — there are ways to become more aware and I think it’s an important thing to do so.
Listening
Once you know that your experience of the world is not the only one, it’s time to create the space for others to speak. Actively listen to what they’re saying. On that topic an interesting concept was mentioned during the panel discussion: Reverse mentoring
It’s about someone senior— maybe even the CEO of a company — learning from underrepresented people in 1h meetings where they just listen and learn. If at any point the tables turn and the more senior person start giving advice, both need to reset and start over. It sounds like a good exercise that I think many leaders would benefit from.
Another way to practice listening and learn about other people’s experience is attending a meetup called the uncomfortable truth.
Speaking up & making it awkward
If someone talks over someone else or if there’s an inappropriate comment, speak up and let that person know that that’s not right. This also helps set a standard for other people in the room — because if one person gets away with it without consequences, the result might be other people doing similar things. So don’t let them get away in the first place.
If you’ve spoken up but you’re still finding it hard to get people to adopt more inclusive behaviours, incentivise them to do so if you can. Make it awkward not to introduce yourself with your name and pronouns. Make it awkward not to know and care about different religious holidays. Base promotions and bonuses on how inclusive the employees behaviour is. Make inclusive and respectful behaviour the norm.
Hiring
Diverse teams build better products and services for a diverse set of people. That alone should be reason enough to hire a diverse group of people. Sentences like “We looked for *insert underrepresented group of people* but we just couldn’t find any” really shouldn’t be said anymore. There is a diverse pool of candidates out there — it’s just a matter of your hiring process.
- Strip gender biased language out of your job adverts. There are tools online that help you do this.
- Don’t just post on LinkedIn. Post your job adverts on many different places and actively approach communities of underrepresented people to let them know you’re hiring.
If you’re using a recruiting agency and they come back with a bunch of largely the same kinds of people, challenge them and demand a more diverse set of candidates. - Remove names from resumes when you’re looking through the applications you received to combat unconscious bias.
- Don’t always hire the person with the perfect specifications but the person whose abilities will compliment the team the most.
- Don’t hire for culture fit, hire for culture add.
- Help people succeed as themselves. Make sure they are expected (the space is ready for them, e.g. having gender-neutral toilets, prayer rooms, etc.) and respected (not seen as hired only to increase diversity but for their abilities).
And now I shall leave you with a ladder of six stages of being an ally. Let’s all work on ourselves to reach stage six.
Six stages of being an ally
1 – Denial
Not acknowledging/seeing the problems and therefore not being an ally at all
2 – Not caring
Knowing there’s a problem but not doing anything about it because it doesn’t affect oneself
3 – Talking but not acting
Accepting that there’s a problem, commenting about e.g. a conference not having a diverse set of speakers but still taking the space on the panel discussion even though you don’t add more diversity
4 – Acting but for personal gain
Using one’s own privilege to promote and shine a light on people from underrepresented groups and telling everyone about it (writing posts, etc.) mainly to boost your personal brand
5 – Speaking up for someone
Spreading the word that someone is great and shining a light on them not for personal reasons but to make sure the person is seen and valued for who they are and the amazing work they do
6 – Stepping out of the way
Lifting someone from an underrepresented group above oneself and stepping out of the way to give them time to shine and show their own brilliance
To be notified of Triangirls events, subscribe to our Newsletter and follow us on Twitter.
