Allyship must start with the senior leadership team
A successful culture of allyship in an organisation is one where people who are in a privileged situation – due to their ethnicity, gender, sexuality, socio-economic background, education, or mental health – actively and consistently advance the interests of marginalised groups. At work, this will not only ensure managers attract and retain the best employees but will also improve teamwork and productivity.
However, it can be challenging to embed this culture and encourage employees to display allyship, as the concepts involved can cause social awkwardness. For example, many may find it difficult to discuss they hold a privileged position, either because they are not comfortable talking about their status, especially at work, or some may not even realise they are in a position of privilege.
Employees who are members of marginalised groups are much more likely to notice, however, especially when the onus seems to be on them to raise their head above the parapet and speak up in support of others. For the burden to not be placed with the marginalised groups, it is up to senior leaders to demonstrate allyship so that it can filter through the rest of the organisation and change the status quo.
Senior leaders must steer allyship
· The executive or senior team needs to understand the concept of allyship, the privileged position they may hold as a member of one or more majority groups, and the role they must play as an ally.
· It shouldn’t be delegated to human resources, even though HR is likely responsible for an organisation’s diversity and inclusion (D&I) policies.
Spend time with staff
· It’s important for senior leaders to understand their staff: how they feel, what they are happy with or what’s important to them in and outside of work, their work environment, and also the reasonings behind these.
· They should use this time to find out what would work best for their staff, in order to make changes and to support them correctly.
· Attending training will also help them understand how to be better allies within the workplace.
Avoid allyship at your peril
· D&I will become embedded into organisations’ cultures and strategy, and therefore employees will notice if there isn’t enough progress in building a culture of allyship.
· There can be a risk of staff leaving if a business isn’t supporting their employees, which will then have a lasting impact on the business if it continues.
· Those organisations that do not adopt D&I as part of their culture, will risk getting left behind.
Senior leaders need to embrace allyship and disseminate it within their organisation. Fully integrating allyship into the culture will help attract a high quality, truly diverse and inclusive workforce, that will translate to a healthier bottom line and a peerless reputation.
Until allyship is fully embedded into an organisation’s culture, it is also important to celebrate and recognise those outstanding allies who openly support and work towards advancing the interests of the marginalised groups. To assist with this recognition, ICAEW is sponsoring the Ally of the Year category at this year’s Queer Student Awards. This is an opportunity to acknowledge the young, proactive, allies specifically within the LGBTQ+ community.
You can read more about allyship within the senior leadership team, or view further articles on the allyship theme via ICAEW’s Welcome Inclusion content.
For the full range of equity, diversity and inclusion content from ICAEW, visit the D&I hub.
THANK YOU TO THE ICAEW!
Category sponsor 2022
