To mark the close of IP Inclusive’s 2023 to 2025 business plan with its focus on Allyship, we were delighted to be joined by representatives from all six of our communities for our event Active Allyship. The panel was chaired by Helen Smith from our Executive Team and featured Ali Badreddine from IP Futures, Robin de Meyere from IP Out, George Lucas from IP Ability, Bea Malacart from IP & ME, Michelle Montgomery from Women in IP and Jane Wainwright from IPause.
Over the course of our business plan we have run a series of online, in person and hybrid events focusing on allyship which have included:
- Help! How do I start a conversation on EDI?
- Allyship and preventing sexual harassment
- Beyond the lanyard – How can allies do more?
- Through a different lens – A masterclass on being a better ally
- Allyship for leaders.
The recurring theme throughout these events has been the importance of taking action to be a good ally, going further than wearing the badge or lanyard but rather doing something positive to help minority groups. This panel aimed to come up with some practical examples of what actions we can all take to help others.
Real life examples
Each of the panel started by giving some real life examples of active allyship. Some of the examples given included:
- Menopause cupboard in the office, with fans, snacks, blankets, sanitary products, for people to take what they need when they need it;
- In a meeting, giving someone who is in a minority the opportunity to speak up by making an opening for them;
- Offering shadowing opportunities to junior staff to attend meetings or meet clients;
- Encouraging use of pronouns in email signatures;
- Ensuring it is safe for LGBQTIA+ people to travel to other countries;
- Using your privilege to speak up for those who can’t;
- When people were afraid to attend a South Asian Heritage Month book club event because of the far right riots going on at the time, allies volunteered to meet them at the station and walk with them to the event;
The panel recognised that allies may also need support themselves sometimes.
The Allyship Guidelines
The IP Inclusive Allyship Guidelines were produced together with the communities as part of the 2023-2025 business plan. The panel discussed which actions for active allyship would have the biggest impact on their community.
- Be loud: being open and visible about who you are both in person and on social media helps to normalise diverse voices in the profession, and can help others feel able to be their authentic self. Help to amplify those diverse voices too, sharing and reposting different points of view and experiences.
- If you are not able to be loud, you can be an active ally quietly too: encourage others with micro-affirmations, such as compliments, including pronouns in your email signature, and using gender neutral language. Implicit allyship could also be giving someone an opportunity to attend a meeting or speak up in a meeting. When you are early in your career, just being invited there is very impactful.
- Bring other allies in: everyone can play a part in encouraging diversity, no matter their role in an organisation. The more people that are talking about it the better! Even for those who think their voice isn’t strong enough, if they mention an issue to someone it may well get passed up the chain until it reaches someone who can take action.
- Listen and learn: help to create a platform for people in minority groups to be comfortable to share and talk about what they need, then listen and take action.
- Be empathetic: think about the human on the receiving end of your emails.
- Active engagement with minority groups: don’t feel excluded because you don’t identify in that group – instead, come along and learn. Being there demonstrates your support.
- Don’t make assumptions about others: ask questions and be curious – not to probe but to get to know the individual, learn and find out if/how you can provide support.
- Educate yourself: by learning about the struggles others are facing that you might never experience, you can understand what might impact them in the workplace and what simple changes you can make to support them.
Standing up for others may put you in an uncomfortable position, but remember that the people in that community are in that position all the time.
Motivators for allyship
Why be an ally? For one thing, we may all be touched by one of these communities at some point in our lives, either directly or through our families. For example, 50% of the population will personally experience menopause, and everyone will have colleagues, family members or friends that go through the menopause. Also, everyone in the IP profession has been through the early stages of their career. Any one of us may be affected by chronic illness or need to support a neurodivergent family member at any time, and even if we are not in an ethnic minority or the LGBQTIA+ community ourselves, our partner or children may be. Educating ourselves about others’ difficulties may directly benefit us one day, and those we have supported may be able to return the favour.
Moreover, a diverse team with different viewpoints and skillsets will undoubtedly lead to improved outputs, and people may work better if they are supported and able to be their authentic self. You can read more about the business case for diversity in this downloadable resource and we have an event coming up this November on The Case for EDI which you can book to attend.
An Ally’s Pledge?
Finally the panel discussed the possibility of an IP Inclusive Ally’s Pledge, an opportunity for individuals to publicly state they will speak up for others who are less privileged, possibly with an actionable list of targets. The panel were generally in favour of the idea but appreciated that there may be some hurdles to overcome in order to implement it.
We’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you think an Ally’s Pledge for individuals is a good idea? What benefits do you see? And what issues might we need to address?
Get in touch with us at [email protected] and let us know!
Ten Actions for Active Allyship
Look out for our Ten Actions for Active Allyship resource – coming soon!