Building a culture of allies

Marc Lesner is a partner for Investigo's strategy and consulting team in New York and heads up the Pride subcommittee of The IN Group's DEI committee. Derek Mackenzie is an executive director for Investigo and the founder of Campaign, the recruitment industry's first professional network for the LGBTQ+ community.

 

Why is it your problem? You're not gay, though. Why do you care? Aren't their rights recognised now?

 

That's just a selection of the common responses when a straight person says they want to be an ally for the LGBTQ+ community. From the outside looking in, the perception is that things have got better. In the UK and USA at least, same-sex marriages are now legal and we live in a fairly tolerant and open society where people are free to be who they want to be. Right?

 

Not entirely. For many people in the LGBTQ+ community, the fear of discrimination remains genuine and valid. According to Stonewall, one in five LGBT people have experienced a hate crime or incident in the last year, because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. A 2021 study by the charity found that one in ten LGBT employees felt they missed a promotion in the past year alone because of bias. Of the 5,670 Fortune 500 board positions, only 26 are held by LGBTQ+ individuals. That's 0.4%. The newly coined "lavender ceiling" refers to the barrier LGBTQ+ employees face in their careers and the low levels of C-suite inclusivity in most organisations. If a lot has been done, these stats show how much there still is to do.

 

Why be an ally?

 

Allyship's not about getting involved in a cause because you've got nothing else to do, or because it makes you feel good about yourself. Allies from outside the LGBTQ+ community, who are willing to learn about the challenges faced by underrepresented groups and give them a voice, are incredibly important to making change.

 

Marc Lesner, who heads up the Pride pillar of The IN Group's DEI committee, has seen first- hand the positive impact of allyship from outside the community. "The importance of that kind of allyship." he said, "cannot be underestimated. Those in underrepresented groups can voice their opinions and concerns but are they listened to and acted upon? The answer is often no when those who have the decision-making power do not form part of the underrepresented group and cannot truly put themselves in the same position. Allies who interact closely with the underrepresented group start to experience the feelings and thoughts of that group and develop a better understanding of what they may be dealing with. They can then in turn serve to make the situation real to others outside of the LGBTQ+ community."

 

A lot of prejudice comes from ignorance rather than malice. When you act as an ally for an underrepresented group. you're connecting that community to the "mainstream". You're increasing the wider community's understanding, which makes the underrepresented group a lot less abstract and therefore, a lot more accepted. No one's expecting you to be an expert. What you are doing is supporting people who need it and educating those who don't fully understand the issue.

 

Allies when permitted?

 

Perhaps no recent global event has illustrated the importance of allyship quite as much as the World Cup in Qatar, where same-sex relationships are illegal. There was widespread anger when FIFA banned team captains, including England's Harry Kane and Wales's Gareth Bale, from wearing the LGBT OneLove armband during matches. The German team responded with a thinly veiled dig at football's governing body, posing with their hands over their mouths for their team photo before their match with Japan - signifying the removal of their freedom of speech.

 

But will armbands and other gestures of defiance make any practical difference to the laws in Qatar? Are these actions more likely to antagonise than they are to educate? It feels like this was a conversation we should have had 12 years ago, before the World Cup was awarded to Qatar: that respect for human rights should have been one of the main bidding criteria. On the other hand, as much as the laws in certain countries might offend our sensibilities - and though we have a responsibility to educate - how much right do we have to tell them how to behave? Are raising awareness and educating over time more realistic and longer term solutions? These are complex questions that go a long way beyond sport.

 

How to build a culture of allies Inclusion can sometimes feel like a tick-box exercise: something that you do just because so many people are talking about it. But to be effective, it needs to be embedded deep into an organisation's culture. So, how can HR leaders be LGBTQ+ allies and build a culture that works for everyone, regardless of sexual or gender orientation? How can organisations help their people break through that lavender ceiling to thrive and be happy at work?

 

Learn by listening

 

Start by listening to your people and using what you've learned to cater your policies and initiatives to their needs. Stonewall has a strategic approach that begins with listening to their lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer employees, so they can try to understand the challenges they face at work. It offers networking groups for LGBTQ+ staff to meet, discuss their challenges and together, safely escalate issues to senior leaders to effect change. This is only possible through a robust policy-led programme that supports equal advancement and development opportunities. It's an approach that encourages dialogue and formalises feedback to the leadership, so employees know they're being taken seriously.

 

Employers can also guard against bias by participating in diversity and inclusion training and reflecting on their own subconscious personal prejudices that may influence their decision-making at work. Earlier this year. The IN Group provided training on the changing nature of discrimination and privilege, to help people see the world from different perspectives. The feedback from these sessions will help to inform our approach to DEI over the next year.

 

Give your people a voice

 

Your people need to know that they have the freedom to express themselves and build communities without judgement. In 1999, an Amazon employee who wanted to connect with other LGBT colleagues created an email list he called "glamazon" - a contraction of gay and lesbian Amazon. Today, Amazon has more than 40 glamazon chapters around the world, from Seattle to Sydney, and has participated in more than 100 Pride celebrations across the globe this year. This goes to show how giving a voice to your people can allow a single employee to create something truly global, and truly valuable to LGBTQ+ people across the company. Glamazon is just one of many affinity groups at the company which unite communities, instigate initiatives, and increase awareness.

 

Unite across boundaries

 

When you face a siloed culture, how can you find psychological safety? Who's there for you? Who's an ally when loneliness and anxiety set in?

 

Our Executive Director Derek Mackenzie, a long-time advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, recently launched Campaign, an LGBTQ+ recruiters' network. In a traditionally straight, high-performance sector that's fiercely competitive, the initiative will give recruiters from the LGBTQ+ community and its allies the opportunity to share ideas, emotional support, and change-driven inclusivity strategies to improve the representation and inclusion of LGBTQ+ people across every facet of recruitment.

 

Derek said: "Inclusion is an inside job, so rather than fighting alone, I'm teaming up with recruiters (and forgetting we're technically competitors) to unite our community. So welcome to Campaign - recruitment's first- ever UK-based peer-to-peer LGBT+ network." Campaign's here to empower and advise all recruitment businesses on the best ways to create a safe and inclusive workspace for their LGBTQ+ staff. It shows the strength of solidarity - and that's important in a community made up of very different people with their own individual challenges, where there isn't always the sense of camaraderie and overall acceptance that you might expect.

 

When it's your problem, it's everyone's problem

 

If all the allies for the LGBTQ+ community came from within it, this wouldn't be enough to increase awareness in the wider community or bring about the change required. It would possibly leave them feeling more marginalised than ever.

 

When a non-LGBTQ+ colleague openly and actively puts themselves forward as an ally, that's when things can change. In doing so, they're supporting people who might feel really isolated.

 

They're also increasing the wider community's understanding and tolerance; showing that people with differing sexual and gender identities shouldn't be ostracised and feared, but included and respected.

 

Some businesses are bringing about change in extremely creative ways. Making allyship a cultural cornerstone starts with an inclusive mindset, particularly from your leaders. Listening, talking, and uniting are all key to accelerating that change.