Research shows that in organizations where allyship is a priority, employees are 50% less likely to leave and are 56% more likely to improve their performance. Innovation rates, revenue rates and profitability rates are higher for these allyship-focused organizations.
Allyship has gained serious momentum in recent years. In 2021, Dictionary.com pronounced “allyship” the word of the year. “Allyship” as a term dates back to the mid-1800s, but it was only recently added to the dictionary. Given the recent social-justice activism and growing popularity of the “Me Too” and “Black Lives Matter” movements, people who do not identify as women or as Black have joined causes that do not directly impact their identity groups. It is important to have language to describe the behavior of this growing level of allyship.
What is allyship? Search “allyship” and common answers include:
- Supporting other people who are part of a group that has been historically marginalized, although you are not yourself a member of this group
- Being there for someone different from yourself
- Advocating for others with diverse backgrounds
- Enlisting as an accomplice to help marginalized groups
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to allyship. Each one of these definitions could be true or interpreted differently based on the uniqueness of the person’s lived experience. Lived experiences often vary widely for diverse groups of people; therefore, support looks different to different individuals and groups.
Allyship is a nuanced approach that requires a long-term commitment from leaders to learn and practice over time. For leaders wanting to build a successful allyship program, it is important to build bridges. Successful allyship leaders make programs exclusive, don’t build the programs by themselves and prioritize key skills and behaviors.
Make Allyship Programs Exclusive
This may seem counterintuitive to inclusion. Building an allyship program is about quality over quantity. It might feel tempting to boast the number of people who attend allyship events or are part of Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), yet those are lagging indicators. Attendance is not a guarantee of impact. Impact is created when leaders and decision makers are engaged in allyship at individual and systemic levels.
To gain higher levels of commitment, consider having an application process to your allyship program. Ask potential participants why allyship is important to them and what they hope to gain from the program. Evaluate the candidates using objective criteria. This often generates more demand, piques interest and ensures that participants take it seriously. Rather than make programming mandatory, highly encourage it, and let people self-select into the work. Humans are generally more motivated by decisions they feel empowered to make versus decisions that are made for them.
Don’t In-House Allyship
Engage experts in the process. While it’s great if an organization can own its own content, it is very difficult to stay up to date on the latest studies and trends on allyship. Trust external consultants, credible news sources and industry and academic research reports as resources.
There is no need to recreate the proverbial wheel. There is a treasure trove of resources readily available via online search queries. When reviewing studies, articles, videos, podcasts and other resources, evaluate them through a lens of credibility (is the source credible?), recency (is the information up to date?) and practicality (can people easily understand how to take action?).
Prioritize Key Allyship Skills and Behaviors
Rather than position allyship skills as a separate skill set, make sure that allyship behaviors tie to overall expected behavior at the organization. That means that allyship skills are valued in promotion, pay decisions and succession-planning processes. When allyship skills and behaviors are prioritized, people take notice and build these skills into their professional development.
There are many allyship skills and behaviors that can be part of training-and-development programs. Consider these a starting point:
- Vulnerability
- Curiosity
- Growth mindset
- Trust
- Empathy
- Active listening
- Candor
- Coaching
- Mentoring
- Sponsoring
Successful allyship programs align the skills needed for the organization to be successful, while emphasizing the behavior shifts needed at the individual and organizational levels. It starts with prioritizing the skills and behaviors necessary to succeed, aligning those to the allyship development program and measuring them over time. Inspect what you expect. Consistently emphasize the allyship skills and behaviors in regular communications, meetings and activities so that people believe and buy into the shift.
Allyship is a crucial aspect of fostering inclusivity and diversity within organizations. By making allyship programs exclusive, engaging external expertise, prioritizing key skills and behaviors and aligning allyship with overall organizational expectations, organizations can boost their DEI impact.