ALLYSHIP - How to achieve it in your worklife
I recently attended Bloomfest, Bloom’s annual event covering all things relating to equality in the communications industry. I got to hear from some brilliant speakers throughout the day and it really affirmed some of the key messages I use throughout my work.
A few stood out to me starting with…
What is Allyship and why is it important? How do you become an ally? An ally is defined as someone who actively advocates for people in marginalised groups. An ally will recognise that they hold privilege in society in various ways such as their race, gender, class, neurodiversity, and promote and aspire to advance a culture of inclusion through intentional, positive, and conscious efforts.
It can be confronting realising that things you have done or said, consciously or unconsciously have hurt others and contributed to an unequal society. But we must find a way to get over this. The point here is not to wallow in our misgivings, but to use that self-awareness and learn from it, turning it into action. What I do know is that allyship can come in small, subtle gestures and often starts with self-awareness to take an honest look at our own behaviours, language, bias, and actions to see how we might constantly evolve them to be better allies to others who may be less privileged.
This can be hugely beneficial in our work and personal lives and can contribute to more positive relationships with colleagues, family and friends and people within your immediate community.
I’ve started trying to do this within my own existing network and groups, starting small rather than thinking it needs to be a big and grand gesture. For example, I recently spotted an opportunity to nominate people for The Changemakers Awards from BRiM (Black Representation in Marketing) and raised this with a group of people at the agency I work for to check if we had nominated anyone. It turns out that we hadn’t but a nominee from our agency went on to win the award!
I had found a way to put my own angst about not doing enough to one side, to be able to spot an opportunity and do something about it. These seemingly small actions together will make a big impact. So, if being a better ally is part of your goals for this year here are some questions that might help you to kick things off and start taking small actions:
1. In which ways do I consider myself privileged?
2. Which networks, groups, communities am I already connected to that I could be an ally to?
3. What is and isn’t happening already in my organisation that I could get involved with?
4. Who else do I know that is already an ally that I could take inspiration from, or perhaps talk to about what they’re doing?
If you’re interested in reading more on this topic, here are a few resources that I’ve found useful:
Why I’m no longer talking about race to white people by Reni Eddo Lodge
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
Me and White Supremacy by Layla F Saad
Anything (books, articles, podcasts, musings on Instagram) by Candice Braithwaite