Building an inclusive and respectful workplace culture benefits everyone. One of the best ways we can help foster this culture is through allyship. Being an ally means actively supporting the rights of a marginalized group. This article highlights actions each of us can take to be a better ally in the workplace.
Educate yourself
As the saying goes, you can’t know what you don’t know. As allies, we must commit to identifying and mitigating our own knowledge gaps by learning about privilege, bias, and identity. This means seeking out others’ stories to gain insight into their world and their challenges. Additionally, we must ask ourselves tough questions to identify our own blind spots and then hold ourselves accountable for addressing them through learning.
Exercise empathy
The ability to understand and share the feelings of another person can make us better allies. Practicing empathy helps us feel more connected to others. As part of the education process, we must learn about perspectives that differ from our own. We must challenge our viewpoints and attitudes and exercise humility as we seek to understand others. Furthermore, we can practice active listening, giving the speaker our undivided attention and asking for clarification when needed.
Practice respect
Practicing respect means treating people with courtesy and kindness and honoring others’ identities, opinions, and concerns through verbal and nonverbal communication. We can encourage praise and recognition and ensure criticism is constructive and comes from a place of kindness and empathy. Additionally, practicing respect means using others’ preferred pronouns and avoiding assumptions around gender identity. We can make it easy for others when we add our own preferred pronouns to our email signature, introductions, or online bios.
Foster inclusion
To be a better ally in the workplace, make sure everyone has a seat at the table by ensuring meetings, events, projects, and conversations are inclusive. Actively encourage all attendees to express their views and ideas.
Speak up
Speaking up means standing up for what is right. But it doesn’t mean we speak for others. One of the best things we can do is to give a platform and voice to others. Create space to allow people to speak for themselves. Take time to amplify and promote underheard voices and give credit where credit is due. When you see something wrong, take action. If you hear a comment or observe behavior that might be offensive, speak up and explain why it is wrong and will not be tolerated.
EveryIT values a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture
Allyship is essential to building an inclusive culture where employees thrive, a priority here at EveryIT. Taking the time to be a better ally in the workplace benefits everyone. If you’d like to learn more about how EveryIT approaches diversity, equity, and inclusion, visit Diversity at EveryIT. Meanwhile, if you’re looking for your next role, check out our latest career opportunities.
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