Think about a time when you felt left out of the “in group” or struggled to feel accepted by your peers. Like many adults, you may get flashbacks to a young, pre-teen version of yourself wandering the halls of your middle school.
That chapter of your life may have felt socially challenging, but the desire to belong and be accepted doesn’t end once you graduate from secondary school. Belonging is woven into our DNA. Belonging is not optional but rather a part of the human experience.
Today is Day 2 of Construction Inclusion Week 2024, an industry-wide effort to celebrate and amplify awareness of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and to spearhead change. 澳门足彩app is proud to sponsor Construction Inclusion Week at the Ambassador level and to participate by highlighting each day’s theme. Today’s theme is Belonging.
There is internal work you can do to enhance feelings of belonging - check out the article: Belonging Often Takes Knowing Who We Are and What We Believe for some ideas. That said, there are also things we can do to help others feel accepted and valued for who they are. One way to do this is by being an active ally in the workplace.
澳门足彩app’s Diversity Suite, part of our Learning, Development & Engagement (LD&E) curriculum for our more than 2,400 team members, explores various elements of allyship. In our Knowing Your ABCs: Allyship, Belonging, and Creating Equity course, we explore the layers of allyship. Allyship is a vital component of creating inclusive workplaces. At its core, it’s the act of supporting and advocating for environments where everyone feels like they belong, especially those who are part of marginalized groups. Marginalization occurs when a group of people are less able to do things or access basic services or opportunities because of the existing environment. Through allyship, we use our power and influence to advocate for these groups.
Although there is an “I” in allyship, a true ally understands that the support they are trying to provide is not about themselves but the other individual. Regardless of what you may believe is the solution to a challenge, in this situation (and really any situation where you intend to be helpful), the other person’s needs and what would be most helpful are most important. Allies help amplify unheard voices, call out barriers and biases that can inhibit progress and act as role models in their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Allyship focuses on action, and we must remind ourselves that being an ally is a journey, not a destination. It's something to aspire to, not to claim. We need to commit to learning about the experiences of other groups through active listening, fostering a growth mindset, welcoming feedback and reflecting on our missteps.
Through allyship, we must ensure that our positive and helpful intentions align with the impact that is felt because, ultimately, that is what matters – the impact. The cool news is that because the call for allyship encourages curiosity toward the group or person we are trying to support, it is an agile “call to action” and can manifest in various ways.
In our Knowing Your ABCs course, team members review the seven allyship styles and discuss ways to either continue to practice a certain style or the opportunity to explore a new style:
- Sponsors vocally support the work of colleagues from underrepresented groups in all contexts, specifically in situations that will help boost those colleagues’ standing and reputations.
- Champions willingly defer to colleagues from underrepresented groups in meetings and visible, industry-wide events and conferences, sending meaningful messages to large audiences.
- Amplifiers ensure that marginalized voices are heard and respected. This type of allyship can take many forms but is focused on representation within communication.
- Advocates use their power and influence to bring peers from underrepresented groups into highly exclusive circles.
- Scholars seek to learn as much as possible about challenges and prejudices faced by colleagues from marginalized groups. Scholars never insert their own opinions, experiences, or ideas but instead listen and learn.
- Upstanders see wrongdoing and act to combat it – acting as the opposite of a bystander. This person pushes back on offensive comments or jokes, even if no one within earshot might be offended or hurt.
- Confidants create safe spaces for members of underrepresented groups to express their fears, frustrations and needs.
Check out the following article for actionable ways to practice these allyship styles: What Is an Ally? 7 Ways to Be One at Work | The Muse.
Regardless of your allyship style, curiosity should be at the heart of your mindset to create a more inclusive, welcoming workplace. Curious people are open to new perspectives, welcome respectful exchanges of ideas and channel their learning into action. They recognize that each of us is exposed to just a fraction of the world, and they value the insights that diversity and difference bring.
This Construction Inclusion Week, consider adopting a new allyship style to encourage a truly inclusive workplace.
About the author: Maria Jose Toro, a Development Specialist with 澳门足彩app’s LD&E team, has been with 澳门足彩app for more than six years. She is responsible for delivering professional development offerings while nurturing culture and engagement. She believes helping others help themselves is the most sustainable way to create a better world.
Promoting and expanding diversity and inclusion is a strategic pillar of 澳门足彩app’s long-term vision and is foundational to creating a team member experience of significance, success and satisfaction. 澳门足彩app Together is our intentional and consistent initiative to promote open dialogue and bring about positive change.
