Seven Ways to be an Outstanding Diversity and Inclusion Ally

1- Attend events, educational programs and discussion groups at work and/or outside of work that address issues of workplace inclusion.

2- Create opportunities for people from different demographic groups in your workplace to work together on projects.

3- Take some time to imagine what it would be like to be a LGBT person (lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender) and feel like you have to hide who you are, and constantly have to avoid the use of pronouns when you talk about your partner, or just what you did over the weekend.

4- If you hear an employee, colleague or friend making offensive jokes or comments about people from based on demographics, stop them immediately, and let them know you don’t want to hear it, and tell them why.

5- Don’t assume that because someone from a targeted group doesn’t speak up, or make a complaint, that they think it’s ok. That’s why people need allies, because it can be daunting and even dangerous to be the member of a targeted group, and feel like no one else cares.

6- Identify the unwritten rules, and cultural norms in your organization, that anyone who wants to be successful needs to know.

Develop a process by which all employees learn those unwritten rules. Too often, the people who are included the fastest are those that are similar in some way to people in leadership.

Other employees have to spend more energy trying to understand the unwritten rules for success, which zaps performance and innovation energy

7- Mentor, or create a mentorship program for new hires, to help integrate everyone, not just the ones who are like you, into your organization. Help new hires gain the knowledge, skills and experience they need to be successful.